76623 - Bookmarks Menu items cause application hang

Status: VERIFIED WORKSFORME

(SeaMonkey :: Bookmarks & History, defect, P1)

Description

[Todd Pringle]

Build ID: 2001041804

Believe this may be specific to my bookmarks file, but choosing any of the
Bookmarks menu items (such as manage bookmarks) causes Netscape 6.x to hang. 
Must force quit the application.  Will attach bookmarks file for inspection.

Comment 1

[Todd Pringle]

Attachment: Bookmarks File

Comment 2

[Ben Goodger (use ben at mozilla dot org for email)]

Well, before I could even load this file in a current mozilla build I ran into 
some problems:

- assert on startup related to the function BookmarkParser::ParseMetaTag. The 
code in this function is a little rough and appears to be looking for a META 
tag in the bookmarks file in an exact format, however in the attached file, 
there are differences (lack of double quotes around Content-Type). 
- an additional META tag present indicating the file has been edited by some 
kind of third party editing package. 

After encountering these problems, the code appears to barf and not 
display /any/ bookmarks at all (let alone get to the point where it could 
hang/crash). When I shut down, the file is flushed out empty, albeit in the 
correct format. 

Despite the difference in format, this code should probably be robust enough to 
handle slight modifications to the HTML (despite the "DO NOT EDIT!" warnings). 

Ultimately, the file will always be 'normalized' when the file is flushed (re-
written) during various stages of program operation. 

Not sure how this issue prioritizes, given that it relies on custom 
modification of the file, but I'd be interested to see if the crash/hang 
portion of the problem occurs with an unmolested bookmark file in a recent 
build. 

Comment 3

[Todd Pringle]

Ben, I don't think I explained what was happening well - by hanging I meant what
you saw - the application hangs, bookmarks are never loaded.  And by crash I
just meant that I had to force quit the app and reopen to continue.  Changing
the summary to better reflect this.  

As for priority, I guess it depends on how frequently a user could run into a
situation like this.  Do you know how prevalent third party editing packages
are?  Can you tell from the META tag where/what site it came from?  That would
be helpful to know.

Also, in the meantime, do I need to delete my bookmarks file and begin anew in
order to get bookmarks working?

Comment 4

[Aleksander Adamowski]

I've got the same problem after upgrading to one of the latest nightlies.
Build ID: 2001041804
win32-talkback.
Mozilla hangs when trying to open 'Manage bookmarks' or bookmarks in the
sidebar. The sidebar is showing 'loading..', but Mozilla hangs.

Comment 5

[Ben Goodger (use ben at mozilla dot org for email)]

Todd, open the html file in a code editor. Make sure the HTTP-EQUIV line looks 
like this:

HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type"

rather tahn Http-Equiv=Content-Type

and delete the line with the the "Generator" META tag and see if this lets you 
load the browser. 

Comment 6

[Aleksander Adamowski]

Attachment: My bookmarks file (hangs Mozilla, generated by Mozilla - no suspect tags)

Comment 7

[Aleksander Adamowski]

Build ID: 2001041804 , also tested with builds up to one week old (didn't have
time to investigate further into past builds) - all exhibit the same behaviour.
My bookmarks file hasn't been modified by any external app. Its HTTP-EQUIV line
seems OK (see attachment 31570 [details]): 
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">

However, Mozilla hangs when either:
1. launching Bookmarks -> Manage bookmarks
2. opening Bookmarks tab in My Sidebar
3. pressing CTRL-B shortcut for Manage Bookmarks

Reporter: You wrote that your Mozilla hangs when choosing any of the
Bookmarks menu items. Mine hangs only when choosing Manage Bookmarks. Everything
else works fine. Are you sure things like Add Bookmark, Add Bookmark As..., or
the bookmarks themselves hang your Mozilla?

Comment 8

[Todd Pringle]

Sorry, my description kind of sucked.  More detail:

-The Add Bookmark option seems to work fine
-The Add Bookmark as option causes a hang
-Manage Bookmarks option causes a hang
-Bookmarks work fine

Ben, I'm going to try your recommendation right now, but this seems like
something worth some investigation due to the severity of the problem.  Need to
try to figure out if this will be commonly encountered by users.

Comment 9

[Todd Pringle]

ccing vishy and paul, nominating nsbeta1.

Comment 10

[Aleksander Adamowski]

I also tested this with following Builds (they hang):
win32-talkback 2001032319
win32 2000122208MTEST 
I'm sure I've been using 'Manage bookmarks' with builds which currently hang. 
It seems that Mozilla itself introduced something to the bookmarks file that it
can't parse.

Todd Pringle: In my configuration 'Add Bookmark As...' works fine (Build
2001041920).

Comment 11

[Todd Pringle]

Ben, I tried editing my bookmarks file, but it didn't work.  Not sure if I'm
doing the right thing though:

I've got a line that looks like:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">

So the HTTP-EQUIV stuff looks right.  I tried deleting the word META, but I'm
not sure that's what you meant by "delete the line with the the "Generator" META
tag."  Is it, or is it something else? 

Comment 12

[Viswanath Ramachandran]

nsbeta1+, P1, reassigning to mcafee

Comment 13

[Chris McAfee]

both attached bookmark files wfm on linux, need to test win32

Comment 14

[Chris McAfee]

wfm on windows, I'm using the modern theme.

Comment 15

[Todd Pringle]

Chris, any suggestions on how to get this working for me?  Pun intended.

Comment 16

[Chris McAfee]

todd: what theme are you running?  Can you try
this on another machine?  This might be a win98 problem.

Comment 17

[Todd Pringle]

Chris, I'm using the new modern theme in Build 2001050204.  I may be able to try
it on someone else's machine tomorrow. 

Comment 18

[Viswanath Ramachandran]

Chris, we should try this with a debug build on Todd's machine and get stak
traces of the various threads when it hangs. Can we package up a debug build,
install it on Todd's machine and try to reproduce there? thanks, vishy

Comment 19

[Chris McAfee]

This works fine on claudius' win98 machine.
Next stop, tpringle's office :-)

Comment 20

[Chris McAfee]

This works for a different profile on tpringle's machine,
asking him to re-new his profile and marking this wfm.

Comment 21

[Claudius Gayle]

Verifying WFM. Anyone sees this with a new profile, reopen.