A weird thing about network connections in Icecat (and Firefox) on Guix

A weird thing about network connections in Icecat (and Firefox) on Guix

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

The same thing happens in Icecat as it does in nonguix's Firefox.  (I
mention the firefox thing to indicate that I *don't* think it's
icecat-specific code).  I've had this happen on my computer and have
found it weird/disturbing for a while, but recently I found it's also
happening on my spouse's computer, but only once she switched to Guix
also.  Wondering what's going on.  (Maybe this should be filed as a bug,
not sure.)

Here's roughly the scenario:

 - Have icecat/firefox open and browsing websites.
 - Oops, something happens to the network.  Maybe the wifi router goes
   out briefly or something.
 - You're back!  You can ssh into servers again and connect to irc, and
   even ungoogled-chromium seems fine to browse websites.
 - But weirdly... you have to restart icecat/firefox for things to work
   right again.

But weirdly... this isn't the case on my spouse's Debian install, etc.
And I also only started experiencing it when I started running Guix.
No particularly unusual extensions, just ublock origin, https
everywhere, tree style tabs.

I've turned off proxy settings in firefox to be sure.  No change
afaict.

It's so strange.  It's easy enough to fix but I'm disturbed that it's
happening at all.  It's as if there was some sneaky connection that
firefox was making and which got broken until I restarted the browser.
Or maybe it's just some massive caching bug that acts similarly.
Disturbing.

Anyone else experience the same?  I tried describing this and it sounded
like I was the only one having the issue a couple of years ago.  Now
that I'm not my only household member experiencing the same, I suspect
we are probably not alone...?

 - Chris

Re: A weird thing about network connections in Icecat (and Firefox) on Guix

[Pierre Neidhardt]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 524 bytes --]

Hi Chris,

Unsure if it's related, but I can reproduce this recipe on my Guix
System with the Nyxt browser.

- Enable Tor service.
- Start Nyxt.
- Enable proxy-mode over Tor.
- Go to https://check.torproject.org/ to confirm it's working.
- Put system to sleep for a while.
- Wake up the the system and browse something from _an existing buffer_:
  most of the time it fails to load.

Restarting the Tor service and/or opening a new buffer fixes it.

Any idea?

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

[-- Attachment #2: signature.asc --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 511 bytes --]

Re: A weird thing about network connections in Icecat (and Firefox) on Guix

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

Pierre Neidhardt writes:

> Hi Chris,
>
> Unsure if it's related, but I can reproduce this recipe on my Guix
> System with the Nyxt browser.
>
> - Enable Tor service.
> - Start Nyxt.
> - Enable proxy-mode over Tor.
> - Go to https://check.torproject.org/ to confirm it's working.
> - Put system to sleep for a while.
> - Wake up the the system and browse something from _an existing buffer_:
>   most of the time it fails to load.
>
> Restarting the Tor service and/or opening a new buffer fixes it.
>
> Any idea?

Curious, except that afaict I shouldn't be running a proxy here, and
afaik neither is my spouse, who didn't experience this behavior until
the Guix switchover either (and isn't running the tor service atm).

I did wonder if this was proxy-like failure behavior though.

Re: A weird thing about network connections in Icecat (and Firefox) on Guix

[Luis Felipe]

Hey Chris,

I can't reproduce the behavior you describe. I'm using

guix 08d8c2d
linux-libre 5.9.12-gnu
IceCat 78.5.0esr (64-bit)


I did the following twice:

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Monday, December 14, 2020 9:00 PM, Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org> wrote:

[...]

> Here's roughly the scenario:
>
> -   Have icecat/firefox open and browsing websites.
> -   Oops, something happens to the network. Maybe the wifi router goes
>     out briefly or something.


I unplugged the UTP cable from my computer and made sure I had no access to anything from IceCat.


> -   You're back! You can ssh into servers again and connect to irc, and
>     even ungoogled-chromium seems fine to browse websites.
>


I plugged the cable back in.


> -   But weirdly... you have to restart icecat/firefox for things to work
>     right again.


I tried browsing the Web using IceCat again, and it worked normally.


>     Anyone else experience the same? I tried describing this and it sounded
>     like I was the only one having the issue a couple of years ago. Now
>     that I'm not my only household member experiencing the same, I suspect
>     we are probably not alone...?


I'm not sure I've experienced the same, but I'm sure I usually had to restart my desktop session whenever the Internet went out before. This hasn't been the case in months, though.

Re: A weird thing about network connections in Icecat (and Firefox) on Guix

[Christopher Lemmer Webber]

Thanks for testing.  Maybe I should open up wireshark and do some
sniffing around.

Luis Felipe writes:

> Hey Chris,
>
> I can't reproduce the behavior you describe. I'm using
>
> guix 08d8c2d
> linux-libre 5.9.12-gnu
> IceCat 78.5.0esr (64-bit)
>
>
> I did the following twice:
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
> On Monday, December 14, 2020 9:00 PM, Christopher Lemmer Webber <cwebber@dustycloud.org> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
>> Here's roughly the scenario:
>>
>> -   Have icecat/firefox open and browsing websites.
>> -   Oops, something happens to the network. Maybe the wifi router goes
>>     out briefly or something.
>
>
> I unplugged the UTP cable from my computer and made sure I had no access to anything from IceCat.
>
>
>> -   You're back! You can ssh into servers again and connect to irc, and
>>     even ungoogled-chromium seems fine to browse websites.
>>
>
>
> I plugged the cable back in.
>
>
>> -   But weirdly... you have to restart icecat/firefox for things to work
>>     right again.
>
>
> I tried browsing the Web using IceCat again, and it worked normally.
>
>
>>     Anyone else experience the same? I tried describing this and it sounded
>>     like I was the only one having the issue a couple of years ago. Now
>>     that I'm not my only household member experiencing the same, I suspect
>>     we are probably not alone...?
>
>
> I'm not sure I've experienced the same, but I'm sure I usually had to restart my desktop session whenever the Internet went out before. This hasn't been the case in months, though.

Re: A weird thing about network connections in Icecat (and Firefox) on Guix

[Joshua Branson via]

Hey Chris,

I used to have that Icecat issue.  I had to restart icecat whenever I
lost the internet connection.  I do not believe that I have had that
issue in a while.  I just turned off my wifi and turned it back on and
icecat worked just fine.

P.S.  Whoever has been maintaining Icecat, great job!  I used to have
all sorts of weird stability issues, but not so much anymore.  Thanks!

--
Joshua Branson
Sent from Emacs and Gnus
  https://gnucode.me
  https://video.hardlimit.com/accounts/joshua_branson/video-channels
  https://propernaming.org
  "You can have whatever you want, as long as you help

enough other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar