2006-02-17, 05:11 PM
Well, this explains the high cpu usage I was having when using FireFox and tabs. What ticks me is they didn't let anyone know about it. Plus they admit it was poorly coded. 
And they KNEW this. I dont have this problem with the new 7.0 IE. and using its tabs, If microsoft can figure it out with their small team first round why cant FireFox do it after how many years?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20060217/tc_cmp/180203308
"In general, Firefox should release memory when tabs are closed," said Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla's director of engineering, on Thursday. "There are actually several different caches, which makes this a complicated issue
"But there are cases where they're leaks," he acknowledged.
Goodger had admitted the same in his post. "All versions of Firefox no doubt leak memory -- it is a common problem with software this complicated."
Although the issue is unresolved -- commentators continued to argue over such practices as garbage collection and memory compaction -- Schroepfer said that Mozilla's goal was to "balance memory usage and performance."
"It's hard to set an exact target" for memory usage, he continued, which is why Firefox employs techniques like that used by the Back-Forward cache, where more memory is available to the browser when the PC has more system RAM.
Users can also manually tweak the Back-Forward cache setting, said Schroepfer, to reduce the amount of memory the feature consumes.
Within Firefox, enter "about:config" (minus the quotation marks) in the address bar to access the program's configuration file. Scroll down to the entry "browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers" (again, minus quotes), and double-click it.
In the ensuing "Enter integer value" field, type:
"0" to disable the cache "1" through "8" to set the maximum cache as 1 through 8 previously-viewed pages "-1" to return the cache to its default
Firefox's memory appetite has some users up in arms, but according to one of the open-source browser's developers, that's part of the plan.
Complaints about Firefox's memory use, particularly charges that it "leaks" memory -- that it doesn't release memory once it's done using it -- had been circulating for some time before Ben Goodger, now employed by Google, but still a lead engineer on the browser project, posted an explanation on his blog Tuesday.
"What I think many people are talking about however with Firefox 1.5 is not really a memory leak at all. It is in fact a feature," wrote Goodger.
Goodger went on to describe how Firefox 1.5's Back-Forward feature caches recently-viewed pages so that they're immediately available when users click the Back or Forward navigational buttons.
"This can be a lot of data," Goodger said. "It's a trade-off. What you get out of it is faster performance as you navigate."
Firefox, said, Goodger, will cache up to 8 previous pages, depending on how much memory the machine has. A PC with 1GB or more will cache as many as 8 pages, while a computer with just 256MB or memory will cache only 3.
Goodger's explanation didn't sit well with every Firefox user. As of Thursday morning, more than 200 comments had been left on this blog, while at Slashdot, twice as many have opined.
Most of those complaints centered on Firefox's refusal to free up memory once tabs had been closed. "I have closed tabs down to a single tab and seen no improvement in memory usage," said one example comment to Goodger's blog.
As other writers rose to Firefox's defense, tempers flared. "Users don't want to hear it's because of a 'poorly coded webpage' or 'it's your flash plugin'. They just want to use a browser that doesn't leak memory like there is no tomorrow," wrote another user.
And they KNEW this. I dont have this problem with the new 7.0 IE. and using its tabs, If microsoft can figure it out with their small team first round why cant FireFox do it after how many years? http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20060217/tc_cmp/180203308
"In general, Firefox should release memory when tabs are closed," said Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla's director of engineering, on Thursday. "There are actually several different caches, which makes this a complicated issue
"But there are cases where they're leaks," he acknowledged.
Goodger had admitted the same in his post. "All versions of Firefox no doubt leak memory -- it is a common problem with software this complicated."
Although the issue is unresolved -- commentators continued to argue over such practices as garbage collection and memory compaction -- Schroepfer said that Mozilla's goal was to "balance memory usage and performance."
"It's hard to set an exact target" for memory usage, he continued, which is why Firefox employs techniques like that used by the Back-Forward cache, where more memory is available to the browser when the PC has more system RAM.
Users can also manually tweak the Back-Forward cache setting, said Schroepfer, to reduce the amount of memory the feature consumes.
Within Firefox, enter "about:config" (minus the quotation marks) in the address bar to access the program's configuration file. Scroll down to the entry "browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers" (again, minus quotes), and double-click it.
In the ensuing "Enter integer value" field, type:
"0" to disable the cache "1" through "8" to set the maximum cache as 1 through 8 previously-viewed pages "-1" to return the cache to its default
Firefox's memory appetite has some users up in arms, but according to one of the open-source browser's developers, that's part of the plan.
Complaints about Firefox's memory use, particularly charges that it "leaks" memory -- that it doesn't release memory once it's done using it -- had been circulating for some time before Ben Goodger, now employed by Google, but still a lead engineer on the browser project, posted an explanation on his blog Tuesday.
"What I think many people are talking about however with Firefox 1.5 is not really a memory leak at all. It is in fact a feature," wrote Goodger.
Goodger went on to describe how Firefox 1.5's Back-Forward feature caches recently-viewed pages so that they're immediately available when users click the Back or Forward navigational buttons.
"This can be a lot of data," Goodger said. "It's a trade-off. What you get out of it is faster performance as you navigate."
Firefox, said, Goodger, will cache up to 8 previous pages, depending on how much memory the machine has. A PC with 1GB or more will cache as many as 8 pages, while a computer with just 256MB or memory will cache only 3.
Goodger's explanation didn't sit well with every Firefox user. As of Thursday morning, more than 200 comments had been left on this blog, while at Slashdot, twice as many have opined.
Most of those complaints centered on Firefox's refusal to free up memory once tabs had been closed. "I have closed tabs down to a single tab and seen no improvement in memory usage," said one example comment to Goodger's blog.
As other writers rose to Firefox's defense, tempers flared. "Users don't want to hear it's because of a 'poorly coded webpage' or 'it's your flash plugin'. They just want to use a browser that doesn't leak memory like there is no tomorrow," wrote another user.