Plugin causing constant application freezes while surfing

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?

1. Install the plugin
2. Go to http://images.google.com/
3. Search for the term, test.
4. Press the space bar at a pace of about two times per second.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

Desired Output: Smooth, uninterrupted use of Firefox

Instead: Freezes in operation that last about 2 seconds and occur every few 
seconds to every 10 seconds, depending on how fast I surf. This is only one 
frustrating example. The plugin has been causing freezes during every kind of 
web browsing experience. I only just figured out that it was this plugin 
causing the problem, but it is certain. When I disable the plugin, the delays 
and the console errors go away.

The following error appears in the Console Log during each occurrence:
/Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin  Warning: accessing 
obsolete X509Anchors.

The error is intrinsically tied to the freezing.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.12) 
Gecko/20101026 Firefox/3.6.12

Original issue reported on code.google.com by thefie...@gmail.com on 5 Dec 2010 at 3:34

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This doesn't seem to be related specifically to this add-on. The extension is 
just triggering it because it is accessing the keychain quite frequently - do 
you not see the same problem with e.g. Safari?

Googling for "Warning: accessing obsolete X509Anchors" brings up quite a lot of 
results of people running into this problem with Entourage, Safari, etc. I 
can't quite tell from any of the links I found, though, what the suggested fix 
is... maybe adding X509Anchors and then removing it again?

Original comment by jfitz...@gmail.com on 6 Feb 2011 at 1:51

[GoogleCodeExporter]

No, the problem doesn't exist in Safari. I think I mentioned that in the
ticket. It is this plugin. Once disabled, the problem went away. And believe
me, I googled extensively. I couldn't find a solution. Since Safari didn't
exhibit the the issue, I suspect there is a difference in how the plugin
interacts with the keychain versus how Safari interacts with it.

Thank you for replying. I thought you'd thrown in the towel on this plugin.
It's been terrific up until recently. I guess my situation is an anomaly.
But I'm getting used to life without the keychain again.

Original comment by thefie...@gmail.com on 18 Feb 2011 at 4:47

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Sorry, I'm not able to reproduce the problem and I haven't heard anyone else 
reporting it. It does seem like it's something related to your system (even if 
Safari isn't triggering it) as the google results for that warning do indicate 
that it is a known problem with Keychain Services on some upgraded systems. 
Safari may not actually lock up because it searches the keychain less often 
than Firefox or does so in a different thread - I have little control over that 
as the core of Firefox chooses when to search and Apple instructs developers 
not to cache the keychain results. There are some minor variations in how 
programs might interact with the keychain, but basically there are just one or 
two API calls and that's what all programs use - nothing very fancy.

It is possible to specify a specific keychain to search (perhaps Safari does 
that?), but I prefer to search across the full list provided by the system 
search path. I do plan to add the ability to specify a keychain to use (makes 
my testing easier) rather than using the system search path (which it sounds 
like includes the obsolete file), so it's possible that might help you avoid 
the issue but I think you'd be better to correct your system in any case.

If the fixes hinted at in the google results don't help, I'm not sure what else 
to suggest. Have you tried them? It sounds like your keychain environment (or 
possibly the system keychain environment) still lists X509Anchors, even though 
you are now running OS 10.5 or 10.6. Your keychain environment *should* include 
an entry called "System Roots" and should *not* include "X509Anchors". You 
should be able to correct this in Keychain Services.app (make sure to click the 
button in the bottom left corner to display the Keychains in your search 
environment) or look in the following files:

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.security.plist
/Library/Preferences/com.apple.security-common.plist

Backup up anything you delete or edit first, of course!

Original comment by jfitz...@gmail.com on 18 Feb 2011 at 2:30

• Changed state: CantReproduce

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I am deeply sorry I have not responded to this thread sooner. Your help has 
been invaluable. You hit the nail on the head with the X509Anchors keychain. I 
must have been interrupted the first time I read your response, because I 
didn't get a chance to try removing it. I checked back here a few days ago, 
read your response thoroughly, tried removing that part of it, and the error 
has vanished. I hope this thread proves useful if anyone else suffers from the 
same conflict. I have a system that has been upgraded over several OS versions, 
so it doesn't surprise me that I had a depricated piece still in the keychain. 
I just wish Apple was a little more diligent about ensuring that kind of thing 
can't happen. C'est la vie.

I love your plugin. And I deeply appreciate your support of it. 

Original comment by yout...@alienimplant.com on 26 Apr 2011 at 5:32