How to increase history length?

[manto]

I want to increase the number of webpages saved in my history.

Based on what I read, places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages is read-only, so changing it is pointless and reverts back to a predetermined number upon exiting FF. Mine is automatically set at around 100000.

Supposedly, you need to create places.history.expiration.max_pages and change that number. So I did and I changed it to 500000. I then made a note of what the oldest page in my history is and continued to browse as usual.

Later, I discovered that the oldest pages in my history are still disappearing. I only browsed a few dozen new pages. That means changing places.history.expiration.max_pages did not help. What am I doing wrong? TIA.

[Brummelchen]

dont screw on prefs - do it in settings -> history -> custom settings!
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/se ... #w_history

my history contains years.

[manto]

Thanks. I'm already using custom settings for history. My settings are the same as shown in the picture except I have "Accept third-party cookies" set to Never. Unless I'm missing something very obvious, there isn't a way to fine-tune my history length here. I can choose to remember my history or not to remember my history, but I can't choose how many webpages to remember.

[GHM113]

Thanks. I'm already using custom settings for history. My settings are the same as shown in the picture except I have "Accept third-party cookies" set to Never. Unless I'm missing something very obvious, there isn't a way to fine-tune my history length here. I can choose to remember my history or not to remember my history, but I can't choose how many webpages to remember.

Yep, you are 100% correct. As far as I know, you have to install an addon in order to increase history length.

[dickvl]

Note that Firefox 49+ releases keep downloads for 60 days.
Downloads and long URLs expire in 60 days.

See:
https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central ... iration.js

[pirst]

even lower than 49 versions of firefox automatically expire your history. you can use this addon:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... y-by-days/ i guess it works to a point - set the days variable to some ridiculous value like a 999 millions. of course it is also not something that can be trusted since it's written by the same guys who implemented such orwellian policies in firefox. I have history almost 5 years old - 2,5 million records, but at this point in history internet users do not own their own browsing history - some sort of tar budgets intelligence life community gestapo owns and handles it for them in some sort of big data surveillance log cabin.. probably in the woods erected on the top of soot cloud technology. Such expressions as "intelligence community", "intelligent life", "artificial intelligence" and so on thats where high quality entertainment on your expense starts to unravel. "High quality" in the sense of "uber alles", on the arches of rainbows (the shape reminiscent of bell curve or breakback mountainous crescents) constructed out of pot of golds. Very devious attempt to enslave the humanity.

[Brummelchen]

as i stated - for years - this is the only entry and the value is devious. (not set by me)

user_pref("places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages", 117253);

[pirst]

brummelchen,
117253 records for heavy internet user is like one month worth of browsing history. couple months for medium to heavy..

[Brummelchen]

i dont have any clue what this number means. my earliest entry in history is 9th of may 2015, this is around firefox 36/37. i started from scratch with places (not the whole profile) around 35/36 due trouble when going forward/back with firefox and the same profile, places mismatch. ~24.000 entries which are older than 6 month.

ok, backup told me it was v38 - the latest history is completed empty and before it starts 5th of dec 2013 to april 2015. prefs that time

user_pref("places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages", 53676);
user_pref("places.history.expiration.transient_optimal_database_size", 46999142);

profiles (without extensions) from that time all doing fine with firefox 54

[manto]

Yep, you are 100% correct. As far as I know, you have to install an addon in order to increase history length.

It can't be done by in about:config? What are places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages and places.history.expiration.max_pages used for then?

Note that Firefox 49+ releases keep downloads for 60 days.
Downloads and long URLs expire in 60 days.

See:
https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central ... iration.js

I'm not technically savvy to understand what I am looking at here. Am I supposed to do something with this file? And I'm pretty sure that history is measured by number of webpages visited, not number of days, regardless of how "long" the URLs are.

even lower than 49 versions of firefox automatically expire your history. you can use this addon:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... y-by-days/ [...]

Thanks but I'd rather not. That doesn't look like a reliable addon based on the number of downloads and reviews. And I'm not quite sure what you're talking about beyond that. I'm just asking a straightforward question about how to do something in FF, there's no need to give a philosophy lesson.

as i stated - for years - this is the only entry and the value is devious. (not set by me)

user_pref("places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages", 117253);

I know, I already pointed this out in OP. So if changing that is not the correct way to do it, what is? Does places.history.expiration.max_pages come into play? Am I setting that wrong?

i dont have any clue what this number means.

That's the number of webpages saved. Everyone's places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages value is different. It's based on your computer's specs.

[manto]

I should have posted where I got my information about the purpose of setting places.history.expiration.max_pages.

It's from here: https://superuser.com/questions/895302/ ... 459#995459

But setting that value does not affect my places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages value like it's supposed to.

[pirst]

even lower than 49 versions of firefox automatically expire your history. you can use this addon:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... y-by-days/ [...]

Thanks but I'd rather not. That doesn't look like a reliable addon based on the number of downloads and reviews. And I'm not quite sure what you're talking about beyond that. I'm just asking a straightforward question about how to do something in FF, there's no need to give a philosophy lesson.

well, there is no browser on earth that can do what you're asking. It's as if they all have secret pact or something, but it's probably a lot simpler than that. So you have to think outside the box. We're living in times of pervertariat performing a crooked rainbowlution meaning that 3 wise monkey security algorithms are in place. so if you're asking something straight - you're disobeying don't ask Dr evil don't tell Dr evil commandments and asking for it. Anything to do with internet history is very touchy subject - expect battalion of men in tar budget lives matter suits to gang up and attack you with flashes of neuralizers.

[manto]

well, there is no browser on earth that can do what you're asking.

Did you look at the link I included in the post above yours? Other people have increased the length of their history before, so it can be done. I'm just wondering why it's not working why I try to do it.

I'd also appreciate it if you didn't turn every post into a nonsensical lecture. This is not a forum for that. Thanks.

[GHM113]

It can't be done by in about:config? What are places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages and places.history.expiration.max_pages used for then?

As far as I know, Firefox dynamically calculates the values of these config entries on every startup and automatically overrides any value set by user.

[dickvl]

This is the original article from 2012 by one of the developers that worked on this subject that describes how the history works.
See Marco Bonardo's blog about this subject:
http://bonardo.net/mozilla/2012/02/13/p ... ation.html

You can check the Firefox source code for more details (read the comments).
https://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-release ... iration.js