Firefox only restores previous session/tabs when restarting after disabling an extension, if Browsing History is cleared at close.

[Derek White]

Binary package hint: firefox-3.0

firefox3.0.3+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.1
Ubuntu 8.04.1

Closed down firefox with 2 tabs open by hitting the X and selecting save & quit.

Clicked on a URL in an application (happened to be mobloquer).

URL loads, old tabs are never restored.
Reloading firefox does not load tabs either...tabs aren't even shown in the history.

Torbutton does NOTHING to non-tor pages, which the saved tabs were.
<EDIT: This statement is completely wrong, I don't know why I wrote this initially. My tabs have never restored since I installed 8.04 from scratch.>Tabs are saved and load just fine under ideal circumstances (i.e. close, save, reload - nothing fancy).</EDIT>

<EDIT: Deleted venting/off-topic comments.>

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Tue Oct 7 14:24:54 2008
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.04
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Package: firefox-3.0 3.0.3+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.1
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox-3.0
Uname: Linux 2.6.24-19-generic i686

[dancer58 (dancer581)]

I have tried to duplicate the problem but cannot. I tried URL's from Thunderbird, Nautilus help, and several others but all worked OK.
I am running Hardy 8.04.1 and firefox 3.0.3 with all updates
Linux asus 2.6.24-21-generic #1 SMP Mon Aug 25 17:32:09 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux
In repositories I have http://packages.medibuntu.org/ (don't know if it makes a difference)

Hope this is of some value

Harold

[Kenneth Venken (kenneth-venken)]

I couldn't reproduce this bug either. Using an up to date Hardy and firefox 3.0.3 version
Can you reproduce if you:
  - use a clean firefox (no plugins or extensions)
  - use thunderbird, nautilus help, pidgin,... to open firefox.

Kenneth

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

i think this is a dupe please find that and mark this bug as a duplicate accordingly.

[Derek White (d-man97)]

I have done some more testing:

Opened firefox to my homepage.
I disabled Tor, restarted with the restart button that came up in the extension window.
Tested restore, didn't work: just came up to a single blank page, no tabs.
I opened a URL in a second tab (first was still blank).
I opened add-ons and disabled Ad-Block, restarted as it told me to.
It asked if I wanted to save my tabs, I said yes and it restarted.
My blank page & the second tab were restored perfectly.
Closed firefox.
Started firefox.
Went somewhere.
Opened a new tab & went somewhere else.
Closed firefox, selected save & quit.
Opened firefox.
I get a blank screen, nothing restored.

So, it seems that only when I save/restore from the restart button after disabling an extension, will it save.

Under "Clear Private Data" I have browsing, download, saved form and search histories checked, as well as cache, offline website data, and authenticated sessions. It is set to clear all this when firefox closes.

I am at a total loss as to why this is happening.
Why does it ONLY save/restore successfully when I restart after disabling an extension?
Are saved tabs considered authenticated sessions?

[Kenneth Venken (kenneth-venken)]

I could reproduce this when i enabled 'clearing of private data when firefox closes'.
Because you clear your browsing history, firefox can't restore your sessions. (probably not what you want either if you explicitly clear your browsing history every time firefox closes. (so it has nothing to do with authenticated sessions)

Perhaps firefox should clear browser history before saving tabs, this way only the opened tabs urls are saved, not the whole browsing.

[Derek White (d-man97)]

Great, at least I know I'm not going crazy!

Now, this creates two problems:

1) My problem of losing saved tabs.

2) Firefox apparently does not clear private data when it restarts after disabling an extension.
    a) This could be by design. AKA: a RESTART is not considered to be part of "when I close Firefox"?

Kenneth: Your fix would seem logical to me; hell, it's how I figured it did it all along. I really didn't think the devs would make two features that conflict like that without warning me.

So...where to go from here?

Bug?
or
Request a feature addition?

P.S. - Is this still a duplicate with the changes I made to it?

[Kenneth Venken (kenneth-venken)]

This is clearly a bug. Two features are conflicting and causing 'undefined' behavior.
- Firefox asks to save tabs, so when you click to save you should expect it to load the tabs.
- You want firefox to delete your browsing history so you should expect it to clear your browsing history.

perhaps the simplest way to solve it is to don't ask to save tabs when you have the 'clear browsing history on shutdown' option enabled.

I did a search for duplicates and #124334 could be a match, but is marked as incomplete.

[Derek White (d-man97)]

Been a while...

Should this have been reported upstream, or what needs done to fix it? Because I am still leaving the clear browser history check-box un-checked, but would like to check it and preserve my saved tabs. With it checked, during an extension induced restart, tabs are preserved, so I know the functionality is in the code, it just needs to be activated for saved tabs as well.