firefox might cause unnecessary disk activity when going to a new website

[ubuntu_demon]

Binary package hint: firefox

Each time firefox goes to a new website firefox accesses the disk. IMHO cache/cookies/history/session-stuff all needs to be stored in ram instead of on the disk and should only be stored to the disk once in a while (10 minutes?) and when firefox closes.

firefox might cause unnecessary disk activity. It is important for laptop users to reduce unnecessary disk-activity because the harddrive head might be parked or the drive might be spun down.

lm-profiler run :
Read accesses at 214/600 in lm-profiler run: firefox-bin
Read accesses at 220/600 in lm-profiler run: firefox-bin
Read accesses at 223/600 in lm-profiler run: firefox-bin
Read accesses at 228/600 in lm-profiler run: firefox-bin
Read accesses at 234/600 in lm-profiler run: firefox-bin
Read accesses at 236/600 in lm-profiler run: firefox-bin

This might be one of the contributors to the famous Load_Cycle_Count bug :
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/17216
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/acpi-support/+bug/59695

[ubuntu_demon (ubuntu-demon)]

$sudo su
$echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/block_dump
$exit
$sudo dmesg -c

opening a new tab and going to a website (two times)

$dmesg | grep firefox

result :

[ 1900.468000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18829523 (sessionstore-1.js) on dm-2
[ 1900.468000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18829540 (?) on dm-2
[ 1901.580000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927160 (_CACHE_001_) on dm-2
[ 1901.580000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927160 (_CACHE_001_) on dm-2
[ 1901.896000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927160 (_CACHE_001_) on dm-2
[ 1910.504000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18829540 (sessionstore-1.js) on dm-2
[ 1911.568000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18826308 (history.dat) on dm-2
[ 1911.568000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18826308 (history.dat) on dm-2
[ 1911.568000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18826308 (history.dat) on dm-2
[ 1920.212000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18829523 (prefs-1.js) on dm-2
[ 1920.216000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18827110 (?) on dm-2
[ 1923.632000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18827110 (localstore-1.rdf) on dm-2
[ 1923.636000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18829504 (?) on dm-2
[ 1933.100000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18829504 (sessionstore-1.js) on dm-2
[ 1933.852000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927161 (_CACHE_002_) on dm-2
[ 1933.852000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927161 (_CACHE_002_) on dm-2
[ 1933.896000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927165 (_CACHE_003_) on dm-2
[ 1933.896000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927165 (_CACHE_003_) on dm-2
[ 1934.308000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671336 on dm-2
[ 1934.332000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671432 on dm-2
[ 1934.332000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671880 on dm-2
[ 1934.340000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671368 on dm-2
[ 1934.340000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671376 on dm-2
[ 1934.340000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671384 on dm-2
[ 1934.340000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671392 on dm-2
[ 1934.340000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671400 on dm-2
[ 1934.340000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671408 on dm-2
[ 1934.340000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671416 on dm-2
[ 1934.340000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671424 on dm-2
[ 1934.340000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671440 on dm-2
[ 1934.344000] firefox-bin(6521): READ block 404671680 on dm-2
[ 1934.592000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927161 (_CACHE_002_) on dm-2
[ 1934.592000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927205 (BF0F490Ed01) on dm-2
[ 1934.800000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927206 (69F3B802d01) on dm-2
[ 1935.260000] firefox-bin(6536): READ block 302259800 on dm-2
[ 1935.320000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927160 (_CACHE_001_) on dm-2
[ 1935.464000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 19927160 (_CACHE_001_) on dm-2
[ 1940.276000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18829540 (cookies-1.txt) on dm-2
[ 1940.280000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18829538 (?) on dm-2
[ 1943.148000] firefox-bin(6521): dirtied inode 18829538 (sessionstore-1.js) on dm-2

[spiderbatdad (spiderbatdad)]

Confirm a similar dmesg and more than excessive disk activity when using FireFox to browse.

[petit-prince (petit-prince)]

Please check if this is a duplicate of #215728.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Sorry but Firefox-2 is getting near EOS and they wont be fixing anything but major issues security issues mainly. Please try to reproduce this with Firefox-3.0 if you can reproduce this bug please click on Help > Report a problem and file the bug that way.

[ubuntu_demon (ubuntu-demon)]

essentially the same problem reported by someone else against firefox 3 :
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.0/+bug/221009

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Thu, May 15, 2008 at 02:09:33PM -0000, ubuntu_demon wrote:
> essentially the same problem reported by someone else against firefox 3 :
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.0/+bug/221009
>

fixed in firefox 3 RC1 most likely.

 - Alexander