Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Dale]

Alan McKinnon wrote:
>
> I got fed up dealing with Firefox addons, so took the alternate route I
> used about every 6 months or so:
>
> emerge -et world
>
> and everything is nice and stable now after 48 hours running. I actually
> suspect an intel driver/mesa problem as I would often also get visual
> artifacts, plasma flashing the panel in odd ways and other stuff, often
> co-incident with Firefox just stalling. It was recalling that Firefox
> does some sophisticated accelaration that prompted me to try this.
>
>


I think you can turn that acceleration off in the settings.  I have to
admit tho, I've had that emerge -e world fix some weird problems as
well.  I think sometimes there is a mismatch somewhere that emerge and
friends just can't detect. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Dale]

Kai Krakow wrote:
> Am Thu, 30 Mar 2017 07:39:04 -0500
> schrieb Dale :
>
>> Kai Krakow wrote:
>>> Am Wed, 29 Mar 2017 17:08:39 -0500
>>> schrieb Dale :
>>>  
 Peter Humphrey wrote:  
>>  [...]  
>>  [...]  
>>  [...]  
 I tried it on one profile I have and it was not good.  It slowed
 Firefox to a crawl.  It took a good ten minutes just to get the
 add-ons manager to open and me to disable Ghostery.  Once I did
 that, it got better. After I restarted Firefox, it was back to
 normal. 

 I suspect it clashes with another add-on I use.  I'm not sure which
 one so I'll have to play with it when I have more time to spend on
 it. Right now, forestry and gardening is taking up my time tho.   
>>> This suggests that one of the other addons is your real problem...
>>>
>>>  
>> How is that?  It works fine without Ghostery?  What I suspect is
>> happening, Ghostery and some other addon clashes.  I suspect that if I
>> removed the other addons and installed Ghostery, it would work fine. 
>> After all, if it was as slow as it was when I installed it for
>> everyone else, people would be complaining, a lot.  It renders
>> Firefox basically unusable.  I just don't have time to test it to see
>> which one it clashes with right now. 
>>
>> I have quite a few addons installed.  This isn't the first time I've
>> had two addons clash. 
> Okay, point for you: The clash is maybe your real problem. ;-)
>
> But as I read in the other reply, you fixed it by rebuilding some
> packages. I think I stopped using Firefox completely when those
> graphics acceleration problems started. BTW, this is even a problem
> with older Intel drivers in Windows.
>
> And I eventually also stopped using Firefox because it becomes a
> sluggish monster with many addons installed. Poor quality addons are a
> real problem for it.
>


That would be Alan not me.  There's where the confusion came in. 
Ghostery was mentioned, I mentioned trying it, did try it and then
posted the results for me.  The thread sort of went slightly off topic
for just a bit. 

Firefox does get slow and I have removed some unused addons but some I
just have to have.  If I can find time and figure out which one, maybe I
can send some feedback and let the two addons devs hash out the
problem.  It may make both addons better for everyone, not just little
ole me. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Thu, 30 Mar 2017 07:39:04 -0500
schrieb Dale :

> Kai Krakow wrote:
> > Am Wed, 29 Mar 2017 17:08:39 -0500
> > schrieb Dale :
> >  
> >> Peter Humphrey wrote:  
>  [...]  
>  [...]  
>  [...]  
> >> I tried it on one profile I have and it was not good.  It slowed
> >> Firefox to a crawl.  It took a good ten minutes just to get the
> >> add-ons manager to open and me to disable Ghostery.  Once I did
> >> that, it got better. After I restarted Firefox, it was back to
> >> normal. 
> >>
> >> I suspect it clashes with another add-on I use.  I'm not sure which
> >> one so I'll have to play with it when I have more time to spend on
> >> it. Right now, forestry and gardening is taking up my time tho.   
> > This suggests that one of the other addons is your real problem...
> >
> >  
> 
> How is that?  It works fine without Ghostery?  What I suspect is
> happening, Ghostery and some other addon clashes.  I suspect that if I
> removed the other addons and installed Ghostery, it would work fine. 
> After all, if it was as slow as it was when I installed it for
> everyone else, people would be complaining, a lot.  It renders
> Firefox basically unusable.  I just don't have time to test it to see
> which one it clashes with right now. 
> 
> I have quite a few addons installed.  This isn't the first time I've
> had two addons clash. 

Okay, point for you: The clash is maybe your real problem. ;-)

But as I read in the other reply, you fixed it by rebuilding some
packages. I think I stopped using Firefox completely when those
graphics acceleration problems started. BTW, this is even a problem
with older Intel drivers in Windows.

And I eventually also stopped using Firefox because it becomes a
sluggish monster with many addons installed. Poor quality addons are a
real problem for it.

-- 
Regards,
Kai

Replies to list-only preferred.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Dale]

Kai Krakow wrote:
> Am Wed, 29 Mar 2017 17:08:39 -0500
> schrieb Dale :
>
>> Peter Humphrey wrote:
>>> On Tuesday 21 Mar 2017 14:59:48 Dale wrote:
>>>  
 Ublock is another option as well.  I use it on some Firefox
 profiles. It does seem to respond better than Adblock but some
 things I don't like about Ublock.

 I may look into that Ghostery too.  See if it is available for
 Firefox and Seamonkey.  
>>> I don't know about Seamonkey, but it is available for Firefox. It's
>>> a bit of an eye-opener too. I had no idea how many people are out
>>> there keeping watch over all our journeys around the web.
>>>  
>> I tried it on one profile I have and it was not good.  It slowed
>> Firefox to a crawl.  It took a good ten minutes just to get the
>> add-ons manager to open and me to disable Ghostery.  Once I did that,
>> it got better. After I restarted Firefox, it was back to normal. 
>>
>> I suspect it clashes with another add-on I use.  I'm not sure which
>> one so I'll have to play with it when I have more time to spend on
>> it. Right now, forestry and gardening is taking up my time tho. 
> This suggests that one of the other addons is your real problem...
>
>

How is that?  It works fine without Ghostery?  What I suspect is
happening, Ghostery and some other addon clashes.  I suspect that if I
removed the other addons and installed Ghostery, it would work fine. 
After all, if it was as slow as it was when I installed it for everyone
else, people would be complaining, a lot.  It renders Firefox basically
unusable.  I just don't have time to test it to see which one it clashes
with right now. 

I have quite a few addons installed.  This isn't the first time I've had
two addons clash. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Alan McKinnon]

On 21/03/2017 21:50, Kai Krakow wrote:
> Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 21:35:36 +0200
> schrieb Alan McKinnon :
> 
>> This post is rather vague, sorry about that in advance.
>>
>> I've spent much time on this and gotten absolutely nowhere. So I 
>> conclude all my thoughts and assumptions are wrong and not worth even 
>> sharing (on account of them being so wrong).
>>
>> I have firefox like this:
>>
>> [I] www-client/firefox
>>   Available versions:  45.7.0^d 45.8.0^d (~)51.0.1^d {bindist 
>> custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus debug ffmpeg +gmp-autoupdate 
>> +gstreamer gtk2 hardened hwaccel jack +jemalloc +jemalloc3 +jit neon
>> pgo pulseaudio rust selinux +skia startup-notification system-cairo 
>> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx 
>> system-sqlite test wifi L10N="ach af an ar as ast az be bg bn-BD
>> bn-IN br bs ca cak cs cy da de dsb el en-GB en-ZA eo es-AR es-CL
>> es-ES es-MX et eu fa ff fi fr fy ga gd gl gn gu he hi hr hsb hu hy id
>> is it ja ka kk km kn ko lij lt lv mai mk ml mr ms nb nl nn or pa pl
>> pt-BR pt-PT rm ro ru si sk sl son sq sr sv ta te th tr uk uz vi xh
>> zh-CN zh-TW"} Installed versions:  51.0.1^d(21:30:20 21/02/2017)(dbus 
>> gmp-autoupdate jemalloc pulseaudio skia startup-notification 
>> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx 
>> system-sqlite wifi -bindist -custom-cflags -custom-optimization
>> -debug -gtk2 -hardened -hwaccel -jack -neon -pgo -rust -selinux
>> -system-cairo -test L10N="en-GB en-ZA -ach -af -an -ar -as -ast -az
>> -bg -bn-BD -bn-IN -br -bs -ca -cak -cs -cy -da -de -dsb -el -eo
>> -es-AR -es-CL -es-ES -es-MX -et -eu -fa -ff -fi -fr -fy -ga -gd -gl
>> -gn -gu -he -hi -hr -hsb -hu -hy -id -is -it -ja -ka -kk -km -kn -ko
>> -lij -lt -lv -mai -mk -ml -mr -ms -nb -nl -nn -or -pa -pl -pt-BR
>> -pt-PT -rm -ro -ru -si -sk -sl -son -sq -sr -sv -ta -te -th -tr -uk
>> -uz -vi -xh -zh-CN -zh-TW") Homepage:
>> http://www.mozilla.com/firefox Description: Firefox Web
>> Browser
>>
>> with these plugins:
>> - adblockplus
>> - flashblock
>> - foxyproxy standard
>> - restart browser
>> - user agent switcher
>> - youtube all html5
>>
>> Occasionally, according to no discernable pattern, all my tabs on all 
>> some/most/all Firefox windows stop responding. Clicking and scrolling
>> in the content has no effect. Can't open new tabs, can't close tabs,
>> can't switch to existing tabs. Sometimes it affects only one firefox
>> window, sometimes all firefox windows.
>>
>> Imagine if you will that firefox is coded with one global loop that
>> gets user actions and responds, then that loop gets stuck somewhere.
>> The firefox window will not be affected (controlled by KDE), and
>> neither is the X-server but the tabs can all do nothing till the loop
>> unsticks. It's an effect like that.
>>
>> Sometimes it does work after a delay >30s.
>> The sysadmin in me says 30s? Hah, check DNS resolver timeouts.
>> Checked, found nothing unusual. Proxy looks OK, VPN looks OK, Chrome
>> never has this problem so it's firefox specific.
>>
>> Firefox itself is up, it responds correctly to moving around the
>> menus, just can't do some of the actions like open the Addons page
>> (that is regular content in a tab).
>>
>> The issue ALWAYS goes away if I restart firefox, either with the
>> restart addon or Alt-F4 and start from KDE menu. I have "load
>> previous tabs" set to true so those actions are pretty equivalent.
>>
>> DE is Plasma 5, and the problem isn't from a recent upgrade, I've
>> been battling with this for ages through MANY kde and firefox updates.
>>
>> My question:
>> Where the hell do I start to figure out what's really going on?
>> I used up all my sysadmin troubleshooting knowledge and have had to 
>> revert back to n00b status on this one.
> 
> I didn't use Firefox in a long time but remember similar effects until
> I stopped using AdBlock Plus (Chrome showed similar stalls with it,
> just not completely blocking, only one tab blocking). If this is what
> affects you, maybe try Ghostery instead (which is what I am using with
> Chrome now).
> 
> If it doesn't help, deactivate the next addon. Every addon hooking into
> web site rendering can create such problems easily, so start with those
> addons first.
> 


I got fed up dealing with Firefox addons, so took the alternate route I
used about every 6 months or so:

emerge -et world

and everything is nice and stable now after 48 hours running. I actually
suspect an intel driver/mesa problem as I would often also get visual
artifacts, plasma flashing the panel in odd ways and other stuff, often
co-incident with Firefox just stalling. It was recalling that Firefox
does some sophisticated accelaration that prompted me to try this.


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckin...@gmail.com

[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Wed, 29 Mar 2017 17:08:39 -0500
schrieb Dale :

> Peter Humphrey wrote:
> > On Tuesday 21 Mar 2017 14:59:48 Dale wrote:
> >  
> >> Ublock is another option as well.  I use it on some Firefox
> >> profiles. It does seem to respond better than Adblock but some
> >> things I don't like about Ublock.
> >>
> >> I may look into that Ghostery too.  See if it is available for
> >> Firefox and Seamonkey.  
> > I don't know about Seamonkey, but it is available for Firefox. It's
> > a bit of an eye-opener too. I had no idea how many people are out
> > there keeping watch over all our journeys around the web.
> >  
> 
> I tried it on one profile I have and it was not good.  It slowed
> Firefox to a crawl.  It took a good ten minutes just to get the
> add-ons manager to open and me to disable Ghostery.  Once I did that,
> it got better. After I restarted Firefox, it was back to normal. 
> 
> I suspect it clashes with another add-on I use.  I'm not sure which
> one so I'll have to play with it when I have more time to spend on
> it. Right now, forestry and gardening is taking up my time tho. 

This suggests that one of the other addons is your real problem...


-- 
Regards,
Kai

Replies to list-only preferred.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Dale]

Peter Humphrey wrote:
> On Tuesday 21 Mar 2017 14:59:48 Dale wrote:
>
>> Ublock is another option as well.  I use it on some Firefox profiles.
>> It does seem to respond better than Adblock but some things I don't like
>> about Ublock.
>>
>> I may look into that Ghostery too.  See if it is available for Firefox
>> and Seamonkey.
> I don't know about Seamonkey, but it is available for Firefox. It's a bit of 
> an eye-opener too. I had no idea how many people are out there keeping watch 
> over all our journeys around the web.
>

I tried it on one profile I have and it was not good.  It slowed Firefox
to a crawl.  It took a good ten minutes just to get the add-ons manager
to open and me to disable Ghostery.  Once I did that, it got better. 
After I restarted Firefox, it was back to normal. 

I suspect it clashes with another add-on I use.  I'm not sure which one
so I'll have to play with it when I have more time to spend on it. 
Right now, forestry and gardening is taking up my time tho. 

I couldn't find it for Seamonkey tho, which is where I'd rather use it
really.  Oh well.

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Peter Humphrey]

On Tuesday 21 Mar 2017 14:59:48 Dale wrote:

> Ublock is another option as well.  I use it on some Firefox profiles.
> It does seem to respond better than Adblock but some things I don't like
> about Ublock.
> 
> I may look into that Ghostery too.  See if it is available for Firefox
> and Seamonkey.

I don't know about Seamonkey, but it is available for Firefox. It's a bit of 
an eye-opener too. I had no idea how many people are out there keeping watch 
over all our journeys around the web.

-- 
Regards
Peter

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Peter Humphrey]

On Wednesday 22 Mar 2017 23:48:06 Kai Krakow wrote:
> Am Wed, 22 Mar 2017 15:12:36 +
> schrieb Peter Humphrey :
> > You have me thinking now. I have a couple of spare 1TB SSDs here, and
> > my workstation is a 12-core i7 running on a 256GB NVMe drive with 32
> > GB RAM.
> > 
> > Maybe I should put the SSDs into a RAID-1 to contain the system (the
> > same as they were in the old, now defunct box), then use the NVMe for
> > bcache. What do you think of that idea? I'm not desperately short of
> > space, but I've none spare either.
> 
> I'm not sure if bcache can use NVMe at their full potential... Maybe
> head over to the bcache list and ask there. I think it faces some write
> serialization issues while NVMe should better work with multi-queue
> scheduler.
> 
> If you're going to use mdraid, maybe better look into mdcache.

Ah, yes, I see what you mean.

> But your results would be interesting. :-)

So I thought too.  :-)

For the moment I think I'll just cogitate quietly. Thanks for the idea, 
which may yet see some fruit.

-- 
Regards
Peter

[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Wed, 22 Mar 2017 15:12:36 +
schrieb Peter Humphrey :

> On Tuesday 21 Mar 2017 22:50:04 Kai Krakow wrote:
> 
> ---<8
> 
> > I'm combining this with bcache. That's a cache between kernel and
> > filesystem that you put on SSD. Apparently, it requires
> > repartitioning to map your filesystem through bcache (it has to add
> > a protective superblock in front of your FS). So, a small SSD +
> > bcache can make your complete 500GB spinning rust act mostly like
> > SSD perfomance-wise.
> > 
> > I think there's a script that can move your FS 8 kB forward on HDD
> > to add that bcache superblock. But I wouldn't try that without
> > backup and some spare time. But it is a performance wonder.
> > 
> > Using 3x 1TB btrfs RAID + 500GB bcache here. The system feels like
> > an SSD system but I don't have to decide what to put on a small SSD
> > and what to put on big slow storage. Is just automagic. ;-)  
> 
> You have me thinking now. I have a couple of spare 1TB SSDs here, and
> my workstation is a 12-core i7 running on a 256GB NVMe drive with 32
> GB RAM.
> 
> Maybe I should put the SSDs into a RAID-1 to contain the system (the
> same as they were in the old, now defunct box), then use the NVMe for
> bcache. What do you think of that idea? I'm not desperately short of
> space, but I've none spare either.

I'm not sure if bcache can use NVMe at their full potential... Maybe
head over to the bcache list and ask there. I think it faces some write
serialization issues while NVMe should better work with multi-queue
scheduler.

If you're going to use mdraid, maybe better look into mdcache.

But your results would be interesting. :-)


-- 
Regards,
Kai

Replies to list-only preferred.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Peter Humphrey]

On Tuesday 21 Mar 2017 22:50:04 Kai Krakow wrote:

---<8

> I'm combining this with bcache. That's a cache between kernel and
> filesystem that you put on SSD. Apparently, it requires repartitioning
> to map your filesystem through bcache (it has to add a protective
> superblock in front of your FS). So, a small SSD + bcache can make your
> complete 500GB spinning rust act mostly like SSD perfomance-wise.
> 
> I think there's a script that can move your FS 8 kB forward on HDD to
> add that bcache superblock. But I wouldn't try that without backup and
> some spare time. But it is a performance wonder.
> 
> Using 3x 1TB btrfs RAID + 500GB bcache here. The system feels like an
> SSD system but I don't have to decide what to put on a small SSD and
> what to put on big slow storage. Is just automagic. ;-)

You have me thinking now. I have a couple of spare 1TB SSDs here, and my 
workstation is a 12-core i7 running on a 256GB NVMe drive with 32 GB RAM.

Maybe I should put the SSDs into a RAID-1 to contain the system (the same as 
they were in the old, now defunct box), then use the NVMe for bcache. What 
do you think of that idea? I'm not desperately short of space, but I've none 
spare either.

The workstation's full time is spent running physics BOINC projects. That's 
all other than the usual desktop tasks.

-- 
Regards
Peter

[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 22:50:04 +0100
schrieb Kai Krakow :

[...]
> BTW: Laptop disks are really slow usually because most manufacturers
> only build them with 5400 RPM disks. Maybe get a hybrid disk instead
> if you only have one slot. I think, Seagate still makes those. It
> should have similar benefits like bcache.

OTOH a 500 GB SSD is really not that expensive today... Just buy one,
replace the old one and feel like you bought a whole new computer then.

-- 
Regards,
Kai

Replies to list-only preferred.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Mick]

On Tuesday 21 Mar 2017 22:50:04 Kai Krakow wrote:
> Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 23:22:48 +0200
> 
> schrieb Alan McKinnon :
> > On 21/03/2017 22:16, Kai Krakow wrote:
> > > Test one by one... Either disable all, then enable one by one, or
> > > vice-versa.
> > > 
> > > Chances are that your FS may be blocking on sync. Do you maybe have
> > > a very high value in /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_{ratio,bytes}?
> > > 
> > > If ratio is 0, then bytes is used. Ratio is a percent of your
> > > physical RAM. With the default kernel value in modern systems, this
> > > is ridiculously high for desktop systems. Maybe put a fixed value,
> > > like 128MB. The dirty background value is the amount of outstanding
> > > writes before a foreground process blocks on further writes. If
> > > this value is high, a sync may cause processes to freeze for a long
> > > time. Setting this to a lower value forces single processes to
> > > block early and give the kernel a chance to write back dirty data.
> > > 
> > > The next value to check is dirty_{ratio,bytes}. That is the combined
> > > maximum of outstanding data before the cache must be flushed. If
> > > this is hit, all writing processes freeze. So, having the
> > > background value high gives a greater chance of hitting this early.
> > > 
> > > The default values are 10% and 20% (ratio). I've made the 20% ratio
> > > into 10% and put 128MB for background which works quite well:
> > > Foreground processes are blocked for shorter times (because writing
> > > 128MB can be a few seconds or less, where 1.6GB can be minutes in a
> > > worse case, so if overall limit is hit, I'm screwed). The overall
> > > dirty buffer is still big enough to let the system buffer writes of
> > > multiple processes. My system has 16GB RAM, you may want to adjust
> > > it or try different values.
> > > 
> > > $ cat /etc/sysctl.d/98-caching.conf
> > > vm.dirty_background_bytes = 134217728
> > > vm.dirty_ratio = 10
> > > 
> > > Maybe point your Firefox cache to a tmpfs. If you're using tmpfs,
> > > don't put swappiness to low, otherwise data sitting in tmpfs cannot
> > > be swapped out and will cause filesystem caches to be discarded to
> > > early. I'm working with a 32GB tmpfs and standard swappiness for
> > > emerge, and I see no problems although multiple gigabytes of emerge
> > > build data may be swapped out. Still, emerge is so much faster now.
> > > But then, my swaps are on different disks (and I have multiple for
> > > getting some RAID-like striping of swap space).
> > > 
> > > Also, depending on which FS you're using, trying deadline instead of
> > > CFQ may greatly improve your desktop experience (browsers should
> > > benefit most from this).
> > 
> > You may be onto something here:
> > 
> > This is an 8-core i7 latop, 16G RAM
> > 
> > $ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_bytes
> > 0
> > $ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio
> > 5
> > $ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_bytes
> > 0
> > $ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio
> > 10
> 
> With a 16 GB machine, I recommend to not work with the ratio values and
> stick to bytes values. 1% steps is just so coarse. Put some reasonable
> values there.
> 
> > browser cache is on a regular laptop spinning-rust 500G disk
> 
> Try moving the cache to tmpfs just for the sake of eliminating that...
> Nowadays, /tmp is usually mounted with tmpfs (at least it should),
> otherwise mount tmpfs somewhere below /mnt and make it chmod 1777. Then
> create a cache directory there, rename your browser cache (while the
> browser is not running) and instead put a symlink to the newly created
> directory. Now do some tests without rebooting. If it works, create an
> fstab entry to mount a tmpfs directly to your firefox cache directory
> with correct permissions. Of course, it would be lost on reboots.
> 
> An alternative could be to put the cache on an FS with better write
> performance, like NILFS2 (it does linear writes only but reading will
> suffer, but reading is not that sensitive to blocking). Reiserfs can
> also perform well when fsyncs are involved. But it doesn't scale well
> to parallel accesses (which is not so relevant for desktop usage, and
> especially as browser cache). Also, XFS always performed very well for
> me (better than Ext4), for desktop and server usage. But that only
> makes sense if you convert your whole system to that. And it cannot
> play its benefits if used on single-disk systems.
> 
> > IO scheduler is BFQ, I use it for ages now.
> 
> Yes, good choice. I'd use it, too. But it causes troubles with btrfs
> (results in system freezes with fs corruption when I run VirtualBox).
> 
> > I did tests some years back and found it overall the best for an
> > interactive desktop with a DE. I haven't repeated those tests since,
> > has there been significant changes in this are last year or three?
> 
> It still performance very well. The next best option for me was using
> deadline. CFQ is an interactivity killer.
> 
> I'm 

[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 23:22:48 +0200
schrieb Alan McKinnon :

> On 21/03/2017 22:16, Kai Krakow wrote:
> > Test one by one... Either disable all, then enable one by one, or
> > vice-versa.
> >
> > Chances are that your FS may be blocking on sync. Do you maybe have
> > a very high value in /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_{ratio,bytes}?
> >
> > If ratio is 0, then bytes is used. Ratio is a percent of your
> > physical RAM. With the default kernel value in modern systems, this
> > is ridiculously high for desktop systems. Maybe put a fixed value,
> > like 128MB. The dirty background value is the amount of outstanding
> > writes before a foreground process blocks on further writes. If
> > this value is high, a sync may cause processes to freeze for a long
> > time. Setting this to a lower value forces single processes to
> > block early and give the kernel a chance to write back dirty data.
> >
> > The next value to check is dirty_{ratio,bytes}. That is the combined
> > maximum of outstanding data before the cache must be flushed. If
> > this is hit, all writing processes freeze. So, having the
> > background value high gives a greater chance of hitting this early.
> >
> > The default values are 10% and 20% (ratio). I've made the 20% ratio
> > into 10% and put 128MB for background which works quite well:
> > Foreground processes are blocked for shorter times (because writing
> > 128MB can be a few seconds or less, where 1.6GB can be minutes in a
> > worse case, so if overall limit is hit, I'm screwed). The overall
> > dirty buffer is still big enough to let the system buffer writes of
> > multiple processes. My system has 16GB RAM, you may want to adjust
> > it or try different values.
> >
> > $ cat /etc/sysctl.d/98-caching.conf
> > vm.dirty_background_bytes = 134217728
> > vm.dirty_ratio = 10
> >
> > Maybe point your Firefox cache to a tmpfs. If you're using tmpfs,
> > don't put swappiness to low, otherwise data sitting in tmpfs cannot
> > be swapped out and will cause filesystem caches to be discarded to
> > early. I'm working with a 32GB tmpfs and standard swappiness for
> > emerge, and I see no problems although multiple gigabytes of emerge
> > build data may be swapped out. Still, emerge is so much faster now.
> > But then, my swaps are on different disks (and I have multiple for
> > getting some RAID-like striping of swap space).
> >
> > Also, depending on which FS you're using, trying deadline instead of
> > CFQ may greatly improve your desktop experience (browsers should
> > benefit most from this).  
> 
> 
> You may be onto something here:
> 
> This is an 8-core i7 latop, 16G RAM
> 
> $ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_bytes
> 0
> $ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio
> 5
> $ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_bytes
> 0
> $ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio
> 10

With a 16 GB machine, I recommend to not work with the ratio values and
stick to bytes values. 1% steps is just so coarse. Put some reasonable
values there.

> browser cache is on a regular laptop spinning-rust 500G disk

Try moving the cache to tmpfs just for the sake of eliminating that...
Nowadays, /tmp is usually mounted with tmpfs (at least it should),
otherwise mount tmpfs somewhere below /mnt and make it chmod 1777. Then
create a cache directory there, rename your browser cache (while the
browser is not running) and instead put a symlink to the newly created
directory. Now do some tests without rebooting. If it works, create an
fstab entry to mount a tmpfs directly to your firefox cache directory
with correct permissions. Of course, it would be lost on reboots.

An alternative could be to put the cache on an FS with better write
performance, like NILFS2 (it does linear writes only but reading will
suffer, but reading is not that sensitive to blocking). Reiserfs can
also perform well when fsyncs are involved. But it doesn't scale well
to parallel accesses (which is not so relevant for desktop usage, and
especially as browser cache). Also, XFS always performed very well for
me (better than Ext4), for desktop and server usage. But that only
makes sense if you convert your whole system to that. And it cannot
play its benefits if used on single-disk systems.

> IO scheduler is BFQ, I use it for ages now.

Yes, good choice. I'd use it, too. But it causes troubles with btrfs
(results in system freezes with fs corruption when I run VirtualBox).

> I did tests some years back and found it overall the best for an 
> interactive desktop with a DE. I haven't repeated those tests since,
> has there been significant changes in this are last year or three?

It still performance very well. The next best option for me was using
deadline. CFQ is an interactivity killer.

I'm combining this with bcache. That's a cache between kernel and
filesystem that you put on SSD. Apparently, it requires repartitioning
to map your filesystem through bcache (it has to add a protective
superblock in front of your FS). So, a small SSD + 

[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 23:14:16 +0200
schrieb Alan McKinnon :

> On 21/03/2017 22:25, Kai Krakow wrote:
>  [...]  
> >> Good idea. For posterity so's I don;t forget:
> >>
> >> - gentoo home page
> >> - one or more readthedocs sites (especially docs.ansible.com)
> >> - 1 or more jira pages (work stuff)
> >> - 1 or more confluence pages (work stuff)
> >> - a local gitlab site
> >> - 1 or more python html apps for, errr, usenets stuffs
> >> - 1 or more python apps running in flask (work stuff)  
> > I'm using Chrome with often more than 50 tabs open - without
> > performance problems. But I had to switch Chrome to simple HTTP
> > cache (chrome://flags/#enable-simple-cache-backend) to get that.
> > Some tabs take more than 1 GB of memory after a while. But only
> > those tab become sluggish, all others are unaffected. And I do not
> > block any scripts (just the usual performance killers like ads and
> > tracking scripts, done with Ghostery). I cannot believe that
> > Firefox is so much worse at this?  
> 
> Oh, I can believe it all right. Firefox is a bloated monster. The
> devs keep refactoring it to get rid of bloat, but it's a lot like
> emptying a lake with a teacup.
> 
> same with bind, open|libreoffice, bash, gcc ...
> 
> > If Chrome isn't a option for you, maybe try Vivaldi (it's based on
> > Chromium and said to be very fast, tho for me it starts much slower
> > than Chrome).  
> 
> Using Chrome isn't really a problem. I can use anything I feel like
> (no overlord here!. More correctly: the overlords that do exist are 
> ineffectual when confronted with a determine sysadmin)
> 
> The problem is that this 52 year old is tired of learning knew
> workflow and retraining muscle memory for reasons of just because.
> He's happy to learn python (useful), learn ansible (very useful) but
> not chrome as the everyday browser (meh)

Well, either arrange with the one or the other options. There's not
many more options... ;-)

Working in a environment where I'm a system deployer, level-1 and
level-2 supporter, network and sys admin, all in one person, I know how
difficult it is for a human to learn new stuff.

So one part of deployment is to keep things simple: Don't bloat the
browsers, as one example. Chrome can be very minimalist. Actually,
there not much visual difference between browsers today. I always unify
that by eliminating the visual differences: Remove the search bar from
firefox, rearrange some buttons, and it looks like almost any browser.
Unify the function differences by making the search function into the
URL bar (maybe with some addon). Well, but that's too late now. ;-)

So the other option is get rid of the stalls. First, try with an empty
profile and see if the problems persists, improves or gets worse.
Depending on that we could try finding the correct direction for next
steps.

Usually, it's either blocking on IO (an issue to be fixed in system
configuration), or it's blocking on CPU (an issue with plugins/addons
usually as the Firefox core should be designed to work mostly
non-blocking these days).

The following tools may become your friends: top and iotop.

-- 
Regards,
Kai

Replies to list-only preferred.

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Alan McKinnon]

On 21/03/2017 22:16, Kai Krakow wrote:

Test one by one... Either disable all, then enable one by one, or
vice-versa.

Chances are that your FS may be blocking on sync. Do you maybe have a
very high value in /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_{ratio,bytes}?

If ratio is 0, then bytes is used. Ratio is a percent of your physical
RAM. With the default kernel value in modern systems, this is
ridiculously high for desktop systems. Maybe put a fixed value, like
128MB. The dirty background value is the amount of outstanding writes
before a foreground process blocks on further writes. If this value is
high, a sync may cause processes to freeze for a long time. Setting
this to a lower value forces single processes to block early and give
the kernel a chance to write back dirty data.

The next value to check is dirty_{ratio,bytes}. That is the combined
maximum of outstanding data before the cache must be flushed. If this
is hit, all writing processes freeze. So, having the background value
high gives a greater chance of hitting this early.

The default values are 10% and 20% (ratio). I've made the 20% ratio
into 10% and put 128MB for background which works quite well:
Foreground processes are blocked for shorter times (because writing
128MB can be a few seconds or less, where 1.6GB can be minutes in a
worse case, so if overall limit is hit, I'm screwed). The overall
dirty buffer is still big enough to let the system buffer writes of
multiple processes. My system has 16GB RAM, you may want to adjust it
or try different values.

$ cat /etc/sysctl.d/98-caching.conf
vm.dirty_background_bytes = 134217728
vm.dirty_ratio = 10

Maybe point your Firefox cache to a tmpfs. If you're using tmpfs, don't
put swappiness to low, otherwise data sitting in tmpfs cannot be
swapped out and will cause filesystem caches to be discarded to early.
I'm working with a 32GB tmpfs and standard swappiness for emerge, and I
see no problems although multiple gigabytes of emerge build data may be
swapped out. Still, emerge is so much faster now. But then, my swaps
are on different disks (and I have multiple for getting some RAID-like
striping of swap space).

Also, depending on which FS you're using, trying deadline instead of
CFQ may greatly improve your desktop experience (browsers should
benefit most from this).



You may be onto something here:

This is an 8-core i7 latop, 16G RAM

$ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_bytes
0
$ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_background_ratio
5
$ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_bytes
0
$ sudo cat /proc/sys/vm/dirty_ratio
10

browser cache is on a regular laptop spinning-rust 500G disk

IO scheduler is BFQ, I use it for ages now.
I did tests some years back and found it overall the best for an 
interactive desktop with a DE. I haven't repeated those tests since, has 
there been significant changes in this are last year or three?



--
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckin...@gmail.com

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Alan McKinnon]

On 21/03/2017 22:25, Kai Krakow wrote:

I see this with some websites that do some weird stuff.
CPU for at least one core then also goes to 100÷.
Make a list of websites open in tabs when it happens to see if
there are common ones that are always there when you have the
issue.

Good idea. For posterity so's I don;t forget:

- gentoo home page
- one or more readthedocs sites (especially docs.ansible.com)
- 1 or more jira pages (work stuff)
- 1 or more confluence pages (work stuff)
- a local gitlab site
- 1 or more python html apps for, errr, usenets stuffs
- 1 or more python apps running in flask (work stuff)

I'm using Chrome with often more than 50 tabs open - without
performance problems. But I had to switch Chrome to simple HTTP cache
(chrome://flags/#enable-simple-cache-backend) to get that. Some tabs
take more than 1 GB of memory after a while. But only those tab become
sluggish, all others are unaffected. And I do not block any scripts
(just the usual performance killers like ads and tracking scripts, done
with Ghostery). I cannot believe that Firefox is so much worse at this?


Oh, I can believe it all right. Firefox is a bloated monster. The devs 
keep refactoring it to get rid of bloat, but it's a lot like emptying a 
lake with a teacup.


same with bind, open|libreoffice, bash, gcc ...


If Chrome isn't a option for you, maybe try Vivaldi (it's based on
Chromium and said to be very fast, tho for me it starts much slower
than Chrome).


Using Chrome isn't really a problem. I can use anything I feel like (no 
overlord here!. More correctly: the overlords that do exist are 
ineffectual when confronted with a determine sysadmin)


The problem is that this 52 year old is tired of learning knew workflow 
and retraining muscle memory for reasons of just because.
He's happy to learn python (useful), learn ansible (very useful) but not 
chrome as the everyday browser (meh)



--
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckin...@gmail.com

[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 22:11:58 +0200
schrieb Alan McKinnon :

> On 21/03/2017 22:04, J. Roeleveld wrote:
> > On March 21, 2017 8:35:36 PM GMT+01:00, Alan McKinnon
> >  wrote:  
> >> This post is rather vague, sorry about that in advance.
> >>
> >> I've spent much time on this and gotten absolutely nowhere. So I
> >> conclude all my thoughts and assumptions are wrong and not worth
> >> even sharing (on account of them being so wrong).
> >>
> >> I have firefox like this:
> >>
> >> [I] www-client/firefox
> >>  Available versions:  45.7.0^d 45.8.0^d (~)51.0.1^d {bindist
> >> custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus debug ffmpeg +gmp-autoupdate
> >> +gstreamer gtk2 hardened hwaccel jack +jemalloc +jemalloc3 +jit
> >> neon pgo
> >> pulseaudio rust selinux +skia startup-notification system-cairo
> >> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent
> >> system-libvpx system-sqlite test wifi L10N="ach af an ar as ast az
> >> be bg bn-BD bn-IN br bs ca cak cs cy da de dsb el en-GB en-ZA eo
> >> es-AR es-CL es-ES es-MX et eu fa ff fi fr fy ga gd gl gn gu he hi
> >> hr hsb hu hy id is it ja ka kk
> >> km kn ko lij lt lv mai mk ml mr ms nb nl nn or pa pl pt-BR pt-PT
> >> rm ro ru si sk sl son sq sr sv ta te th tr uk uz vi xh zh-CN
> >> zh-TW"} Installed versions:  51.0.1^d(21:30:20 21/02/2017)(dbus
> >> gmp-autoupdate jemalloc pulseaudio skia startup-notification
> >> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent
> >> system-libvpx system-sqlite wifi -bindist -custom-cflags
> >> -custom-optimization -debug -gtk2 -hardened -hwaccel -jack -neon
> >> -pgo -rust -selinux -system-cairo -test L10N="en-GB en-ZA -ach -af
> >> -an -ar -as -ast -az -bg -bn-BD -bn-IN
> >>
> >> -br -bs -ca -cak -cs -cy -da -de -dsb -el -eo -es-AR -es-CL -es-ES
> >> -es-MX -et -eu -fa -ff -fi -fr -fy -ga -gd -gl -gn -gu -he -hi -hr
> >> -hsb
> >>
> >> -hu -hy -id -is -it -ja -ka -kk -km -kn -ko -lij -lt -lv -mai -mk
> >> -ml -mr -ms -nb -nl -nn -or -pa -pl -pt-BR -pt-PT -rm -ro -ru -si
> >> -sk -sl -son -sq -sr -sv -ta -te -th -tr -uk -uz -vi -xh -zh-CN
> >> -zh-TW") Homepage:http://www.mozilla.com/firefox
> >>  Description: Firefox Web Browser
> >>
> >> with these plugins:
> >> - adblockplus
> >> - flashblock
> >> - foxyproxy standard
> >> - restart browser
> >> - user agent switcher
> >> - youtube all html5
> >>
> >> Occasionally, according to no discernable pattern, all my tabs on
> >> all some/most/all Firefox windows stop responding. Clicking and
> >> scrolling in
> >> the content has no effect. Can't open new tabs, can't close tabs,
> >> can't
> >>
> >> switch to existing tabs. Sometimes it affects only one firefox
> >> window, sometimes all firefox windows.
> >>
> >> Imagine if you will that firefox is coded with one global loop that
> >> gets
> >> user actions and responds, then that loop gets stuck somewhere. The
> >> firefox window will not be affected (controlled by KDE), and
> >> neither is
> >>
> >> the X-server but the tabs can all do nothing till the loop
> >> unsticks. It's an effect like that.
> >>
> >> Sometimes it does work after a delay >30s.
> >> The sysadmin in me says 30s? Hah, check DNS resolver timeouts.
> >> Checked,
> >>
> >> found nothing unusual. Proxy looks OK, VPN looks OK, Chrome never
> >> has this problem so it's firefox specific.
> >>
> >> Firefox itself is up, it responds correctly to moving around the
> >> menus,
> >>
> >> just can't do some of the actions like open the Addons page (that
> >> is regular content in a tab).
> >>
> >> The issue ALWAYS goes away if I restart firefox, either with the
> >> restart
> >> addon or Alt-F4 and start from KDE menu. I have "load previous
> >> tabs" set
> >> to true so those actions are pretty equivalent.
> >>
> >> DE is Plasma 5, and the problem isn't from a recent upgrade, I've
> >> been battling with this for ages through MANY kde and firefox
> >> updates.
> >>
> >> My question:
> >> Where the hell do I start to figure out what's really going on?
> >> I used up all my sysadmin troubleshooting knowledge and have had to
> >> revert back to n00b status on this one.  
> >
> > I see this with some websites that do some weird stuff.
> > CPU for at least one core then also goes to 100÷.
> > Make a list of websites open in tabs when it happens to see if
> > there are common ones that are always there when you have the
> > issue.  
> 
> Good idea. For posterity so's I don;t forget:
> 
> - gentoo home page
> - one or more readthedocs sites (especially docs.ansible.com)
> - 1 or more jira pages (work stuff)
> - 1 or more confluence pages (work stuff)
> - a local gitlab site
> - 1 or more python html apps for, errr, usenets stuffs
> - 1 or more python apps running in flask (work stuff)

I'm using Chrome with often more than 50 tabs open - without
performance problems. But I had to switch Chrome to simple HTTP cache
(chrome://flags/#enable-simple-cache-backend) to get that. Some tabs
take more 

[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 21:51:05 +0200
schrieb Alan McKinnon :

> On 21/03/2017 21:50, Kai Krakow wrote:
> > Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 21:35:36 +0200
> > schrieb Alan McKinnon :
> >  
> >> This post is rather vague, sorry about that in advance.
> >>
> >> I've spent much time on this and gotten absolutely nowhere. So I
> >> conclude all my thoughts and assumptions are wrong and not worth
> >> even sharing (on account of them being so wrong).
> >>
> >> I have firefox like this:
> >>
> >> [I] www-client/firefox
> >>   Available versions:  45.7.0^d 45.8.0^d (~)51.0.1^d {bindist
> >> custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus debug ffmpeg +gmp-autoupdate
> >> +gstreamer gtk2 hardened hwaccel jack +jemalloc +jemalloc3 +jit
> >> neon pgo pulseaudio rust selinux +skia startup-notification
> >> system-cairo system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg
> >> system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite test wifi L10N="ach af
> >> an ar as ast az be bg bn-BD bn-IN br bs ca cak cs cy da de dsb el
> >> en-GB en-ZA eo es-AR es-CL es-ES es-MX et eu fa ff fi fr fy ga gd
> >> gl gn gu he hi hr hsb hu hy id is it ja ka kk km kn ko lij lt lv
> >> mai mk ml mr ms nb nl nn or pa pl pt-BR pt-PT rm ro ru si sk sl
> >> son sq sr sv ta te th tr uk uz vi xh zh-CN zh-TW"} Installed
> >> versions:  51.0.1^d(21:30:20 21/02/2017)(dbus gmp-autoupdate
> >> jemalloc pulseaudio skia startup-notification system-harfbuzz
> >> system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx system-sqlite
> >> wifi -bindist -custom-cflags -custom-optimization -debug -gtk2
> >> -hardened -hwaccel -jack -neon -pgo -rust -selinux -system-cairo
> >> -test L10N="en-GB en-ZA -ach -af -an -ar -as -ast -az -bg -bn-BD
> >> -bn-IN -br -bs -ca -cak -cs -cy -da -de -dsb -el -eo -es-AR -es-CL
> >> -es-ES -es-MX -et -eu -fa -ff -fi -fr -fy -ga -gd -gl -gn -gu -he
> >> -hi -hr -hsb -hu -hy -id -is -it -ja -ka -kk -km -kn -ko -lij -lt
> >> -lv -mai -mk -ml -mr -ms -nb -nl -nn -or -pa -pl -pt-BR -pt-PT -rm
> >> -ro -ru -si -sk -sl -son -sq -sr -sv -ta -te -th -tr -uk -uz -vi
> >> -xh -zh-CN -zh-TW") Homepage: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox
> >> Description: Firefox Web Browser
> >>
> >> with these plugins:
> >> - adblockplus
> >> - flashblock
> >> - foxyproxy standard
> >> - restart browser
> >> - user agent switcher
> >> - youtube all html5
> >>
> >> Occasionally, according to no discernable pattern, all my tabs on
> >> all some/most/all Firefox windows stop responding. Clicking and
> >> scrolling in the content has no effect. Can't open new tabs, can't
> >> close tabs, can't switch to existing tabs. Sometimes it affects
> >> only one firefox window, sometimes all firefox windows.
> >>
> >> Imagine if you will that firefox is coded with one global loop that
> >> gets user actions and responds, then that loop gets stuck
> >> somewhere. The firefox window will not be affected (controlled by
> >> KDE), and neither is the X-server but the tabs can all do nothing
> >> till the loop unsticks. It's an effect like that.
> >>
> >> Sometimes it does work after a delay >30s.
> >> The sysadmin in me says 30s? Hah, check DNS resolver timeouts.
> >> Checked, found nothing unusual. Proxy looks OK, VPN looks OK,
> >> Chrome never has this problem so it's firefox specific.
> >>
> >> Firefox itself is up, it responds correctly to moving around the
> >> menus, just can't do some of the actions like open the Addons page
> >> (that is regular content in a tab).
> >>
> >> The issue ALWAYS goes away if I restart firefox, either with the
> >> restart addon or Alt-F4 and start from KDE menu. I have "load
> >> previous tabs" set to true so those actions are pretty equivalent.
> >>
> >> DE is Plasma 5, and the problem isn't from a recent upgrade, I've
> >> been battling with this for ages through MANY kde and firefox
> >> updates.
> >>
> >> My question:
> >> Where the hell do I start to figure out what's really going on?
> >> I used up all my sysadmin troubleshooting knowledge and have had to
> >> revert back to n00b status on this one.  
> >
> > I didn't use Firefox in a long time but remember similar effects
> > until I stopped using AdBlock Plus (Chrome showed similar stalls
> > with it, just not completely blocking, only one tab blocking). If
> > this is what affects you, maybe try Ghostery instead (which is what
> > I am using with Chrome now).
> >
> > If it doesn't help, deactivate the next addon. Every addon hooking
> > into web site rendering can create such problems easily, so start
> > with those addons first.
> >  
> 
> 
> Good advice I'll do that.
> 
> But, I did do that test already and disabled all addons a while ago, 
> problem still happened. I won't swear I did the test properly, maybe
> I made a mistake.
> 
> Still, it's worth repeating just make sure

Test one by one... Either disable all, then enable one by one, or
vice-versa.

Chances are that your FS may be blocking on sync. Do you maybe have a
very high value in 

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Dale]

Kai Krakow wrote:
> Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 21:35:36 +0200
> schrieb Alan McKinnon :
>
>> This post is rather vague, sorry about that in advance.
>>
>> I've spent much time on this and gotten absolutely nowhere. So I 
>> conclude all my thoughts and assumptions are wrong and not worth even 
>> sharing (on account of them being so wrong).
>>
>> I have firefox like this:
>>
>> [I] www-client/firefox
>>   Available versions:  45.7.0^d 45.8.0^d (~)51.0.1^d {bindist 
>> custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus debug ffmpeg +gmp-autoupdate 
>> +gstreamer gtk2 hardened hwaccel jack +jemalloc +jemalloc3 +jit neon
>> pgo pulseaudio rust selinux +skia startup-notification system-cairo 
>> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx 
>> system-sqlite test wifi L10N="ach af an ar as ast az be bg bn-BD
>> bn-IN br bs ca cak cs cy da de dsb el en-GB en-ZA eo es-AR es-CL
>> es-ES es-MX et eu fa ff fi fr fy ga gd gl gn gu he hi hr hsb hu hy id
>> is it ja ka kk km kn ko lij lt lv mai mk ml mr ms nb nl nn or pa pl
>> pt-BR pt-PT rm ro ru si sk sl son sq sr sv ta te th tr uk uz vi xh
>> zh-CN zh-TW"} Installed versions:  51.0.1^d(21:30:20 21/02/2017)(dbus 
>> gmp-autoupdate jemalloc pulseaudio skia startup-notification 
>> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx 
>> system-sqlite wifi -bindist -custom-cflags -custom-optimization
>> -debug -gtk2 -hardened -hwaccel -jack -neon -pgo -rust -selinux
>> -system-cairo -test L10N="en-GB en-ZA -ach -af -an -ar -as -ast -az
>> -bg -bn-BD -bn-IN -br -bs -ca -cak -cs -cy -da -de -dsb -el -eo
>> -es-AR -es-CL -es-ES -es-MX -et -eu -fa -ff -fi -fr -fy -ga -gd -gl
>> -gn -gu -he -hi -hr -hsb -hu -hy -id -is -it -ja -ka -kk -km -kn -ko
>> -lij -lt -lv -mai -mk -ml -mr -ms -nb -nl -nn -or -pa -pl -pt-BR
>> -pt-PT -rm -ro -ru -si -sk -sl -son -sq -sr -sv -ta -te -th -tr -uk
>> -uz -vi -xh -zh-CN -zh-TW") Homepage:
>> http://www.mozilla.com/firefox Description: Firefox Web
>> Browser
>>
>> with these plugins:
>> - adblockplus
>> - flashblock
>> - foxyproxy standard
>> - restart browser
>> - user agent switcher
>> - youtube all html5
>>
>> Occasionally, according to no discernable pattern, all my tabs on all 
>> some/most/all Firefox windows stop responding. Clicking and scrolling
>> in the content has no effect. Can't open new tabs, can't close tabs,
>> can't switch to existing tabs. Sometimes it affects only one firefox
>> window, sometimes all firefox windows.
>>
>> Imagine if you will that firefox is coded with one global loop that
>> gets user actions and responds, then that loop gets stuck somewhere.
>> The firefox window will not be affected (controlled by KDE), and
>> neither is the X-server but the tabs can all do nothing till the loop
>> unsticks. It's an effect like that.
>>
>> Sometimes it does work after a delay >30s.
>> The sysadmin in me says 30s? Hah, check DNS resolver timeouts.
>> Checked, found nothing unusual. Proxy looks OK, VPN looks OK, Chrome
>> never has this problem so it's firefox specific.
>>
>> Firefox itself is up, it responds correctly to moving around the
>> menus, just can't do some of the actions like open the Addons page
>> (that is regular content in a tab).
>>
>> The issue ALWAYS goes away if I restart firefox, either with the
>> restart addon or Alt-F4 and start from KDE menu. I have "load
>> previous tabs" set to true so those actions are pretty equivalent.
>>
>> DE is Plasma 5, and the problem isn't from a recent upgrade, I've
>> been battling with this for ages through MANY kde and firefox updates.
>>
>> My question:
>> Where the hell do I start to figure out what's really going on?
>> I used up all my sysadmin troubleshooting knowledge and have had to 
>> revert back to n00b status on this one.
> I didn't use Firefox in a long time but remember similar effects until
> I stopped using AdBlock Plus (Chrome showed similar stalls with it,
> just not completely blocking, only one tab blocking). If this is what
> affects you, maybe try Ghostery instead (which is what I am using with
> Chrome now).
>
> If it doesn't help, deactivate the next addon. Every addon hooking into
> web site rendering can create such problems easily, so start with those
> addons first.
>

Ublock is another option as well.  I use it on some Firefox profiles. 
It does seem to respond better than Adblock but some things I don't like
about Ublock. 

I may look into that Ghostery too.  See if it is available for Firefox
and Seamonkey. 

Dale

:-)  :-) 

Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Alan McKinnon]

On 21/03/2017 21:50, Kai Krakow wrote:

Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 21:35:36 +0200
schrieb Alan McKinnon :


This post is rather vague, sorry about that in advance.

I've spent much time on this and gotten absolutely nowhere. So I
conclude all my thoughts and assumptions are wrong and not worth even
sharing (on account of them being so wrong).

I have firefox like this:

[I] www-client/firefox
  Available versions:  45.7.0^d 45.8.0^d (~)51.0.1^d {bindist
custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus debug ffmpeg +gmp-autoupdate
+gstreamer gtk2 hardened hwaccel jack +jemalloc +jemalloc3 +jit neon
pgo pulseaudio rust selinux +skia startup-notification system-cairo
system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx
system-sqlite test wifi L10N="ach af an ar as ast az be bg bn-BD
bn-IN br bs ca cak cs cy da de dsb el en-GB en-ZA eo es-AR es-CL
es-ES es-MX et eu fa ff fi fr fy ga gd gl gn gu he hi hr hsb hu hy id
is it ja ka kk km kn ko lij lt lv mai mk ml mr ms nb nl nn or pa pl
pt-BR pt-PT rm ro ru si sk sl son sq sr sv ta te th tr uk uz vi xh
zh-CN zh-TW"} Installed versions:  51.0.1^d(21:30:20 21/02/2017)(dbus
gmp-autoupdate jemalloc pulseaudio skia startup-notification
system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx
system-sqlite wifi -bindist -custom-cflags -custom-optimization
-debug -gtk2 -hardened -hwaccel -jack -neon -pgo -rust -selinux
-system-cairo -test L10N="en-GB en-ZA -ach -af -an -ar -as -ast -az
-bg -bn-BD -bn-IN -br -bs -ca -cak -cs -cy -da -de -dsb -el -eo
-es-AR -es-CL -es-ES -es-MX -et -eu -fa -ff -fi -fr -fy -ga -gd -gl
-gn -gu -he -hi -hr -hsb -hu -hy -id -is -it -ja -ka -kk -km -kn -ko
-lij -lt -lv -mai -mk -ml -mr -ms -nb -nl -nn -or -pa -pl -pt-BR
-pt-PT -rm -ro -ru -si -sk -sl -son -sq -sr -sv -ta -te -th -tr -uk
-uz -vi -xh -zh-CN -zh-TW") Homepage:
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox Description: Firefox Web
Browser

with these plugins:
- adblockplus
- flashblock
- foxyproxy standard
- restart browser
- user agent switcher
- youtube all html5

Occasionally, according to no discernable pattern, all my tabs on all
some/most/all Firefox windows stop responding. Clicking and scrolling
in the content has no effect. Can't open new tabs, can't close tabs,
can't switch to existing tabs. Sometimes it affects only one firefox
window, sometimes all firefox windows.

Imagine if you will that firefox is coded with one global loop that
gets user actions and responds, then that loop gets stuck somewhere.
The firefox window will not be affected (controlled by KDE), and
neither is the X-server but the tabs can all do nothing till the loop
unsticks. It's an effect like that.

Sometimes it does work after a delay >30s.
The sysadmin in me says 30s? Hah, check DNS resolver timeouts.
Checked, found nothing unusual. Proxy looks OK, VPN looks OK, Chrome
never has this problem so it's firefox specific.

Firefox itself is up, it responds correctly to moving around the
menus, just can't do some of the actions like open the Addons page
(that is regular content in a tab).

The issue ALWAYS goes away if I restart firefox, either with the
restart addon or Alt-F4 and start from KDE menu. I have "load
previous tabs" set to true so those actions are pretty equivalent.

DE is Plasma 5, and the problem isn't from a recent upgrade, I've
been battling with this for ages through MANY kde and firefox updates.

My question:
Where the hell do I start to figure out what's really going on?
I used up all my sysadmin troubleshooting knowledge and have had to
revert back to n00b status on this one.


I didn't use Firefox in a long time but remember similar effects until
I stopped using AdBlock Plus (Chrome showed similar stalls with it,
just not completely blocking, only one tab blocking). If this is what
affects you, maybe try Ghostery instead (which is what I am using with
Chrome now).

If it doesn't help, deactivate the next addon. Every addon hooking into
web site rendering can create such problems easily, so start with those
addons first.




Good advice I'll do that.

But, I did do that test already and disabled all addons a while ago, 
problem still happened. I won't swear I did the test properly, maybe I 
made a mistake.


Still, it's worth repeating just make sure

--
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckin...@gmail.com

[gentoo-user] Re: Firefox occasionally stalls

[Kai Krakow]

Am Tue, 21 Mar 2017 21:35:36 +0200
schrieb Alan McKinnon :

> This post is rather vague, sorry about that in advance.
> 
> I've spent much time on this and gotten absolutely nowhere. So I 
> conclude all my thoughts and assumptions are wrong and not worth even 
> sharing (on account of them being so wrong).
> 
> I have firefox like this:
> 
> [I] www-client/firefox
>   Available versions:  45.7.0^d 45.8.0^d (~)51.0.1^d {bindist 
> custom-cflags custom-optimization dbus debug ffmpeg +gmp-autoupdate 
> +gstreamer gtk2 hardened hwaccel jack +jemalloc +jemalloc3 +jit neon
> pgo pulseaudio rust selinux +skia startup-notification system-cairo 
> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx 
> system-sqlite test wifi L10N="ach af an ar as ast az be bg bn-BD
> bn-IN br bs ca cak cs cy da de dsb el en-GB en-ZA eo es-AR es-CL
> es-ES es-MX et eu fa ff fi fr fy ga gd gl gn gu he hi hr hsb hu hy id
> is it ja ka kk km kn ko lij lt lv mai mk ml mr ms nb nl nn or pa pl
> pt-BR pt-PT rm ro ru si sk sl son sq sr sv ta te th tr uk uz vi xh
> zh-CN zh-TW"} Installed versions:  51.0.1^d(21:30:20 21/02/2017)(dbus 
> gmp-autoupdate jemalloc pulseaudio skia startup-notification 
> system-harfbuzz system-icu system-jpeg system-libevent system-libvpx 
> system-sqlite wifi -bindist -custom-cflags -custom-optimization
> -debug -gtk2 -hardened -hwaccel -jack -neon -pgo -rust -selinux
> -system-cairo -test L10N="en-GB en-ZA -ach -af -an -ar -as -ast -az
> -bg -bn-BD -bn-IN -br -bs -ca -cak -cs -cy -da -de -dsb -el -eo
> -es-AR -es-CL -es-ES -es-MX -et -eu -fa -ff -fi -fr -fy -ga -gd -gl
> -gn -gu -he -hi -hr -hsb -hu -hy -id -is -it -ja -ka -kk -km -kn -ko
> -lij -lt -lv -mai -mk -ml -mr -ms -nb -nl -nn -or -pa -pl -pt-BR
> -pt-PT -rm -ro -ru -si -sk -sl -son -sq -sr -sv -ta -te -th -tr -uk
> -uz -vi -xh -zh-CN -zh-TW") Homepage:
> http://www.mozilla.com/firefox Description: Firefox Web
> Browser
> 
> with these plugins:
> - adblockplus
> - flashblock
> - foxyproxy standard
> - restart browser
> - user agent switcher
> - youtube all html5
> 
> Occasionally, according to no discernable pattern, all my tabs on all 
> some/most/all Firefox windows stop responding. Clicking and scrolling
> in the content has no effect. Can't open new tabs, can't close tabs,
> can't switch to existing tabs. Sometimes it affects only one firefox
> window, sometimes all firefox windows.
> 
> Imagine if you will that firefox is coded with one global loop that
> gets user actions and responds, then that loop gets stuck somewhere.
> The firefox window will not be affected (controlled by KDE), and
> neither is the X-server but the tabs can all do nothing till the loop
> unsticks. It's an effect like that.
> 
> Sometimes it does work after a delay >30s.
> The sysadmin in me says 30s? Hah, check DNS resolver timeouts.
> Checked, found nothing unusual. Proxy looks OK, VPN looks OK, Chrome
> never has this problem so it's firefox specific.
> 
> Firefox itself is up, it responds correctly to moving around the
> menus, just can't do some of the actions like open the Addons page
> (that is regular content in a tab).
> 
> The issue ALWAYS goes away if I restart firefox, either with the
> restart addon or Alt-F4 and start from KDE menu. I have "load
> previous tabs" set to true so those actions are pretty equivalent.
> 
> DE is Plasma 5, and the problem isn't from a recent upgrade, I've
> been battling with this for ages through MANY kde and firefox updates.
> 
> My question:
> Where the hell do I start to figure out what's really going on?
> I used up all my sysadmin troubleshooting knowledge and have had to 
> revert back to n00b status on this one.

I didn't use Firefox in a long time but remember similar effects until
I stopped using AdBlock Plus (Chrome showed similar stalls with it,
just not completely blocking, only one tab blocking). If this is what
affects you, maybe try Ghostery instead (which is what I am using with
Chrome now).

If it doesn't help, deactivate the next addon. Every addon hooking into
web site rendering can create such problems easily, so start with those
addons first.

-- 
Regards,
Kai

Replies to list-only preferred.