[RESOLVED] NoScriptSTS.db-xxxx.tmp

[yodar44]

i use NS in firefox on a win7pro64. i find THOUSANDS! of
NoScriptSTS.db-xxxx.tmp files with time stamps ~15 minutes apart
in the default profile folder.
what is causing this and what can i do to stop this?

[Thrawn]

Never heard of this before, but do you have some kind of backup process running?

[yodar44]

no. my only backup runs once per day.

[Tom T.]

I find only a single instance of a file, NoScriptSTS.db.tmp, without any xxxx (alphanumerics) added, created each time I start the browser.
However, this is not a representative case, because I run the browser sandboxed, and the sandbox dumps *everything* each time the browser is closed.

Does it still happen on a clean profile with only NoScript installed?

[yodar44]

i run 2 copies of FF, one in sandboxie and one not.
the one in the sandbox has 2 NS files:
NoScriptSTS.db 209bytes
NoScriptSTS.db-12.tmp empty
both files update every 15 minutes

the non sandboxed FF has
NoScriptSTS.db 209bytes
and many NoScriptSTS.db-xxxx.tmp files, all 209 bytes
a new one is added every 15 minutes
the NoScriptSTS.db is not updated.

if i run with all add-ons disabled [safemode] the updating and adding files stops.

if i run with all add-ons disabled except NS the updating and adding files starts again.

so it appears that NS is doing it, but why doesn't it do it in the sandbox?

[therube]

I would think it to be a permissions related issue.
For whatever reason, unable to write to the file "NoScriptSTS.db".
Because of that, it creates a newly named file as -xxxx.tmp.

Do they persist once you have exited FF?

[yodar44]

yes, they persist.

[Tom T.]

if i run with all add-ons disabled [safemode] the updating and adding files stops.
if i run with all add-ons disabled except NS the updating and adding files starts again.

I did not ask you to run in safe mode or disable all add-ons. I asked you to please create a clean profile and install a fresh copy of NoScript, nothing else.
This is to eliminate the possibility that the profile itself is corrupt, which does happen sometimes. Please do this.

so it appears that NS is doing it, but why doesn't it do it in the sandbox?

Mine don't even update at all. The sandboxed files of .db and .db.tmp haven't updated in the 25 minutes since they were created.

You could try clicking the Reset button at the bottom of NoScript Options, but it still seems that a fresh profile and fresh install of NS are the best way to proceed.

[Tom T.]

Just caught this from the changelog:

v 2.6.5.9rc2
Removed STS support for Gecko >= 4, which provides built-in HSTS ...

Updating resulted in a NoScriptSTS.db file of zero bytes, and no db.tmp file at all.
I would guess that the STS.db file might be removed from Gecko >=4 eventually, as being no longer needed.

Please try latest development build, and see if that fixes the issue. Thank you.

[yodar44]

if i kill the sandboxed FF, the updating and adding files stops in the non-sandboxed one, so there seems to be an interaction across the sandbox boundaries. checking the properties/security of the non-sandboxed NoScriptSTS.db showed that something was locking it when a sandboxed FF was running.

i updated to v 2.6.5.9rc3 and all the monkey business seems to have stopped.

[Tom T.]

if i kill the sandboxed FF, the updating and adding files stops in the non-sandboxed one, so there seems to be an interaction across the sandbox boundaries.

Most users allow the browser to write through the sandbox to various parts of the actual profile on the hard drive, else new bookmarks, NoScript permissions, etc., would not be saved when the box was closed.

checking the properties/security of the non-sandboxed NoScriptSTS.db showed that something was locking it when a sandboxed FF was running.

Firefox profile files are locked against editing while the browser is in use, sandbox or no, because the edits would be overwritten when the browser was closed.
Generally, it's better to use the Fx GUI to edit preferences, as opposed to manual edits to the profile.

i updated to v 2.6.5.9rc3 and all the monkey business seems to have stopped.

That's what I had hoped. Will mark as resolved. Thanks for reporting back.


ETA: If those thousands of xxxx.tmp files are still there, you can delete them.