[lug] Firefox crashes

[Davide Del Vento]

Just to clarify what I do (not that others have to do what I do, only
to let you know :-)

I did say and do recommend to use Chrome. but there are several things
that I do not like (to use an euphemism) of it. For example, its being
"cloud oriented" and trying to force you to view documents (e.g. PDF)
in the Google Viewer, which I like far less than (say) evince. You
cannot "force" Chrome to use evince for PDFs, your only option is to
download the sucker on your Desktop (automatical use of self-purged
/tmp directory is not allowed either) and do a lots of clicking to
view and clean-after-your-pet. There are so many of such very annoying
things, that I really can't see myself switching to Chrome "in
production".

So, bottom line is: I do use Chrome and I do recommend others to use
it, but not for "serious" stuff (such as emails and using sites and
content I trust): only for browsing "random crap", especially if flash
or javascript is required and a restart of the "main" browser is
unconvenient (say, many logins required).

Another "trick" I forgot to mention, is that I usually create 2 or 3
accounts per physical user, so each person can open 2 or 3 independent
copies of firefox and be less vulnerable to crashes and browser
restarts (yes, they have to enter their password at 2nd and 3rd
firefox startup - ask me for details if it's not clear what I'm
doing). Of course this has a hefty toll on memory, but nowadays
systems seem to be sturdy enough (and I'd expect even more from yours
64bit - unlike myself you have more than 4GB or RAM, don't you? :-)

Cheers,
Davide

On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 17:22, Sarah Tempest <sctempe13 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Solution:
> Download Chrome. ;)
> But seriously, I believe Firefox 3.6 is known for its memory leaks as Davide
> mentioned. Add-ons and plugins, especially Flash, make the memory leakage
> problem worse. Firefox claims their newer versions are more stable and
> consume less memory, but I can't really give you an opinion on that since I
> run Fedora and switched to Chrome. I would try what Davide is doing, his
> call on the memory leak seems pretty spot on. Sorry if this reply seems
> redundant, thought it might help to hear a second opinion. :)
> On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 11:13 AM, Steven A Hart <shart at colorado.edu> wrote:
>>
>> I've got an annoying problem and I can't seem to find a solution online.
>>
>> Here's my setup:
>> RHEL 5 64 bit
>> Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.2.20) Gecko/20110804 Red
>> Hat/3.6-2.el5 Firefox/3.6.20
>> File: libflashplayer.so   Version: Shockwave Flash 11.0 d1
>> kernel = 2.6.18-274.el5
>>
>> I was using the the latest stable libflashplayer and had this same problem
>> and hoped that the newer beta would help but it did not.
>>
>> So the main problem:
>>
>> I usually keep Firefox running all day.  At least once a day (usually 2-3
>> times a day), It will randomly just disappear.  Sometimes it happens while
>> I'm surfing, other times I'll only have gmail open and idle and come back to
>> find the browser gone.  Usually it happens while a flash site is being
>> viewed.
>>
>> dmesg shows:
>> plugin-containe[24641]: segfault at 0000003e4de80300 rip 0000003e4de80300
>> rsp 000000004227b0d8 error 14
>> plugin-containe[26236]: segfault at 0000003e4de80300 rip 0000003e4de80300
>> rsp 0000000041dd10d8 error 14
>> plugin-containe[26341]: segfault at 0000003e4de80300 rip 0000003e4de80300
>> rsp 0000000041be90d8 error 14
>> plugin-containe[27676]: segfault at 0000003e4de80300 rip 0000003e4de80300
>> rsp 00000000428d80d8 error 14
>>
>>
>> /var/log/messages shows:
>> kernel: plugin-containe[27676]: segfault at 0000003e4de80300 rip
>> 0000003e4de80300 rsp 00000000428d80d8 error 14
>>
>> I've found similar problems listed but no real solutions that seem to
>> fit.  I was just curious if anyone had any ideas. I know flash and Linux
>> still don't play nice but this crashing is getting old and I'd like to be
>> rid of it if possible.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Steve
>> --
>> Steve Hart
>> Systems Administrator
>> Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research
>> University of Colorado Boulder
>> Steven.Hart at colorado.edu
>> (303)492-8109
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>
>
> --
> ==I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates who said, "I drank
> what?"==
>
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