851017 - Firefox 18+ freeze on JS alert.

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 850191

(Core :: Layout, defect)

Description

[jiri.frolik]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:19.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/19.0
Build ID: 20130307023931

Steps to reproduce:

The problem happens only in Firefox 18 and higher. Firefox 17- and other browsers are not affected. We use Java plugin 7u13, but its version does not affect the behavior.
There is a Java applet (Aurigma Image Uploader 7.0.35), which we use for uploading images. When finished, the uploader processes a callback and calls our javascript function.
The function calls a javascript alert(...) as the first instruction. Unfortunately, Firefox freezes for several minutes by calling such alert (the alert is not displayed in that moment yet).
It is not possible to change tabs, etc. Nothing was transmitted over network. However, the applet seemed to be alive. After Firefox 'wakeup' the alert is displayed and the process continues.
When we replaced the alert() call e.g. by 'console.log(...)', then everything was ok, no freeze, logging was done immediatelly.

We also have a statement from Aurigma developers. It seems that FireFox call "alert" are handled asynchronously and have problems with it if number of alerts is much.


Actual results:

Firefox 18+ freezes when performed steps described in the above section.


Expected results:

For the described usage, Firefox 18+ should behave like its older versions.

Comment 1

[Cork]

Do you have a test url or testcase to reproduce the problem. Without it this bug isn't solvable.

Comment 2

[jiri.frolik]

To reproduce the problem you have to be logged in the application. Please suggest a way how we can provide a login information to you (no public). Thank you

Comment 3

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

I can do a regression range search down to the changeset if this worked in previous versions. Please make sure that this is the case and test this with Firefox17 on the same system that freezes with Firefox18+
Please also test in the Firefox safemode: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Safe+Mode

You could mail me the exact steps to reproduce and the login information if you thrust me.

Comment 4

[jiri.frolik]

I sent you an email with login information and steps how to reproduce the problem. The test was done on the same system with Firefox17 (ok), Firefox 18+(frozen) and Firefox 18+ in safe mode (frozen too).

Comment 5

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

I can reproduce a short freeze (30s) after the green bar appears and before the alert comes up with Firefox trunk. The regression range search will require a lot of time and I hope to do that in the next few days.

Comment 6

[jiri.frolik]

Thank you for information.
According to our testing, the freeze length seemed to vary in range from about one minute to more than 5 minutes.

Comment 7

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

Last good nightly: 2012-12-10
First bad nightly: 2012-12-11

Pushlog:
http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=725eb8792d27&tochange=4dfe323a663d

Reporter:
Can you please test this 2 builds. Download and extract the build to a directory of your choice, be sure that all Firefox windows are closed and doubleclick the firefox.exe in the extracted folder.

Can you confirm that the first build works and the second shows the issue that you have reported ?

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/2012/12/2012-12-10-03-07-47-mozilla-central/firefox-20.0a1.en-US.win32.zip

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/2012/12/2012-12-11-03-08-55-mozilla-central/firefox-20.0a1.en-US.win32.zip

Please also test this: While you get the freeze, switch to another application (like a windows explorer window) and immediately switch back to firefox. Is the freeze now gone / do you see the alert now ?

Comment 8

[jiri.frolik]

Thank you, I can confirm that the first build works and the second shows the freeze issue.

I have also tested the suggested switching to another application. If the Firefox window stays maximized and I switch to any other window and back (over the Firefox window), then the freeze still appears.
The freeze seems to disappear only when I minimize the Firefox window and maximize it again. Even it is not necessary to switch to other application in the meantime. It is enough to minimize and maximize. The alert is displayed immediatelly after maximization.

Comment 9

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

The first bad revision is:
changeset:   115466:1869f4cbee0b
user:        Robert O'Callahan <[e-mail]>
date:        Fri Dec 07 12:58:14 2012 +1300
summary:     Bug 785348. Part 1: Track when we've called into plugin code. While
 we're in plugin code, never run the refresh driver. r=mats


I found bug 850191 via 785348