Increasing memory use, slow down and multiprocess

[The RedBurn]

Hi,

I was hoping that the new multiple processes architecture (Electrolysis), while ditching lots of useful extensions, would fix the memory use and more importantly the slow down problem.

Unfortunately that's not the case, it's actually worse: more processes use more memory and they just keep growing until it's exhausted. Then Firefox has to free some - staggering while it does - and then it gets used up again much faster. We end up having to restart it to get it working fast again.

I thought that Electrolysis would allow Firefox to do like Chrome: stay fresh and fast. But that's not the plan for now.
The obvious reason is that, unlike Chrome, Firefox doesn't use one process per tab. That saves memory at first... until the processes get bloated. There Chrome closes each process when we close the tab, so a process can't grow very much. But Firefox is stuck with its bloated processes.

The only solution seems to move tabs to a new fresh process and ditch the old bloated ones. There are some bugs opened about that but no work is getting done:

• 1374353 - Mark a content process as troubled if it has a pattern of jank
• 1251966 - Move content between content processes

Does anyone know if we can expect it to get fixed anytime soon? Am I the only one experiencing these problems? Is there any way to let the developers know I/we'd like them to have a look at it?

[Brummelchen]

i wont use software that seems bloated or not fitting my needs.

but if you compare to chrome you should consider all aspects which include the whole computer and its installed software.
and yes multi-process structure needs more memory, but chrome is the real memory hogger and you DONT have any option to control the number of processes like firefox.

you need to tell on which mesurement your answer rely on, maybe with data itself. for me i can use firefox beside firefox or chrome and i can directly see the differences. to note: extensions will change experience!

nothing more to write, it is very simple.

btw the bugzilla links are very old and NOT representative for current state.

[The RedBurn]

btw the bugzilla links are very old and NOT representative for current state.

Do you have newer links about moving content from an old process to a new one?

[kerft]

If you close the browser and reopen it, using session restore to preserve your tabs, does that bring the memory down to an ok amount? Posting more details about the pages you use, your hardware and extensions might give more suggestions that would apply to you. Project fission may do some of the things you are asking about, but I think its main focus is security. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Project_Fission/Memory
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/firef ... 38570.html

[mightyglydd]

multi-process structure needs more memory

FWIW; 66b10 = "Increased content processes to 8".
No memory problem here.

[Brummelchen]

i noticed it here with a new profile, here is set to 6*, that option is moved from build to build. default was 4 with quantum.
* 6 = all instances, incl parent process.

edit: reset to default with optimal settings -> 6 instances, will raise with more sites


forgot - each instance need some memory for managment, but mozilla is on its way to reduce this memory. thast why the # of processes hass been raised.

[The RedBurn]

If you close the browser and reopen it, using session restore to preserve your tabs, does that bring the memory down to an ok amount? Posting more details about the pages you use, your hardware and extensions might give more suggestions that would apply to you.

Yes, that's what I regularly do when it slows down. I don't care about memory use, just about the slowing down, which is probably caused in part by excessive memory fragmentation but mostly by the regular "heap-minimize" command issued by Firefox when it has used up all memory (8 GB on the computer).
I have 7 opened windows with lots of tabs in them. However, since I regularly restart Firefox, only those 7 and the new ones are supposed to be loaded, right?
About my extensions, there's a dozen among which Tree Style Tab, uBlock Origin and Tab Session Manager are the most likely to have an impact.

Project fission may do some of the things you are asking about, but I think its main focus is security. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Project_Fission/Memory
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/firef ... 38570.html

Indeed, they may have to implement a inter-process data moving system.

i noticed it here with a new profile, here is set to 6*, that option is moved from build to build. default was 4 with quantum.
* 6 = all instances, incl parent process.

I used to set it to 1 in the options because the default 4 caused it to use up all memory (and slow down) faster.
With 66b, I set it to 3 instead of the default 8. But I just set it to 8 to check it out. Maybe it'll reduce the chances that the "heap-minimize" command will impact the window I'm currently using.

[kerft]

Test without tab session manager. Firefox automatically suspends tabs which should drop their CPU usage, but it does not discard them which would free memory. The difference is explained here https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/commen ... suspender/ This extension will discard tabs, you can set it to let unsubmitted forms and audio be excluded. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... b-discard/ Make a backup of your profile first, since many tab discard extensions like to corrupt the favicons database and leave blank favicons all over.

[The RedBurn]

Thanks, I've tried Auto Tab Discard together with the processes set to 8, so far so good!