NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

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pjk
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:13 pm

NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

Post by pjk »

Been using NS for many years, it's probably the #1 extension I add to every browser I use on all platforms. (Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, various Chromium and Firefox forks) Lately I've been browsing a lot with a Mac using Vivaldi, and that includes today.

In the middle of a browsing session with just 3 tabs open, I went to click on the NS icon and I get a "file not found" error and no response. I had used it fine earlier.

I often have the "display errors" option on for extensions, clicked that button and I see a very long text string error that had repeatedly shown up, didn't bother to try to analyze it, I decided to try closing and re-opening the browser instead.

When I re-opened the browser, NS was completely missing!

Luckily I could re-install it from the Chrome Store, But when I went to look at my settings, they were all gone! Shouldn't those have been saved in local storage or something?

Anyway luckily I had a settings backup from just 3 weeks ago (from version 11.2.22) which I imported, and my settings seem to be back. Still have a number of settings that had been customized since then, but that's way better than starting from scratch!

Is this a known issue?
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barbaz
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Re: NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

Post by barbaz »

NoScript is not known to do this.

I would suspect this was not a NoScript issue. Sounds more like something corrupted your Vivaldi profile while you were using it.
*Always* check the changelogs BEFORE updating that important software!
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pjk
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:13 pm

Re: NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

Post by pjk »

There's only one event I can think of that may be related to this, but it would still be a NS bug if so.

The Mac this is installed on has 2 storage volumes: the main volume where the OS and personal folders are stored, and a volume called "Bulk Data" which I use for large, less-recently used files like installer files and also Virtual Machine files for VirtualBox.

On the same day that this NS issue occurred, I had to rename that volume to its original name ("BulkData" - space removed) because it was causing issues with some VM's I had previously used before it was originally renamed. But because I don't store application data there in general besides VM files, I didn't think this would be an issue for any other app.

However - in the past I have exported NS data to that volume.

So it looks to me like Giorgio may want to look into the possibility that if data was last exported to a storage destination that later becomes unavailable (or renamed), it may cause the extension to do something like this.
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Giorgio Maone
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Re: NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

Post by Giorgio Maone »

pjk wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 8:38 pm So it looks to me like Giorgio may want to look into the possibility that if data was last exported to a storage destination that later becomes unavailable (or renamed), it may cause the extension to do something like this.
No, absolutely not: live NoScript settings are completely unrelated to exported files: NoScript cannot even access those files unless explicitly instructed to do so via the [Import] button, because WebExtensions have no permanent filesystem permissions.

On the other hand, extensions settings are stored by Firefox in blobs which may get corrupted, or even deleted, e.g. by some clumsy "cleaning" software tools.
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pjk
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:13 pm

Re: NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

Post by pjk »

Giorgio Maone wrote: Mon May 09, 2022 8:54 pm No, absolutely not: live NoScript settings are completely unrelated to exported files: NoScript cannot even access those files unless explicitly instructed to do so via the [Import] button, because WebExtensions have no permanent filesystem permissions.

On the other hand, extensions settings are stored by Firefox in blobs which may get corrupted, or even deleted, e.g. by some clumsy "cleaning" software tools.

Thanks for your reply, I appreciate it.

This just seemed like a rather glaring coincidence with my renaming of that volume that day. Especially since I've never had this issue with NoScript before on any platform.

To be clear: I'm not speculating that NoScript messed with my files on that volume, but that perhaps it retained a cache of the last-exported-to destination string, which somehow caused some blip when that destination become inaccessible.

I also don't use CCcleaner or the like anywhere, I am not a fan of such "dummy" tools.

I do occasionally clear the cache on Vivaldi on this system, as it occasionally gets some slowdowns which seem to improve a bit after clearing a large accumulated cache. But specifically to avoid problems like this, I always avoid clearing any of the following categories in their "Delete Browsing Data" dialog:


Site Settings
Applications Cache
Storage (including Extension Storage)

.
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pjk
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:13 pm

Re: NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

Post by pjk »

That "guest" post was mine.

Your "spam filter" blocked my initial post, and because I actually use NoScript to block Google by default, I didn't see the recaptcha dialog.

When I tried to post the comment, I had no idea it had actually logged me out after the captcha fail, yet allowed me to post the comment anyway.
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barbaz
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Re: NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

Post by barbaz »

pjk wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 1:00 am That "guest" post was mine.
Fixed :)
pjk wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 12:56 am perhaps it retained a cache of the last-exported-to destination string,
I don't think NoScript can even do that. Such cache could only exist in Vivaldi or system-wide.
pjk wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 12:56 am I do occasionally clear the cache on Vivaldi on this system, as it occasionally gets some slowdowns which seem to improve a bit after clearing a large accumulated cache. But specifically to avoid problems like this, I always avoid clearing any of the following categories in their "Delete Browsing Data" dialog:


Site Settings
Applications Cache
Storage (including Extension Storage)
No use of Vivaldi's "Delete Browsing Data" should cause corruption like this, last I checked it has no option that would delete NoScript itself out from under you.

I did try to reproduce the behavior you described before my initial reply, and the only way I could come close was by manually deleting the installed NoScript extension, outside of Vivaldi, while Vivaldi was running. And that only got the "file not found" error, I could not reproduce the removal of NoScript and its settings.

Unless your Vivaldi profile is stored on and running from this volume, it seems unlikely this was related to the renaming.
*Always* check the changelogs BEFORE updating that important software!
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pjk
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:13 pm

Re: NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

Post by pjk »

barbaz wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 3:32 pm
pjk wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 1:00 am That "guest" post was mine.
Fixed :)


Thanks for that!

Was so weird to have it "block" my post, only to see the post created anonymously instead.

barbaz wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 3:32 pm
pjk wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 12:56 am I do occasionally clear the cache on Vivaldi on this system, as it occasionally gets some slowdowns which seem to improve a bit after clearing a large accumulated cache. But specifically to avoid problems like this, I always avoid clearing any of the following categories in their "Delete Browsing Data" dialog:


Site Settings
Applications Cache
Storage (including Extension Storage)
No use of Vivaldi's "Delete Browsing Data" should cause corruption like this, last I checked it has no option that would delete NoScript itself out from under you.


Well that's good to know. So does NoScript not make any use of this "Extension Storage" they mention, then? Where are its settings saved?


barbaz wrote: Tue May 10, 2022 3:32 pm I did try to reproduce the behavior you described before my initial reply, and the only way I could come close was by manually deleting the installed NoScript extension, outside of Vivaldi, while Vivaldi was running. And that only got the "file not found" error, I could not reproduce the removal of NoScript and its settings.

Unless your Vivaldi profile is stored on and running from this volume, it seems unlikely this was related to the renaming.

No, the only app data stored on that volume are some VirtualBox VM files, because they are very large. If I thought I had any other application data there, I would never have dared to rename that volume.

At this point I suspect it may be a Vivaldi issue, as it seems they have been having some stability issues lately. I also had an issue on a Windows machine recently where it cleared the settings for some extensions (including NS, as I recall) out of the blue without any notice.

I only noticed because I went to some page which should have had a bunch of blocked JS, but it didn't. For me that's not unlike the feeling that an astronaut would get if they just stepped outside the space-station on a spacewalk only to realize that their helmet was not on. 😧
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barbaz
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Joined: Sat Aug 03, 2013 5:45 pm

Re: NoScript died and deleted all my settings!

Post by barbaz »

pjk wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 10:55 pm Thanks for that!
You're welcome. Image
pjk wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 10:55 pm does NoScript not make any use of this "Extension Storage" they mention, then? Where are its settings saved?
I believe that "Extension Storage" refers to extensions' use of Web technologies (localStorage & IndexedDB) for storing data, as opposed to the extension-specific data stores (chrome.storage.local, chrome.storage.sync). NoScript uses the extension-specific storage for most things, including the permissions. IIRC it does use localStorage for a few things though.
*Always* check the changelogs BEFORE updating that important software!
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