Why are .sqlite files so much larger in Firefox 4 ?

[Gingerbread Man]

As a peer of Firefox's history and bookmarking engine, and the owner of its SQLite wrapper

I'm completely baffled that you think this thread is worth your time. Even if running Firefox off a Flash drive, there would be enough space to comfortably accomodate the increased file sizes.

[Anonymosity]

Where are those block sizes for cookies.sqlite and places.sqlite? Is there any way to change those? I cannot see that I am ever going to need 512 KB to store cookies. I block them by default, and the number of sites allowed to set persistent cookies is perhaps 10 or 12. There ought to be a way to change the default block size.

[KWierso]

If a 512KB file is causing issues for you, you have more pressing things to worry about than Firefox.

[Guest]

Viewing or editing an sqlite database is NOT an unsupported thing.

As a peer of Firefox's history and bookmarking engine, and the owner of its SQLite wrapper, I can say with 100% certainty that it's not something that Mozilla supports.

That's ridiculous. Why shouldn't you be able to view or edit Firefox's database files as long as it's not running ?

Where are those block sizes for cookies.sqlite and places.sqlite? Is there any way to change those? I cannot see that I am ever going to need 512 KB to store cookies. I block them by default, and the number of sites allowed to set persistent cookies is perhaps 10 or 12. There ought to be a way to change the default block size.

They probably have those excessive block sizes hardcoded in the C code with no preference to change them. Probably some of the developers have really big sqlite files and assume that everyone has huge files. I still have SeaMonkey 2.0 (same codebase as Firefox 3.5) and the relevant sqlite file sizes there are as follows:
cookies.sqlite: 4KB
formhistory.sqlite: 7KB
places.sqlite: 228KB (this is the largest of the sqlite files)
urlbarhistory.sqlite: 2KB

512KB for cookies and 10MB for places is a waste of disk space. More reasonable block sizes would be 64KB and 1MB respectively. If you don't agree then how about at least providing a preference to change this and check that the specified value is a power of two between 4KB and 16MB.

[KWierso]

If a 512KB file is causing issues for you, you have more pressing things to worry about than Firefox.

[Guest]

If a 512KB file is causing issues for you, you have more pressing things to worry about than Firefox.

Your comment was pointless and unhelpful the first time, no need to repeat it. If this is of no concern to you then why bother posting anything regarding this topic. Some of us don't like bloat and unnecessary usage of resource, if you do then fine enjoy it but don't try to prevent others from discussing this.

[mightyglydd]

[Guest]

... Some of us...

... don't try to prevent others from discussing this.

You actually mean just you, on your own, don't you? There is no 'us'. Find me just 5 other people sad enough to think that 10MB on a harddrive is 'bloat'.

[patrickjdempsey]

The point isn't how much disk-space your profile uses with cookies disabled or blocked. The point is to create a database with a *set size* as constantly increasing and decreasing the size of these databases was causing them to fragment and corrupt. So while you personally may never reach 512KB worth of cookies, it's entirely possible that having that buffer *could* prevent fragmentation and corruption on your system, as well as allow Firefox to load and run faster. You want to talk about bloat? ever looked at the size of a Chrome installation?

[Guest]

... Some of us...

... don't try to prevent others from discussing this.

You actually mean just you, on your own, don't you? There is no 'us'. Find me just 5 other people sad enough to think that 10MB on a harddrive is 'bloat'.

My places.sqlite has never been greater than 512KB, going from that to 10MB is an increase by a factor of 20, that's bloat whether you agree or not. My cookies.sqlite is generally 4KB, going from that to 512KB is an increase by a factor of 128, again that's bloat whether you agree or not. Anyway you're entitled to your own opinion no matter how incorrect it is. Again if this is of no concern to you then why bother posting regarding this ? It's definitely NOT productive and serves no useful purpose whatsoever.

[Guest]

The point isn't how much disk-space your profile uses with cookies disabled or blocked. The point is to create a database with a *set size* as constantly increasing and decreasing the size of these databases was causing them to fragment and corrupt. So while you personally may never reach 512KB worth of cookies, it's entirely possible that having that buffer *could* prevent fragmentation and corruption on your system, as well as allow Firefox to load and run faster. You want to talk about bloat? ever looked at the size of a Chrome installation?

I've never had any sqlite database corruption in Firefox 3.x or SeaMonkey 2.x. Also I periodically vacuum my sqlite files and it was my understanding that Firefox 4.0 does this automatically. Anyway why not have a configurable preference to set the bundle size to a power of two between say 32KB and 16MB ? That way the default can be say 8MB and users who want to not waste disk space because they don't need such large files can set the bundle size accordingly.

[patrickjdempsey]

If you ever manually edit the databases in Firefox then you are not a typical user. The reason why was explained. What more do you need? And if the smallest size was 8MB like you suggest, how would that be any different? Wouldn't you still be complaining that the database is 16 times bigger than your extremely atypical use case?

[malliz]

So guest lets get this straight. You are running a 10 to 20gig HD and you have no mp3s, video clips or unnecessary programs like a word processor?
In all honesty when was the last time you ran disk cleanup

[Guest]

My places.sqlite has never been greater than 512KB, going from that to 10MB is an increase by a factor of 20, that's bloat whether you agree or not.

What a sad, lonely and empty existence you must lead, if you think this stuff is worth worrying about.

[LoudNoise]

Moving to Builds were this belongs. Should our guest wish to continue please register.