Firefox plugin finder hangs while modal dialog appears on different workspace

[Steve Alexander]

Binary package hint: firefox

I'm using the latest gutsy, 32 bit intel.

I had installed gnash already.

I'm using the "medium" level of desktop effects, with firefox on workspace 3.

I used firefox to go to a web site with a flash movie, and clicked where the movie would be shown.

The computer asked me if I'd like to install a plugin, and if I'd like gnash or adobe flash.

I chose gnash and pressed next. Then, both firefox and that dialog with the next button appeared to freeze up. Nothing happened for a long while.

Eventually, I noticed on workspace 1, a modal dialog telling me the changes have been applied, and asking me to close that window.

I close the window using the 'close' button, and back on workspace 3, the "plugin finder service" window is working again.

I press "finish" on that window, and the firefox page re-renders, this time with the flash content available.

The bug is that the modal dialog appeared on desktop 1, whereas firefox was on workspace 3. So, I was waiting for the installation of the plugin to finish, watching workspace 3. It didn't occur to me to go and look on different workspaces to find the dialog to say "yes, I confirm that the process can be finished".

Actually, I don't really understand the value of that dialog -- all it wanted me to do was click "finished". The process would have been smoother without that dialog at all. However, that would be another "usability enhancement" bug rather than a more serious "It looks like firefox has crashed, even though it hasn't" bug.

I think maybe this is what happened with bug 96929 (marked invalid).

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

This needs to be fixed in ubufox. Long running operations should be done outside the UI thread. However this will only be possible after firefox-3.0 in a reasonable fashion (e.g. using just javascript).

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Tue, Sep 11, 2007 at 01:01:36PM -0000, Steve Alexander wrote:
> Public bug reported:
>
> Binary package hint: firefox
>
> I'm using the latest gutsy, 32 bit intel.
>
> I had installed gnash already.
>
> I'm using the "medium" level of desktop effects, with firefox on
> workspace 3.
>
> I used firefox to go to a web site with a flash movie, and clicked where
> the movie would be shown.
>
> The computer asked me if I'd like to install a plugin, and if I'd like
> gnash or adobe flash.
>
> I chose gnash and pressed next. Then, both firefox and that dialog with
> the next button appeared to freeze up. Nothing happened for a long
> while.
>
> Eventually, I noticed on workspace 1, a modal dialog telling me the
> changes have been applied, and asking me to close that window.
>
> I close the window using the 'close' button, and back on workspace 3,
> the "plugin finder service" window is working again.
>
> I press "finish" on that window, and the firefox page re-renders, this
> time with the flash content available.
>
> The bug is that the modal dialog appeared on desktop 1, whereas firefox
> was on workspace 3. So, I was waiting for the installation of the
> plugin to finish, watching workspace 3. It didn't occur to me to go and
> look on different workspaces to find the dialog to say "yes, I confirm
> that the process can be finished".
>
> Actually, I don't really understand the value of that dialog -- all it
> wanted me to do was click "finished". The process would have been
> smoother without that dialog at all. However, that would be another
> "usability enhancement" bug rather than a more serious "It looks like
> firefox has crashed, even though it hasn't" bug.
>
> I think maybe this is what happened with bug 96929 (marked invalid).

The problem why it looks like firefox freezed is that as of ffox 2.0
you cannot wait for an external process to finish in a non-UI thread
from within javascript. This feature will be present and will use that
feature then.

 - Alexander

[a5b (osgxdvyg)]

The same problems with modal synaptic dialog freeze on firefox 3.0 (ubuntu 8.10)

Also, if modal dialog lose focus, it is impossible to find it using Alt-Tab

Is there some progress on this bug?

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

apturl needs to be run in thread != UI thread.

[Bryan Quigley (bryanquigley)]

The package finder has been discontinued.