knetworkmanager kills firefox

[Rick Graves]

Binary package hint: knetworkmanager

I discovered this problem connecting to a encrypted wireless network with my laptop.

If I blank out the interfaces file in /etc/network, so that knetworkmanager connects to the wireless network after I log into an X session, firefox is EXTREMELY SLOW to the point of not working. I timed it once, and from launch to displaying my home page (www.yahoo.com) took 21 minutes!!!! Clicking on a menu item (like File, Edit, View, etc.) seems to lock up firefox (but really I think it takes forever for firefox to respond).

I had this problem when I launched firefox after the network was up and working, and after konq was working normally. Everything worked normally EXCEPT firefox.

If I specify the wireless network settings in interfaces (so that the laptop connects to the network while booting up), firefox works normally.

I had been letting knetworkmanager connect to the wireless network, and I had given up on firefox. I decided to experiment with specifying the wireless network settings in interfaces without thinking about the firefox problem. After I got the internet connection working that way, I decided to try firefox, and discovered it was working again.

Before I discovered that specifying the wireless network settings in interfaces solved the firefox problem, I posted queries in ubuntuforums.org and on the firefox mailing list, and did not get a single helpful responce. (On ubuntuforums.org, I got firefox tweak tips. On the firefox mailing list, I was basically told I was the only person having this problem.)

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Kubuntu better. The KDE3 version of KNetworkManager has been discontinued by its original authors. This unfortunately means that there will be no more bugfix releases, and updates in general will be limited to those fixing security flaws.

While we cannot fix your bug, the good news is that the applet has been totally rewritten for KDE4 in the upcoming Kubuntu 9.10 release. There is a good chance that this bug is no longer an issue with the new applet. If you find any similar or new issues with the applet included in Kubuntu 9.10, we would politely ask you to file them as new bugs against the "plasma-widget-networkmanagement" package.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation and understanding.

[Rick Graves (gravesricharde)]

I checked this within the last month, and it was no longer a problem -- Firefox worked OK when interfaces is blank and knetworkmanager handles the connection. (When I checked 6 months ago or so, at that time, it was still a problem.) Maybe one of the numerous Firefox updates solved the problem.