GNU Icecat crashed tab

GNU Icecat crashed tab

[nightowl]

I am running GuixSD with the Gnome desktop using GNU Icecat for a web 
browser.  I have been seeing a problem that some web sights like 
homedepot.com will cause a 'gah your tab just crashed' error.  When I 
start Icecat in safe mode, I do not get this error.  Disabling all 
extensions does not remove the error.  Does anyone understand why Icecat 
is giving this error or how it can be corrected?

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[Ricardo Wurmus]

nightowl <nightowl@members.fsf.org> writes:

> I am running GuixSD with the Gnome desktop using GNU Icecat for a web
> browser.  I have been seeing a problem that some web sights like
> homedepot.com will cause a 'gah your tab just crashed' error.  When I
> start Icecat in safe mode, I do not get this error.  Disabling all
> extensions does not remove the error.  Does anyone understand why
> Icecat is giving this error or how it can be corrected?

I have seen similar behaviour on a Thinkpad T60 with an x86_64 CPU
(upgraded from the i686 CPU that it came with).  Icecat tabs crash and
it can be avoided only by disabling all extensions.

I don’t know what the cause is.

I have not yet tried Icecat 60.x.

--
Ricardo

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[Andreas Enge]

On Sat, Sep 22, 2018 at 12:14:30PM +0200, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
> I have seen similar behaviour on a Thinkpad T60 with an x86_64 CPU
> (upgraded from the i686 CPU that it came with).  Icecat tabs crash and
> it can be avoided only by disabling all extensions.
> 
> I don’t know what the cause is.

This is weird. I have not experienced it, and I just tried to load the
homedepot.com website, which does not pose any problem.

Could it be related to memory consumption and, for instance, the number
of open tabs?

Andreas

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Andreas Enge <andreas@enge.fr> writes:

> On Sat, Sep 22, 2018 at 12:14:30PM +0200, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
>> I have seen similar behaviour on a Thinkpad T60 with an x86_64 CPU
>> (upgraded from the i686 CPU that it came with).  Icecat tabs crash and
>> it can be avoided only by disabling all extensions.
>>
>> I don’t know what the cause is.
>
> This is weird. I have not experienced it, and I just tried to load the
> homedepot.com website, which does not pose any problem.

I don’t see this on other x86_64 machines; among those computers that I
have access to, only the T60 is affected, which is why I thought it
might simply be a hardware problem.

> Could it be related to memory consumption and, for instance, the number
> of open tabs?

No, this happens with just one tab.  I found that I couldn’t get it to
crash with a simply static website like https://elephly.net, but it
would crash somewhat reliably with sites that embed media.

--
Ricardo

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[Ricardo Wurmus]

Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> writes:

> Andreas Enge <andreas@enge.fr> writes:
>
>> On Sat, Sep 22, 2018 at 12:14:30PM +0200, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
>>> I have seen similar behaviour on a Thinkpad T60 with an x86_64 CPU
>>> (upgraded from the i686 CPU that it came with).  Icecat tabs crash and
>>> it can be avoided only by disabling all extensions.
>>>
>>> I don’t know what the cause is.
>>
>> This is weird. I have not experienced it, and I just tried to load the
>> homedepot.com website, which does not pose any problem.
>
> I don’t see this on other x86_64 machines; among those computers that I
> have access to, only the T60 is affected, which is why I thought it
> might simply be a hardware problem.
>
>> Could it be related to memory consumption and, for instance, the number
>> of open tabs?
>
> No, this happens with just one tab.  I found that I couldn’t get it to
> crash with a simply static website like https://elephly.net, but it
> would crash somewhat reliably with sites that embed media.

There’s a bug report about crashes on i686:
https://issues.guix.info/issue/29736

FWIW this is the same T60, just before the upgrade to an x86_64 CPU.
Nothing else on that laptop has been changed since that bug report.

--
Ricardo

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[nightowl]

I am running GuixSD on a 2008 model Dell Inspiron with I believe to be 
an Intel T5300 core 2 CPU.  I have only just started using GuixSD for 
less than a year now, and still on the learning curve.  So, do you think 
the tab crash I see with Icecat could be related to the hardware on my 
PC?

On 24.09.2018 16:26, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
> Ricardo Wurmus <rekado@elephly.net> writes:
> 
>> Andreas Enge <andreas@enge.fr> writes:
>> 
>>> On Sat, Sep 22, 2018 at 12:14:30PM +0200, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
>>>> I have seen similar behaviour on a Thinkpad T60 with an x86_64 CPU
>>>> (upgraded from the i686 CPU that it came with).  Icecat tabs crash 
>>>> and
>>>> it can be avoided only by disabling all extensions.
>>>> 
>>>> I don’t know what the cause is.
>>> 
>>> This is weird. I have not experienced it, and I just tried to load 
>>> the
>>> homedepot.com website, which does not pose any problem.
>> 
>> I don’t see this on other x86_64 machines; among those computers that 
>> I
>> have access to, only the T60 is affected, which is why I thought it
>> might simply be a hardware problem.
>> 
>>> Could it be related to memory consumption and, for instance, the 
>>> number
>>> of open tabs?
>> 
>> No, this happens with just one tab.  I found that I couldn’t get it to
>> crash with a simply static website like https://elephly.net, but it
>> would crash somewhat reliably with sites that embed media.
> 
> There’s a bug report about crashes on i686:
> https://issues.guix.info/issue/29736
> 
> FWIW this is the same T60, just before the upgrade to an x86_64 CPU.
> Nothing else on that laptop has been changed since that bug report.
> 
> --
> Ricardo

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[Mike Gerwitz]

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On Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 04:38:33 +0200, nightowl wrote:
> I am running GuixSD on a 2008 model Dell Inspiron with I believe to be an
> Intel T5300 core 2 CPU.  I have only just started using GuixSD for less than
> a year now, and still on the learning curve.  So, do you think the tab crash
> I see with Icecat could be related to the hardware on my PC?

I had experienced tab crashes with IceCat for certain sites that used
JavaScript, like meet.jit.si.  I just upgraded to IceCat 60 and it now
appears that I have no issues with that site.

Can you try upgrading and see if that fixes your problems?

-- 
Mike Gerwitz
Free Software Hacker+Activist | GNU Maintainer & Volunteer
GPG: D6E9 B930 028A 6C38 F43B  2388 FEF6 3574 5E6F 6D05
https://mikegerwitz.com

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Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[nightowl]

I am currently using version 52.6.0 (64bit). That looks like the latest 
released version.  The guix package command also reports this as the 
latest version.  How do you get to version 60?


On 26.09.2018 07:03, Mike Gerwitz wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 26, 2018 at 04:38:33 +0200, nightowl wrote:
>> I am running GuixSD on a 2008 model Dell Inspiron with I believe to be 
>> an
>> Intel T5300 core 2 CPU.  I have only just started using GuixSD for 
>> less than
>> a year now, and still on the learning curve.  So, do you think the tab 
>> crash
>> I see with Icecat could be related to the hardware on my PC?
> 
> I had experienced tab crashes with IceCat for certain sites that used
> JavaScript, like meet.jit.si.  I just upgraded to IceCat 60 and it now
> appears that I have no issues with that site.
> 
> Can you try upgrading and see if that fixes your problems?

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[Mike Gerwitz]

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On Thu, Sep 27, 2018 at 03:36:40 +0200, nightowl wrote:
> I am currently using version 52.6.0 (64bit). That looks like the latest
> released version.  The guix package command also reports this as the latest
> version.  How do you get to version 60?

Run `guix pull' before `guix package -u`.  The latest version is 60.2.0-gnu1.

-- 
Mike Gerwitz

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Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[nightowl]

OK, I see the new version 60 now after running the 'guix pull' command.  
I tried running the 'guix package -u' command but does not do any 
upgrade.  I have the icecat package called out in my config.scm file, so 
I think I need to run the 'guix system reconfigure' command to make an 
upgrade to that package.  Does that make sense?  I will try this 
tomorrow and let you know if it upgrades ok and if it fixes the tab 
crash problem.



On 27.09.2018 04:26, Mike Gerwitz wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 27, 2018 at 03:36:40 +0200, nightowl wrote:
>> I am currently using version 52.6.0 (64bit). That looks like the 
>> latest
>> released version.  The guix package command also reports this as the 
>> latest
>> version.  How do you get to version 60?
> 
> Run `guix pull' before `guix package -u`.  The latest version is 
> 60.2.0-gnu1.

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[Björn Höfling]

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On Thu, 27 Sep 2018 05:30:43 +0200
nightowl <nightowl@members.fsf.org> wrote:

> OK, I see the new version 60 now after running the 'guix pull'
> command. I tried running the 'guix package -u' command but does not
> do any upgrade.  I have the icecat package called out in my
> config.scm file, so I think I need to run the 'guix system
> reconfigure' command to make an upgrade to that package.  Does that
> make sense?  I will try this tomorrow and let you know if it upgrades
> ok and if it fixes the tab crash problem.

If you have the package in your system definition, that is exactly what
you have to do.

Björn

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Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[nightowl]

I have been trying to upgrade the icecat package.  I am using the 'guix 
system reconfigure' command, but seem to be running out of disk space.  
It is also starting to compile some things instead of using substitutes, 
but maybe I need to wait for the servers to settle down.  Currently 
after running garbage collection, my installation is still about 17GB on 
a 20GB partition.  I have several generations of past configurations, so 
would it be possible to free up space by removing some of the past 
generations?  How would that be done, I do not see a command for doing 
that?

On 27.09.2018 08:06, Björn Höfling wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Sep 2018 05:30:43 +0200
> nightowl <nightowl@members.fsf.org> wrote:
> 
>> OK, I see the new version 60 now after running the 'guix pull'
>> command. I tried running the 'guix package -u' command but does not
>> do any upgrade.  I have the icecat package called out in my
>> config.scm file, so I think I need to run the 'guix system
>> reconfigure' command to make an upgrade to that package.  Does that
>> make sense?  I will try this tomorrow and let you know if it upgrades
>> ok and if it fixes the tab crash problem.
> 
> If you have the package in your system definition, that is exactly what
> you have to do.
> 
> Björn

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[Ricardo Wurmus]

nightowl <nightowl@members.fsf.org> writes:

> I have been trying to upgrade the icecat package.  I am using the
> 'guix system reconfigure' command, but seem to be running out of disk
> space.

Generally, I recommend keeping the user profile separate from a lean
system profile.  This allows you to upgrade your system even if some of
your user packages cannot currently be built for some reason.

> It is also starting to compile some things instead of using
> substitutes, but maybe I need to wait for the servers to settle down.

That’s possible.  You can get an overview of what’s going to be
downloaded and what will be built with the “--dry-run” option.

> Currently after running garbage collection, my installation is still
> about 17GB on a 20GB partition.  I have several generations of past
> configurations, so would it be possible to free up space by removing
> some of the past generations?  How would that be done, I do not see a
> command for doing that?

You need to manually remove old links of the form
/var/guix/profiles/system-*-link — be careful not to remove the link
corresponding to the current system!  After that you can run “guix gc”.

--
Ricardo

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[nightowl]

Thanks all for the help and advice on handling package upgrades and 
memory management.  I have been able to update my system now and use 
icecat version 60.  I can verify that the tab crash appears to be 
resolved with this new version of icecat on my PC, however I also now 
notice that scrolling is not as smooth as it used to be.  There seem to 
be some delay and jerkiness when scrolling up and down pages with allot 
of content, like say a nice wikipedia page with some meaty topic and 
lots of figures.  I have compared this by booting into my old system 
config, and find the scrolling in the previous icecat version is 
definitely smoother.  Gnome web also shows smoother scrolling than the 
version 60 icecat.  This new version looks to still be a pre-release, so 
maybe there are some issues to address with the fluidity of the 
scrolling.

On 29.09.2018 10:14, Ricardo Wurmus wrote:
> nightowl <nightowl@members.fsf.org> writes:
> 
>> I have been trying to upgrade the icecat package.  I am using the
>> 'guix system reconfigure' command, but seem to be running out of disk
>> space.
> 
> Generally, I recommend keeping the user profile separate from a lean
> system profile.  This allows you to upgrade your system even if some of
> your user packages cannot currently be built for some reason.
> 
>> It is also starting to compile some things instead of using
>> substitutes, but maybe I need to wait for the servers to settle down.
> 
> That’s possible.  You can get an overview of what’s going to be
> downloaded and what will be built with the “--dry-run” option.
> 
>> Currently after running garbage collection, my installation is still
>> about 17GB on a 20GB partition.  I have several generations of past
>> configurations, so would it be possible to free up space by removing
>> some of the past generations?  How would that be done, I do not see a
>> command for doing that?
> 
> You need to manually remove old links of the form
> /var/guix/profiles/system-*-link — be careful not to remove the link
> corresponding to the current system!  After that you can run “guix gc”.
> 
> --
> Ricardo

Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[Mike Gerwitz]

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On Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 04:27:11 +0200, nightowl wrote:
> Thanks all for the help and advice on handling package upgrades and memory
> management.  I have been able to update my system now and use icecat version
> 60.  I can verify that the tab crash appears to be resolved with this new
> version of icecat on my PC, however I also now notice that scrolling is not
> as smooth as it used to be.

I don't experience issues, but try disabling "smooth scrolling" in
preferences.  In past versions of IceCat/Firefox, I've had to disable it
on older hardware for performance reasons.

-- 
Mike Gerwitz

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Re: GNU Icecat crashed tab

[nightowl]

Turning off the smooth scrolling helps a little but actually, I see a 
pretty noticeable difference in responsiveness between the version 52 
and version 60 icecat on my system.  I can switch between my old and new 
setup from the boot menu, and I find that the older 52 version is faster 
and smoother and works fine with the smooth scrolling option.  When I 
boot into the upgraded system running the upgraded version 60 there is a 
noticeable lag in the responsiveness of icecat browser (but the crash 
tab issue appears fixed in the newer version).  Maybe it is more 
apparent on the older hardware which my system is installed, or perhaps 
the upgrade of my system has changed some other things though I used the 
same config.scm file as the previous upgrade.  I also compare the 
responsiveness of the Gnome Web browser, and it is good in both the old 
and new configurations.  This makes me think it has more to do with the 
new icecat version than something with the system upgrade.

On 30.09.2018 17:20, Mike Gerwitz wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 30, 2018 at 04:27:11 +0200, nightowl wrote:
>> Thanks all for the help and advice on handling package upgrades and 
>> memory
>> management.  I have been able to update my system now and use icecat 
>> version
>> 60.  I can verify that the tab crash appears to be resolved with this 
>> new
>> version of icecat on my PC, however I also now notice that scrolling 
>> is not
>> as smooth as it used to be.
> 
> I don't experience issues, but try disabling "smooth scrolling" in
> preferences.  In past versions of IceCat/Firefox, I've had to disable 
> it
> on older hardware for performance reasons.