[RESOLVED] about:newtab bug

[guest]

Hi, help please!

Steps to reproduce:
1a. Start browser with about:newtab as home page or
1b. Start browser with about:blank as home page and click open new tab
2. Type URL in url bar and push enter - nothing happens. I have to select url bar again and push enter, for the second time it works. Same with the search bar.
Note: only reproducable if it's browser session first HTTP request (hence the need for about:newtab or about:blank as home page)

[therube]

Confirmed.

[GµårÐïåñ]

How was this confirmed, I do not have this issue and works just fine for me. I have even checked on Linux to make sure its not OS level issue and got no problems either.

[therube]

Just as described.
I tested with FF 14.0.1, not SeaMonkey & I was running Win7 x64.

But ... now on XP, I cannot duplicate it in FF 14 nor in SeaMonkey 2.13.

I'll check again this evening if I get a chance.

[GµårÐïåñ]

Ok because I tried on Win7 x86 (32-bit) and Fx 14, worked fine. Tried on Ubuntu x64 (64-bit) and Fx 14 and it worked fine too. Also on XP x86 (32-bit) with Fx 14, that worked too. So not sure what's going on but I can't reproduce it. Let me know if you have luck reproducing it later and how and I will try again.

[guest]

Tested more. Same on both ubuntu & win7 64-bit (both ff14).

Seems connected with this ABE rule:
Site LOCAL
Accept from LOCAL
Deny

because when i turn ABE off everythings fine.

also local sites connected properly from about:newtab, i.e. router

[GµårÐïåñ]

This should not be triggering the LOCAL rule, there is nothing there that would have access to it. Do you have anything on those tiles that has a file:// path or localhost or loopback address? Otherwise, there should be no reason that would trigger it.

[therube]

I think I've found the missing piece.

The site that you open in the tab should not have NoScript "permissions" assigned to it.
So open some random site that is not allow, like http://www.example.com/.

If you do yahoo or msn or something on your whitelist, you will not see the bug.

Oh, & SeaMonkey looks to be not affected.


FF 14, new Profile, with only NoScript added, all defaults, & browser startup page set to about:blank.

[dhouwn]

Confirmed on current Firefox Beta on Win7 with fresh profile. Also seems like therube was correct with his recent findings.

[ypeels]

What is the current status of this issue?

Thank you!!

[GµårÐïåñ]

There is no issue.

[ypeels]

Hi,

This has been bothering me for a while because my intended usage pattern was to set about:newtab as my home page, and on browser start, I would either click on a frequently used page, or type an infrequently used URL.

Like dhouwn, I can also reproduce the OP's, and therube's observations, combining their procedures as follows.

I am running:

• Windows 7 x64
• FF 16.0
• NoScript 2.5.7
• All add-ons disabled except NoScript
• Same results for a fresh install/profile via Firefox Portable 16.0

Complete steps to reproduce

1. (therube) NoScript > Options > clear your NoScript whitelist (Export to save it for after testing)
   • Update: This is done using the "Remove Selected Sites" button in the "NoScript Options" dialog box
   • Update: This button is unable to remove the following grayed out sites, which remain on the whitelist: about:, about:addons, about:blocked, about:certerror, about:config, about:crashes, about:home, about:memory, about:neterror, about:plugins, about:privatebrowsing, about:sessionrestore, about:support, blob:, chrome:, resource:
2. Firefox > Options > General > Startup
   1. When Firefox starts: Show my home page
   2. Home Page: about:newtab
3. Firefox > Exit
   • Update: Before exiting, Unpin any "App Tabs" (tabs with icons only), since these will automatically load in the background on startup
4. Start Firefox
5. Try to navigate to a page (not one of the permanent whitelist entries like about:addons, etc.) by any one of the following:
   1. Type a URL in the location bar and press Enter
   2. Type in the search bar and press Enter
   3. Click on a page in about:newtab
   4. Firefox > Bookmarks > click any bookmark
   5. Bookmarks toolbar > click any bookmark

Expected behavior: The page loads.

Observed behavior: The page does not load. I have to repeat step 5 to get a page to load (it doesn't have to be the same page you tried the first time)

This behavior does not occur when

• NoScript is disabled (regardless of my other Extensions)
• about:newtab is not the currently open page when the browser session's first HTTP request is made
  • in the OP's example, if you click on about:blank after step 1b. but before step 2., pages will load normally.
  • Home Page: about:blank is unaffected
  • Home Page: about:home (Firefox's default) is unaffected

This strongly suggests that the behavior is caused by some unintended interaction between NoScript and about:newtab that affects the browser session's first HTTP request.

And no, whitelisting about:newtab does not change the behavior.

There is no issue.

So just to clarify: does this mean that the behavior described above and caused by NoScript has been classified as "WONTFIX", in Bugzilla terms?

Thank you!

[GµårÐïåñ]

First things first, NO, by no means is what I said equivalent to WONTFIX, that is ENTIRELY and WHOLLY within the discretion of Giorgio ONLY and no one else, not even me. SO unless/until he says it straight from his mouth, its open.

Now to the issue you presented. I have gone through it step by step and did it again just to be sure I went through every step just as described and for the life of me, I CANNOT reproduce this issue. I was under the impression the reason for that is that it was fixed, hence why I said what I said in reply to you.

If you are still experiencing this, then certainly, I will ask and nudge the overwhelmingly busy Giorgio to take another look. I will take you at your word. But just one thing, you know that since its a CHROME initiated action, that you have to at LEAST have that on the whitelist to ensure that it accepts scripting from it? The instructions suggested everything is gone, does that include the "mandatory" (greyed out ones) from Giorgio too or are those considered in play?

[Giorgio Maone]

Investigating, thanks.

[ypeels]

GµårÐïåñ,

Thank you for your clarification!

The instructions suggested everything is gone, does that include the "mandatory" (greyed out ones) from Giorgio too or are those considered in play?

Short answer: no (at least, chrome: is still on the white list)

Long answer: I'm removing websites from the whitelist using the "Remove Selected Sites" button in the "NoScript Options" dialog box. This is unable to remove several sites ("built-in"?) that are grayed out.

Final whitelist

• about:
• about:addons
• about:blocked
• about:certerror
• about:config
• about:crashes
• about:home
• about:memory
• about:neterror
• about:plugins
• about:privatebrowsing
• about:sessionrestore
• about:support
• blob:
• chrome:
• resource:

I'll also update my original post to clarify this, in case any new readers are trying to reproduce.

Update: just noticed that I have to unpin all Fx "App Tabs" to guarantee the observed behavior; apparently, these always get loaded in the background on browser restart, regardless of the setting "Firefox > Options > Tabs > Don't load tabs until selected"