plugin-container runs for no reason

Discussion of bugs in Mozilla Firefox
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lucideer
Posts: 178
Joined: May 17th, 2009, 6:47 pm
Location: Ireland

plugin-container runs for no reason

Post by lucideer »

I'm planning to report this on bugzilla but wanted to see if anyone here has any experience with this, or insight into what might be happening (in case it is not a bug).

I have a bunch of instances of the plugin-container process showing running in top. They're using a lot of CPU and killing my battery recently, which is how I noticed them, but I'm not too interested in the performance right now, I'm just trying to figure out why it is running at all.

As a test I've:
  • Uninstalled all browser extensions
  • Disabled/uninstalled all browser plugins, including Flash and OpenH264 Video Codec provided by Cisco Systems, Inc.
  • Unchecked "Play DRM-controlled content" in about:preferences
  • Set my own extensions.blocklist.url in about:config to block all Firefox's built-in extensions (see an explanation of this at the bottom of this post if you're interested)
  • Restarted Firefox in Safe Mode via "Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled"
After doing all of the above, I still see 4 plugin-container instances running in top at all times (often using most of my CPU and making my laptop quite hot).

Anyone have any reasonable explanation for this, or an alternative source of the plugin-container instances?









----

For anyone interested, a minor technical note on the `extensions.blocklist.url` setting. I've pointed this setting to my own server endpoint which returns the following XML file:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<blocklist xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/2006/addons-blocklist" lastupdate="1532705151926">
    <emItems>
        <emItem id="activity-stream@mozilla.org.xpi"><prefs/><versionRange minVersion="0" maxVersion="*" severity="3"/></emItem>
        <emItem id="firefox@getpocket.com.xpi"><prefs/><versionRange minVersion="0" maxVersion="*" severity="3"/></emItem>
        <emItem id="formautofill@mozilla.org.xpi"><prefs/><versionRange minVersion="0" maxVersion="*" severity="3"/></emItem>
        <emItem id="screenshots@mozilla.org.xpi"><prefs/><versionRange minVersion="0" maxVersion="*" severity="3"/></emItem>
        <emItem id="webcompat@mozilla.org.xpi"><prefs/><versionRange minVersion="0" maxVersion="*" severity="3"/></emItem>
        <emItem id="aushelper@mozilla.org.xpi"><prefs/><versionRange minVersion="0" maxVersion="*" severity="3"/></emItem>
        <emItem id="followonsearch@mozilla.com.xpi"><prefs/><versionRange minVersion="0" maxVersion="*" severity="3"/></emItem>
        <emItem id="onboarding@mozilla.org.xpi"><prefs/><versionRange minVersion="0" maxVersion="*" severity="3"/></emItem>
        <emItem id="webcompat-reporter@mozilla.org.xpi"><prefs/><versionRange minVersion="0" maxVersion="*" severity="3"/></emItem>
    </emItems>
</blocklist>
Note: the above XML is for testing only, I wouldn't recommend this for a normal installl as you will be vulnerable to rogue blocked extensions and plugins without the official Mozila endpoint.
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malliz
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Re: plugin-container runs for no reason

Post by malliz »

Did you try a new clean profile?
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lucideer
Posts: 178
Joined: May 17th, 2009, 6:47 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: plugin-container runs for no reason

Post by lucideer »

malliz wrote:Did you try a new clean profile?
Yup. I hadn't before, but just did now:

- Started with -profilemanager
- Created a fresh cliean profile
- Restart with Add-ons disabled (into Safe Mode)

With no tabs open, and disconnected from the internet (offline mode), there's two plugin-container processes running. Still creating a fair amount of heat.

Note: Further to my above post, I discovered the about:config blocklist setting was having no affect on the built-in addons (it works fine when I add normal extensions to the XML file). Also, Safe Mode which claims to have all Add-ons disabled doesn't actually disable the built-in addons at all. I just deleted the built-in addon XPIs in the application directory and that worked fine—they're all no longer running. Tested this in both normal profile and fresh clean profile. plugin-container still continues to run.

Two bugs to report on bugzilla I guess: plugin-container always running and disabling addons not working for all addons.
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therube
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Joined: March 10th, 2004, 9:59 pm
Location: Maryland USA

Re: plugin-container runs for no reason

Post by therube »

Does this also happen in FF 61, Release?
Is this Mac specific?
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lucideer
Posts: 178
Joined: May 17th, 2009, 6:47 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: plugin-container runs for no reason

Post by lucideer »

therube wrote:Does this also happen in FF 61, Release?
Good question. I'll test that before reporting since 62's not due out until September.
Is this Mac specific?
Currently only have a Mac handy to test, so we can presume so.
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