Why do we continually have to tolerate Firefox's ridiculous mem leak?

By WastedJoker
in Web Browser Discussion & Support

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Grand Master

Kirkburn

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The problem isn't that Firefox is using all this memory, it's that it eventually grinds to a halt because of it.

I don't recall anyone saying this in the entire thread. Even if they had, no-one has claimed it reached 100% RAM usage.

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phot0nic

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As it's been stated, the problem is definitely a poorly coded extension or plugin. Firefox does not have these sorts of memory leaks upon initial install, and even a setup with a large number of extensions doesn't have this problem if you stick to quality. Additionally, Mozilla has put forth a considerable effort to cut down memory consumption in almost every new version of the browser, so your whining about "absolutely zero" being done about it is pure BS.

My setup:

BQwmO.png

This is with 5 tabs open, and has been running for hours with tabs opening/closing. It maxes around 300MB if flash is acting up. I also don't use any of these widely spread "memory tricks" because although they decrease memory consumption, they also decrease overall performance.

Additionally, some benchmarks concerning browser memory usage:

http://dotnetperls.com/chrome-memory

Also, since you're complaining that you get no notifications when a leak occurs, you can try this:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2490

Look, I'm a fan of some of the advanced stats that Chrome provides concerning resource usage per tab, but quit trying to make this whole thing into a much bigger deal than it really is. Firefox handles memory quite well, but if you're going to be regularly using extensions developed by less-experienced programmers, be aware that it might have some bugs. That's the price you pay for powerful third-party extensibility. Get over it.

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Grand Master

Kirkburn

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I'd say 79% of your physical memory being used up mostly from firefox is an issue with memory.

Yes, I expect all my programs to use up zero RAM... >_>

In any case, as he rightly pointed out, Fx was actually only using about <20% of his total. That is nowhere near "mostly", and is certainly within any reasonable person's bounds for an active program, especially a web browser.

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Grand Master

Growled Member

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The problem isn't that Firefox is using all this memory, it's that it eventually grinds to a halt because of it.

I've never had that problem. Do you have it often?

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Grand Master

hotdog666al

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We're 3 versions in and absolutely zero has been done about this - it's been a continuous thorn in Mozilla's side yet they ignore it.

Look at this - 2/3rds of a gig of ram used merely for a 3-tab firefox browser session.

Is there anything I can do to ease the memory leak/usage or do we have to keep putting up with it?

chrome-logo.png

Sup

Seriously, I had the same problems as you... I still use FF for development, but my god that **** is slow.

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Grand Master

shihchiun

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I've never had that problem. Do you have it often?

Past 500 MB or so it'll just get so bogged down that I'll have to restart it. It's similar to what happens when Windows runs out of memory.

Is it an addon problem? Maybe, but addons are half the reason people use Firefox. Something is wrong.

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Grand Master

XerXis

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Seriously? Do some research. Memory leaks are well documented. Do a simple search.

sigh, in a modern operating system each application get it's own share of the memory, it normally can't access or write to the memory of other application. When the application exits, the operation system knows very well which memory was allocated by that application and releases it. There are some exceptions to this, but firefox certainly isn't one of them. Now, this was a very simple explanation to a very complex system. Do a simple search if you want to know more about it ;)

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Guest

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I have 2 or 3 addons and with 5 tabs open including youtube and facebook and this is my memory consumption: 116.456K

Never had issues with memory leaks.

Actually, FF 3.5 consumes less memory than Chrome 4...

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Grand Master

ToneKnee

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chrome-logo.png

Sup

Seriously, I had the same problems as you... I still use FF for development, but my god that **** is slow.

And you don't think Chrome won't go down the same road?

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Proficient

Madoshi

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i used to use Firefox

i used lots of plugins. thats the whole point of Firefox for me, the plugin library.

anyways, right about the time i switched from Firefox to to a Chrome/Opera combo, it would consistently eat a gig and a half of memory plus if i let it. thats just my normal browsing, ebay, forums, Google searches etc.

Chrome and Opera both work well, but i would give them both up for a non-leaky Firefox

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PreKe

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Look at this - 2/3rds of a gig of ram used merely for a 3-tab firefox browser session.

That's just 10% of your RAM. You have 6 GB. Presumably it's there to be used, right? Firefox is using it. What's the problem?

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Grand Master

Udedenkz

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That's just 10% of your RAM. You have 6 GB. Presumably it's there to be used, right? Firefox is using it. What's the problem?

Mentality from the times of Win. XP?

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Grand Master

+Audioboxer Subscriber²

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Problem isn't % used of ram, it's when Fx starts using 500mb+ it gets really slow/sluggish for me. Have to restart it. It seems it really struggles with flash/javascript for me.

If only Chrome would allow an extension to properly block ads and element hide (it loads them just now then hides), I'd be back to Chrome in an instant. Enjoyed using ChromePlus.

Edit: Where can I get the latest 3.7 alphas from to give a spin? Thanks

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Grand Master

c3ntury

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MemoryFox gets rid of memory leaks, search on Google for it.

Anyway, its not FireFox itself, but the mass of addons people install which conflict etc i believe.

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Grand Master

fix-this!

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We're 3 versions in and absolutely zero has been done about this - it's been a continuous thorn in Mozilla's side yet they ignore it.

Look at this - 2/3rds of a gig of ram used merely for a 3-tab firefox browser session.

Is there anything I can do to ease the memory leak/usage or do we have to keep putting up with it?

use another browser, plain and simple. firefox is the best out there right now.

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SkyDX

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I have 39 tabs open with a mass of addons and FF uses 379mb of RAM so something must be seriously wrong on your side...

And before you say 379mb is much, I can play Crysis, Modern Warfare etc. all fine and my Firefox is running all day.

As others suggested check your addons and disable them one by one to find the culpit.

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Grand Master

+Audioboxer Subscriber²

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Well I changed over to the build of 3.7 here - http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/fir...y/latest-trunk/ - Which I believe is latest?

Installed Memory Fox as well, and things already seem a bit snappier, I'll see how things go. I hate the minefield branding, wish I could run the minefield builds with the normal Fx icons.

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Grand Master

+Audioboxer Subscriber²

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Those are nightly trunks, I use them and update regularly but I wouldn't recommend them to the average person!

Working fine for me so far.

Am I correct in saying these are the only way to test 3.7 so far though yeah?

Also do I have to manually keep updating or is there any auto-update feature/extension for the nightlies?

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Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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Working fine for me so far.

Am I correct in saying these are the only way to test 3.7 so far though yeah?

Also do I have to manually keep updating or is there any auto-update feature/extension for the nightlies?

Help -> Check for updates

If you want to keep track of the development changes I recommend following the Firefox builds subforum over at forums.mozillazine.org.

Branch build threads are about 3.6 builds, Trunk build threads about 3.7 builds.

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Grand Master

+Audioboxer Subscriber²

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Help -> Check for updates

If you want to keep track of the development changes I recommend following the Firefox builds subforum over at forums.mozillazine.org.

Branch build threads are about 3.6 builds, Trunk build threads about 3.7 builds.

Last time I used trunk builds.... a loooooong time ago, it would never auto update like how Chrome dev builds update. I have no problem doing it manually I was just wondering if there was a way to autoupdate to latest version.

Thanks for links (Y)

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Grand Master

tsupersonic

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Taking up 295MB for 5 tabs (2 tabs of Youtube HD videos), Adblock + stylish + hidemenubar + twentytenbuddy. Why do people moan and groan when most of us here at a tech site probably have whopping amount of RAM?

post-182178-1262552845_thumb.png

Only 36% RAM usage = nothing, 8GB! :D

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