Bug report from an Snap Links Plus user that was found to be related to Pref Monitor too

[cpriest]

See this closed github ticket:

https://github.com/cpriest/SnapLinksPlus/issues/37#issuecomment-36045749

Just thought I'd pass along the report.

[diegocr]

Hi @cpriest, thanks for bringing that to my attention. I'll give it a try.

[diegocr]

Well, i've installed PrefMon 3.5 and SnapLinksPlus 2.4.0 over a clean Firefox 27.0.1 profile and i wasn't able to reproduce that behavior.

@Flaney, i suspect you have some add-on which is trying to change protected Firefox preferences, such as any of these configured on PrefMon to get automatically reverted:

The whole pattern is: ^((browser\.(startup|newtab)|general\.useragent|keyword)\.|extensions\.(autoDisableScopes|enabledScopes))

So, my guess as to why it causes Firefox not to load is because the changes are reverted by PrefMon and then by that other add-on as well when it finds the pref(s) changed back, producing a "race condition".

I hereby request you to check all your installed extensions since it smells to me like you have some malicious one running.

[Flaney]

Is there a list of malicious add-ons?

What I will try: disable all except SnapLinks and PrefMon, add back a few at a time until "race condition" reappears. That should isolate the culprit.

flaney

[diegocr]

The only official list i'm aware of is the Firefox Blocklist, but these add-ons should already get disabled by Firefox automatically, well... unless the blocklist feature got disabled...

Your approach to find the culprit is correct in any case.

[Flaney]

Disabling everything except SnapLinksPlus and PreferencesMonitor works fine. As I enable extensions, I get a fail at EverygainTranslator. But the fails continue after disabling it and enabling the next extension on the list (intermittently). That is, several extensions enabled with others up to but not including EverygainTranslator now exhibit a fails too. It seems complicated after that; some do and some don't.

If I disable SnapLinks or PreferencesMonitor, all extensions load normally.  I load 62 extensions in all; Everygain is the 17th.

[diegocr]

In fact, Everygain has a security flaw which could be used by an attacker to perform all kind of malicious activities through the websites you visit, i've just reported it on bugzilla.

However, that is unrelated to the issue being discussed here, as you pointed it also occurs after disabling it. What was the add-on you enabled before Everygain? It may has something to do if you've started to notice it at that point. I can see it's somewhat hard trying to debug that due the number of installed add-ons and the fact it happens intermittently, but if you would like to continue testing i'll be here to help the best i can until we found the real cause.

[Flaney]

The extensions before and after EveryGain are EmbeddedObjects and ExtensionDefender, alphabetically of course.

I will continue in the morning. Removing Evergain. 

Thanks

[cpriest]

You may find something is messed up with your FF profile and starting with a fresh one, even with all of the extensions works just fine. May be a lot of preferences to reconfigure though.

[diegocr]

EmbeddedObjects: This add-on has been removed by its author. - Huh?

Anyway, i got a copy of the 2.9 version, issues found:

1) It creates HTTP observers for every opened window, while the correct thing to do is to use a component.

2) It is indeed changing general.useragent.override which PrefMon should try to revert, it shouldn't cause such race condition though, since it occurs in demand only i think

3) Generally, that add-on's code is a pain, I.e: importing the same Firefox modules several times rather than just once, performing sync I/O in the main thread, abusive use of .getService() calls, etc

Does that thing really works? ;) You may want to try DownThemAll instead.

Regarding ExtensionDefender, apparently nothing wrong with this addon. (I don't see a real use for us Firefox users, but that is off-topic here in any case)

[diegocr]

@cpriest Yeah, you're right. In any case, Flaney, you may want to just Reset your Firefox Profile which is the easy path to get rid of problems on your profile. Resetting the profile will make a new profile preserving your personal data, (moreover, your previous profile won't be deleted), further details on the pointed URL. Thanks Clint for making me remind that :)

[Flaney]

I plan to do a reset tomorrow. I first want to export any settings I can to someplace safe for the reinit. Also, I dumped the EmbeddedObjects. I've never used it and forgot about it. Any comment  regarding FEBE for profile backup/restore?

Thanks

---

From: Diego Casorran notifications@github.com To: diegocr/PrefMon PrefMon@noreply.github.com Cc: Flaney flaney@yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 6:11 PM Subject: Re: [PrefMon] Bug report from an Snap Links Plus user that was found to be related to Pref Monitor too (#2)

@cpriest Yeah, you're right. In any case, Flaney, you may want to just Reset your Firefox Profile which is the easy path to get rid of problems on your profile. Resetting the profile will make a copy of your existing profile preserving your personal data, (moreover, your previous profile won't be deleted), further details on the pointed URL. Thanks Clint for making me remind that :) — Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[diegocr]

FEBE looks like a good extension, but i never used it. Personally, i do weekly backups by using 7-zip through the Windows's scheduler:

7za u -mx9 F:\!backups\Mozilla.7z C:\...\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla

Which should backup everything Mozilla-related in a go.

In any case, remember the Reset feature will NOT delete your current profile, a new one will be created.

[Flaney]

Completed FF reset. Restored add-ons and settings. Problem persists; if SnapLinks and PrefMon are both enabled, FF window will not come up and must be ended via Task Manager.

From FEBE, here are my add-ons:

Adblock Plus (v2.5.1) Add-on Update Checker (v2.4) Add Bookmark Here ² (v23.0.20140225) Addons Recent Updates (v0.1.6) BetterPrivacy (v1.68) Bookmark Duplicate Detector (v1.0.7) Bookmark Highlighter (v1.8) Bookmarks Checker - check for bad links (v2.3.0) Click&Clean (v4.1) ComicUpdater (v0.7) Config Descriptions (v1.0) Configuration Mania (v1.17.2014011501) Customize about:newtab (v1.1.1) Document Font Toggle (v1.2) Duplicate Tabs Closer (v1.1.1.0) Extension Defender (v1.0.3) Extension Options Menu (v2.7) FEBE (v7.3.0.1) Facebook Disconnect (v2.1.3) FindBar Tweak (v1.4.18) Fire IE (v0.3.7) Flash and Video Download (v1.49) Forecastfox (v2.2.2) Ghostery (v5.1.1) Google Disconnect (v2.4.2) GoogleEnhancer (v1.91) Google Privacy (v0.2.3) Google Similar Images (v0.5) Hide Add-on-Bar-Close-Button (v0.3.0) Image Zoom (v0.6.3) Link Location Bar (v1.1.4) More About (v1.0.0) Muter (v1.0.3) MyBookmarks (v0.6.13) Nightly Tester Tools (v3.7) No Cookie for Google search (v1.06.rev61) Parent Folder (v4.5.2) PlacesCleaner (v0.42) Plugins Toggler (v1.2.3) Popup ALT Attribute (v2.0.2012122901) Preferences Monitor (v3.5) Print Edit (v11.3) Pure URL (v1.2.3) ReDisposition (v0.2.3) Saved Password Editor (v2.7.2) Screenshoter Fixed (v1.08) Searchonymous (v1.0.1) Self-Destructing Cookies (v0.4.3) Snap Links Plus (v2.4.0) Solitaire/Pasjans (v1.3.6.5.1) Tab Counter (v1.9.8) Tab Mix Plus (v0.4.1.3.1) TableTools2 (v1.17) Toolbar Buttons (v1.0) TrackMeNot (v0.6.728) Visited (v1.11) Web Search Pro (v3.0.7) google-no-tracking-url (v1.3.1)

LittleFox (v1.3.1)

I don't know what I should do next to help find a solution.

Flaney

 

---

From: Diego Casorran notifications@github.com To: diegocr/PrefMon PrefMon@noreply.github.com Cc: Flaney flaney@yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2014 6:11 PM Subject: Re: [PrefMon] Bug report from an Snap Links Plus user that was found to be related to Pref Monitor too (#2)

@cpriest Yeah, you're right. In any case, Flaney, you may want to just Reset your Firefox Profile which is the easy path to get rid of problems on your profile. Resetting the profile will make a copy of your existing profile preserving your personal data, (moreover, your previous profile won't be deleted), further details on the pointed URL. Thanks Clint for making me remind that :) — Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[cpriest]

Is there any debug mode that PrefMon can be enabled to see what is being changed, and maybe by what?

[diegocr]

PrefMon prints to the Browser Console everything it does already, hence the debug mode is always enabled so to speak.

Flaney, sorry to hear the Reset thing didn't solve the problem, hopefully the process wasn't a headache, in any case sure your profile is on a better mood now ;)

You could try to launch Firefox from a Command Prompt like so:

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\Firefox.exe" -jsconsole -console -no-remote

This will launch Firefox opening the Browser Console and outputting messages to the command prompt's terminal as well. On the later you can use CTRL+C to kill Firefox (so no need to open the Task Manager)

[Flaney]

I ran with and without PrefMon and captured output from console window. When running with PrefMon, console hung; see attached png.

08:57:30.805 Unexpected end of file while searching for end of comment. userContent.css:15 08:57:30.805 Selector expected. Ruleset ignored due to bad selector. userChrome.css:2 08:57:30.805 Found unclosed string ''s required for correct functioning */'. Unexpected end of file while searching for closing } of invalid rule set. userChrome.css:2 08:57:31.035 Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped. websearchpro.css:74 08:57:31.066 Expected end of value but found '-moz-image-region'. Error in parsing value for 'list-style-image'. Declaration dropped. global.css:709 08:57:34.451 NS_ERROR_XPC_BAD_IID: Component returned failure code: 0x80570018 (NS_ERROR_XPC_BAD_IID) [nsIJSCID.getService] Detector.js:15 08:57:34.902 NS_ERROR_XPC_BAD_IID: Component returned failure code: 0x80570018 (NS_ERROR_XPC_BAD_IID) [nsIJSCID.getService] Detector.js:15 08:57:35.382 TypeError: Bookmarkdd is undefined duplicates.xul:16 08:57:35.392 Use of Mutation Events is deprecated. Use MutationObserver instead. button.js:340 08:57:36.844 gprivacy: AddonManager returned null for installed addon 'firebug@software.joehewitt.com'. Disabled? Compatibility checks not added! 08:57:36.844 gprivacy: AddonManager returned null for installed addon 'requestpolicy@requestpolicy.com'. Disabled? Compatibility checks not added! 08:57:36.991 this.updateDisplay is not a function search.xml:83 [--removed a bunch of CSS warnings--] 08:57:43.445 not well-formed messages.json:1 08:57:43.521 Use of getUserData() or setUserData() is deprecated. Use WeakMap or element.dataset instead. requestNotifier.js:64 08:57:43.673 Expected 'none' or URL but found 'alpha('. Error in parsing value for 'filter'. Declaration dropped. game.css:41 08:57:43.673 Unknown property '-moz-border-radius'. Declaration dropped. game.css:52 08:57:43.673 Expected 'none' or URL but found 'alpha('. Error in parsing value for 'filter'. Declaration dropped. game.css:63 08:57:43.833 TypeError: can't access dead object goenoverlay.js:1397

Date: Mon Mar 03 2014 08:57:46 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Full Message: Win error 183 during operation makeDir (Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

)

[diegocr]

Looks like you cannot send images to Github from email responses, if you need to attach some image please come to Github to do so.

Well, from that log we can see a few conflicts, but let's talk about the last TypeError:

TypeError: can't access dead object goenoverlay.js:1397

Whatever add-on that is, it's obviously bugged.

Searching at G i've found this post, quoting:

Bagman Mugger, Stream Helper and Brutus Helper are all giving me an unresponsive script error when I try to use them. The script that is causing the problem is "script: chrome://goen/content/goenoverlay.js:1053". Whenever I get this error, Firefox locks up and I have to force close it.

That guy is reporting the same problem than you, so have you any of Bagman Mugger, Stream Helper, or Brutus Helper installed? i don't see them on your list above, though :confused:

[Flaney]

The image shows a short list in console window before halting. It ends with:

NS_ERROR_XPC_BAD_IID: Component returned failure code: 0x80570018 (NS_ERROR_XPC_BAD_IID) [nsIJSCID.getService] Detector.js:15

I don't think this is the problem as it exists in the log when running without PrefMon. Might be something that follows but does not get captured before the halt.

[diegocr]

Regardless i think that might be causing a conflict to other add-ons. For example, if it is monkey patching a component built into Firefox and it throws that exception, it could cause other extensions to fail too.

I suggest you to check which extensions are producing these errors and get rid of them, summarizing I mean the extensions throwing:

• TypeError: can't access dead object goenoverlay.js:1397
• TypeError: Bookmarkdd is undefined duplicates.xul:16
• this.updateDisplay is not a function search.xml:83 (Search provider?)
• Component returned failure code: 0x80570018 [nsIJSCID.getService] Detector.js:15

Also, i wonder why is your installed Google Privacy extension dealing with AddonManager and the list of installed addons:

08:57:36.844 gprivacy: AddonManager returned null for installed addon 'firebug@software.joehewitt.com'. Disabled? Compatibility checks not added! 08:57:36.844 gprivacy: AddonManager returned null for installed addon 'requestpolicy@requestpolicy.com'. Disabled? Compatibility checks not added!

According to the AMO's description it isn't supposed to do that (?)

[Flaney]

GoogleEnhancer produces this:   <> TypeError: can't access dead object goenoverlay.js:1397

Dropped BookmarkDD, GoogleDisconnect, FacebookDisconnect, and GoogleEnhancer to remove console errors. Added back PrefMon but still no window on restart!?

Even with the console errors eliminated, problem persists. What's left?

[diegocr]

That's weird. Well, what's left is:

1) Go to the Add-On Manager and open the Options for PrefMon 2) Scroll down and launch eCleaner 3) In the "Extensions" tab, select preferencesmonitor and click the "Remove Selected" button. 4) Close eCleaner 5) Install GitHub Extension Installer 6) Go to the main page of the PrefMon Repo 7) On the lower-right side on the page, click "Add to Firefox":

8) You should be now running PrefMon 3.6a1 - does the problem still persist?

[Flaney]

Followed instructions. Restart with PrefMon & SnapLinks enabled; no window. Disabled SnapLinks and started again with console: report below.

Might this provide some insight?

----------------------------TEXT COPY-------------- 22:00:23.777 Failed to load native module at path 'C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\components\browsercomps.dll': (80520012) <unknown; can't get error from NSPR> 22:00:23.996 Warning: attempting to write 4485 bytes to preference extensions.bootstrappedAddons. This is bad for general performance and memory usage. Such an amount of data should rather be written to an external file. 22:00:24.526 While creating services from category 'profile-after-change', could not create service for entry 'Disk Space Watcher Service', contract ID '@mozilla.org/toolkit/disk-space-watcher;1' 22:00:28.704 No chrome package registered for chrome://forecastfox/locale/forecastfox.dtd 22:00:28.793 Preferences Monitor :: Mon Mar 03 2014 22:00:28 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time)

WARNING: Unable to obtain navigator:browser (NotificationBox Unavailable) Permitted change by gre´ for "datareporting.sessions.current.totalTime" Permitted change bygre´ for "datareporting.sessions.current.activeTicks" 22:00:29.262 BetterPrivacy: Unable to delete directory (usually temporarily due to an open handle or missing permission)- C:\Documents and Settings\Flane\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\www.macromedia.com\bin\airappinstaller 22:00:29.263 BetterPrivacy: Unable to delete directory (usually temporarily due to an open handle or missing permission)- C:\Documents and Settings\Flane\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player#Security\FlashPlayerTrust 22:00:29.264 BetterPrivacy: Unable to delete directory (usually temporarily due to an open handle or missing permission)- C:\Documents and Settings\Flane\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\www.macromedia.com\bin 22:00:29.264 BetterPrivacy: Unable to delete directory (usually temporarily due to an open handle or missing permission)- C:\Documents and Settings\Flane\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\www.macromedia.com 22:00:29.438 BetterPrivacy: Unable to delete directory (usually temporarily due to an open handle or missing permission)- C:\Documents and Settings\Flane\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player#Security 22:00:29.438 BetterPrivacy: Unable to delete directory (usually temporarily due to an open handle or missing permission)- C:\Documents and Settings\Flane\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player 22:00:29.450 Use of Mutation Events is deprecated. Use MutationObserver instead. button.js:340 22:00:29.453 Unable to parse default RSS feeds! 22:00:30.022 No chrome package registered for chrome://sessionmanager/content/modules/session_manager.jsm 22:00:30.588 Direct3D 9 DeviceManager Initialized Successfully. Driver: ati2dvag.dll Description: ATI Radeon HD 4200 Version: 6.14.10.7018 22:00:30.820 gprivacy: AddonManager returned null for installed addon 'firebug@software.joehewitt.com'. Disabled? Compatibility checks not added! 22:00:30.821 gprivacy: AddonManager returned null for installed addon 'requestpolicy@requestpolicy.com'. Disabled? Compatibility checks not added! 22:00:30.964 this.updateDisplay is not a function search.xml:83 22:00:31.521 Preferences Monitor :: Mon Mar 03 2014 22:00:31 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Permitted self-made change by bprivacy´ for "extensions.bprivacy.removed" Permitted self-made change bybprivacy´ for "extensions.bprivacy.removedSession" Permitted change by browser´ for "privacy.sanitize.didShutdownSanitize" Permitted change byapp´ for "browser.slowStartup.averageTime" Permitted change by app´ for "browser.slowStartup.samples" Permitted change bygre´ for "datareporting.sessions.current.firstPaint" Permitted self-made change by trackmenot´ for "extensions.trackmenot.lastQuery" Permitted self-made change bytrackmenot´ for "extensions.trackmenot.totalCount" 22:00:32.722 Preferences Monitor :: Mon Mar 03 2014 22:00:30 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time)

`tabmixplus´ changed the value of "extensions.tabmix.sessions.crashed"

oldValue: `No old Value found´ newValue: true

^ JS frame :: chrome://tabmixplus/content/session/session.js :: SM__init :: line 433 ^ JS frame :: chrome://tabmixplus/content/session/session.js :: :: line 333 ^ JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/Promise.jsm :: :: line 719 ^ JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/Promise.jsm :: :: line 483 ^ native frame :: :: :: line 0 session.js:433 22:00:33.216 Preferences Monitor :: Mon Mar 03 2014 22:00:33 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time)

Permitted self-made change by Duplicate Tabs Closer´ for "extensions.jid0-RvYT2rGWfM8q5yWxIxAHYAeo5Qg@jetpack.onCloseEvent" Permitted self-made change byDuplicate Tabs Closer´ for "extensions.jid0-RvYT2rGWfM8q5yWxIxAHYAeo5Qg@jetpack.ignoreHashPart" Permitted self-made change by Duplicate Tabs Closer´ for "extensions.jid0-RvYT2rGWfM8q5yWxIxAHYAeo5Qg@jetpack.ignoreSearchPart" Permitted self-made change byDuplicate Tabs Closer´ for "extensions.jid0-RvYT2rGWfM8q5yWxIxAHYAeo5Qg@jetpack.keepIfHistory" Permitted self-made change by Duplicate Tabs Closer´ for "extensions.jid0-RvYT2rGWfM8q5yWxIxAHYAeo5Qg@jetpack.closeForSameGroupOnly" Permitted self-made change byDuplicate Tabs Closer´ for "extensions.jid0-RvYT2rGWfM8q5yWxIxAHYAeo5Qg@jetpack.autoClose" Permitted self-made change by Duplicate Tabs Closer´ for "extensions.jid0-RvYT2rGWfM8q5yWxIxAHYAeo5Qg@jetpack.debugInfo" Permitted self-made change byBookmark Highlighter´ for "extensions.jid0-CNA8w9TYZz7H2Wrq5ZfmSO5yB0I@jetpack.highlightedLinkBackground" Permitted self-made change by Bookmark Highlighter´ for "extensions.jid0-CNA8w9TYZz7H2Wrq5ZfmSO5yB0I@jetpack.highlightedImageBorder" Permitted self-made change byVisited´ for "extensions.visited.active" Permitted self-made change by Visited´ for "extensions.visited.image.hover" Permitted self-made change byVisited´ for "extensions.visited.image.border.nonLink" Permitted self-made change by Visited´ for "extensions.visited.except" Permitted self-made change byVisited´ for "extensions.visited.shortcut" Permitted self-made change by google-no-tracking-url´ for "extensions.jid1-zUrvDCat3xoDSQ@jetpack.aggresiveGoogleImagesCleanup" Permitted self-made change bySelf-Destructing Cookies´ for "extensions.jid0-9XfBwUWnvPx4wWsfBWMCm4Jj69E@jetpack.localStorage" Permitted self-made change by Self-Destructing Cookies´ for "extensions.jid0-9XfBwUWnvPx4wWsfBWMCm4Jj69E@jetpack.undelete" Permitted self-made change bySelf-Destructing Cookies´ for "extensions.jid0-9XfBwUWnvPx4wWsfBWMCm4Jj69E@jetpack.strictAccess" Permitted self-made change by Self-Destructing Cookies´ for "extensions.jid0-9XfBwUWnvPx4wWsfBWMCm4Jj69E@jetpack.keepIFrames" Permitted self-made change bySelf-Destructing Cookies´ for "extensions.jid0-9XfBwUWnvPx4wWsfBWMCm4Jj69E@jetpack.controls" Permitted self-made change by Document Font Toggle´ for "extensions.dft@dietrich.cx.allow_hosts" Permitted self-made change byDocument Font Toggle´ for "extensions.dft@dietrich.cx.disallow_hosts" 22:00:34.648 Preferences Monitor :: Mon Mar 03 2014 22:00:34 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Permitted self-made change by Pure URL´ for "extensions.pure-url@jetpack.request_hook_enabled" Permitted self-made change byPure URL´ for "extensions.pure-url@jetpack.page_inject_type" Permitted self-made change by Pure URL´ for "extensions.pure-url@jetpack.garbage_fields" Permitted change bygre´ for "datareporting.sessions.current.totalTime" Permitted change by gre´ for "datareporting.sessions.current.activeTicks" 22:00:35.744 not well-formed messages.json:1 22:00:35.843 Use of getUserData() or setUserData() is deprecated. Use WeakMap or element.dataset instead. requestNotifier.js:64 22:00:36.813 Use of getUserData() or setUserData() is deprecated. Use WeakMap or element.dataset instead. requestNotifier.js:64 22:00:37.119 Preferences Monitor :: Mon Mar 03 2014 22:00:37 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Permitted change bygre´ for "datareporting.sessions.current.sessionRestored" 22:00:38.009 TypeError: can't access dead object goenoverlay.js:1397 22:00:38.792 "JQMIGRATE: Logging is active" common-min.js:9 22:00:40.006 Use of getPreventDefault() is deprecated. Use defaultPrevented instead. common-min.js:3 22:00:40.006 " _.-~-. 7'' Q..\ 7 ( 7 / _q. / _7 . /VVvv-' . 7/ / /~- \ '-. .-' / // ./ ( /-~-/||'=. '::. '-~'' { / // ./{ V V-~-~| || **'' ':::. ''~-~.**.-'' / // / { / { / VV/-~-~-|/ \ .'**'. '. ':: ''. / /~~~~||VVV/ / \ ) \ _ _ (_) | | .::' / (~-~-~.-' / \' ::::. | ' _ \ / _ \_ / | | |/ _ | :::' /..\ /..**/ ' '::: | | | | | | () / /| | | | (| | ::' vVVv vVVv ': || || ||/||||\,_| ''

Hi there, nice to meet you!

Interested in having a direct impact on hundreds of millions of users? Join Mozilla, and become part of a global community that’s helping to build a brighter future for the Web.

Visit https://careers.mozilla.org to learn about our current job openings. Visit https://www.mozilla.org/contribute for more ways to get involved and help support Mozilla." tabzilla.js:574 22:00:40.973 1393912840972 Services.HealthReport.HealthReporter WARN No prefs data found.

22:00:51.459 A promise chain failed to handle a rejection.

Date: Mon Mar 03 2014 22:00:40 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Full Message: Win error 183 during operation makeDir (Cannot create a file when that file already exists.

) 22:01:00.985 Preferences Monitor :: Mon Mar 03 2014 22:01:00 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time)

ERROR: Unable to obtain caller, changed preference: toolkit.startup.last_success´ FROM1393912728´ TO `1393912823´

---

[diegocr]

How about if you test if the same problem exists using previous versions of Snap Links Plus?

Edit: Feel free to test several of them, GitHubExtIns should make that easy to do by installing directly from their src folder:

[diegocr]

Hi there, i did a minor change in the observer to ensure console logging (to file on disk) does not occur if the option isn't enabled, just in case there's some conflict with another addon incorrectly hitting that PrefMon's observer...who knows.. So, please install the new version from the repo and give it a try.

However, thinking further on it (and if that didn't solve the problem), maybe enabling the "console logging" option could save to disk any missing message which didn't get printed on the console due the hang (?)

That console logging feature will save messages to a prefmon-console.txt file in your profile:

[cpriest]

What page do you happen to be on when you start up? Would it be throwing a lot of mutation events? This is something that is new in Snap Links Plus for pages that have 'virtual scroll panels' which dynamically load more and more content.

If you're on a website that is constantly modifying the DOM, SLP could be related in that manner...

Is there anything PerfMon is doing that would cause mutation events?

I could build a beta version with an option to ignore mutation events, LMK...

On 3/4/2014 2:55 PM, Diego Casorran wrote:

Hi there, i did a minor change in the observer to ensure console logging (to file on disk) does not occur if the option isn't enabled, just in case there's some conflict with another addon incorrectly hitting that PrefMon's observer...who knows.. So, please install the new version from the repo and give it a try.

However, thinking further on it (and if that didn't solve the problem), maybe enabling the "console logging" option could save to disk any missing message which didn't get printed on the console due the hang (?)

That /console logging/ feature will save messages to a |prefmon-console.txt| file in your profile.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/diegocr/PrefMon/issues/2#issuecomment-36673522.

[Flaney]

I come up with Mozilla page :  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/extensions/ Sometimes it's Drudge.

[diegocr]

Hi Clint, PrefMon has nothing to do with mutation events. In fact, it doesn't even have anything to do with browser/content windows nor DOM/XUL nodes, since the whole core is around a single Observer listening to nsPref:changed notifications.

In any case, you should really stop using mutation events, they were deprecated for a reason :)

[Flaney]

prefmon-console.txt file fails to update when both Snap & Pref are active. The console window records only the first three lines of messages (same data regardless if one is disabled) Image shows console without Snaplinks.

Both versions of prefmon behave the same.

I need to disable the console logging as the file gets big (did not set to strict); FF crashes when I try to login to Github(???) when prefmon-console.txt gets large >3MB.

[diegocr]

Yeah, the console logging isn't something to have turned on always, rather to debug something occasionally.

Some week ago i also noticed crashes while on Github, until i upgraded Flash... apparently there are some known issues with Flash on Fx 27, please make sure you're using Adobe Flash 12.0.0.70

Er, we can kick our own balls if your problem is just related to Flash... ;-)

[Flaney]

12.0 r0

Balls safe

[diegocr]

Well, i did some other random tweaks on 1f804cff882ee57119e7c377e0378e7eae34955d, give it a try and lmk if something changed.

[cpriest]

I'm probably using the wrong terminology, I'm using the new, replaced functionality.

[cpriest]

In that same vein, I have stopped using Flash with Firefox, it causes serious performance problems anytime it's launched, almost instantly. Possibly try disabling Flash and see if that fixes the problem?

[Flaney]

Same behavior with or without flash.

[diegocr]

Did you had a chance to try 3.6a2 ? if that doesn't fix it i'm out of ideas.

[Flaney]

3.6a2 exhibits same behavior....

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From: Diego Casorran notifications@github.com To: diegocr/PrefMon PrefMon@noreply.github.com Cc: Flaney flaney@yahoo.com Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2014 9:47 AM Subject: Re: [PrefMon] Bug report from an Snap Links Plus user that was found to be related to Pref Monitor too (#2)

Did you had a chance to try 3.6a2 ? if that doesn't fix it i'm out of ideas. — Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[Flaney]

I got them to work! I changed some of the options of PrefMon. After both running, I went back to check the options. The options page is now horked up; difficult to read-fonts and paragraphs overlapping and offset, check boxes behind text or buried by text, et cetera.

I did set "Ask to Revert Changes". The others I set are lost of the format snafu

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From: Diego Casorran notifications@github.com To: diegocr/PrefMon PrefMon@noreply.github.com Cc: Flaney flaney@yahoo.com Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2014 9:47 AM Subject: Re: [PrefMon] Bug report from an Snap Links Plus user that was found to be related to Pref Monitor too (#2)

Did you had a chance to try 3.6a2 ? if that doesn't fix it i'm out of ideas. — Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[diegocr]

Oh, screenshot please!

[Flaney]

What view do you want to see?

After rebooting tonight, I kicked off FF. The first run hung and I killed the process. I launched it again and everything came up. Surprised that there was an issue starting up, but relieved that it recovered after a kill process. So, what kind of data do you what?

[diegocr]

For the horked up options page :-) In fact, PrefMon is dynamically applying CSS to the about:addons page, so i wanted to see how messed is this. (I suspect that might be the result of a theme being used, dunno)

That apart, it is not yet clear if the 3.6a2 version fixed the issue from your findings (ie, the hang still occurred, but a next startup worked fine). The main changes on that new version was checking against a "stack overflow" condition and not getting/setting prefs or obtaining the NotificationBox element unnecessarily.

[Flaney]

Here as a snapshot of the Options page.

[diegocr]

That issue should be now fixed on 3.6a4

Cheers!