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Electrolysis – run web content in a separate process from Firefox

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Re: Electrolysis – run web content in a separate process from Firefox

#32

Yay, now firefox can waste just as much memory as Chrome. Guess 1GB for the whole browser wasn't enough; they had to go for ~100MB/tab. Got to keep up with Chrome after all. If I use chrome for normal browsing (I don't normally because its feature set is poor, customisability is a dirty words, and I don't like the privacy risk), it can rapidly slurp 4GB or more of memory (with perhaps two key addons, adblock and DoNo…

I have 16GB of ram in my machine, I'd rather use 4 of that for a responsive browser than 1.5 for something that is constantly locking up with more than a few tabs. FF might be better for older, low end machines but now a days low end machines are shipping with 4GB and modest machines will have 8.

Re: Electrolysis – run web content in a separate process from Firefox

#33
post #20

Yay, now firefox can waste just as much memory as Chrome. Guess 1GB for the whole browser wasn't enough; they had to go for ~100MB/tab. Got to keep up with Chrome after all. If I use chrome for normal browsing (I don't normally because its feature set is poor, customisability is a dirty words, and I don't like the privacy risk), it can rapidly slurp 4GB or more of memory (with perhaps two key addons, adblock and DoNo…

Be aware that Adblock Plus for Chrome increases significantly RAM usage for each open tab. uBlock author has extensive benchmarks about this issue. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/%C2%B5Block-vs.-ABP:-...

Would it have the same problem with a multiprocess Firefox?

Re: Electrolysis – run web content in a separate process from Firefox

#34
post #33
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be aware that Adblock Plus for Chrome increases significantly RAM usage for each open tab. uBlock author has extensive benchmarks about this issue. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/%C2%B5Block-vs.-ABP:-...

Would it have the same problem with a multiprocess Firefox?

It may be worse, the problem is that it loads too many info per tab. If you do it on multiple processes it will not get any better.

Re: Electrolysis – run web content in a separate process from Firefox

#36
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think performance is often overblown on this as well. However, I don't think the overhead from task switching will really enter into it. If you have hundreds of tabs open that are trying to do work, that is work that was having to be done regardless. Meaning they would already be thrashing. Now, that will just be in a different way. Otherwise, if you are idling most of those processes, they should be the same as be…

Firefox: Averages ~5MB/tab (200 tabs, 1GB memory) Chrome: Anywhere from 50MB/tab up. A much better performance fix would be to suspend javascript execution on tabs that aren't visible.

Right, this is just memory, though. And I am curious on whether or not this counts shared memory correctly between tabs.

My point for performance, though, was mainly that if you have 200+ tabs that are actively doing something, then you are thrashing even in firefox. It isn't like they just do their work for free depending on the process model.

Also, 200 is not exactly a large N when we are too worried about scheduling, is it? (That is, unless all 200 are cpu bound, in which case, again, firefox would already be thrashing.)

Re: Electrolysis – run web content in a separate process from Firefox

#37

After versioning, functionality and UI they now copy sandbox-mode from the Chromium project. I don't think there's much time left before you won't be able to make the distinction between Firefox and Chromium anymore.

Firefox has nicer curves :P

Re: Electrolysis – run web content in a separate process from Firefox

#38

After versioning, functionality and UI they now copy sandbox-mode from the Chromium project. I don't think there's much time left before you won't be able to make the distinction between Firefox and Chromium anymore.

Is this really different than anything else in "pop programming culture?" Consider the spread of various paradigm practices in the different runtimes.

And this is not a condemnation of the practice. Just saying it really isn't that different than most anything else.

I will say that it is not that troubling. Far more troubling would be either a) multiple completely inconsistent browsers dominating the field or b) a homogenous ecosystem in the web. At least, I think so.

Re: Electrolysis – run web content in a separate process from Firefox

#39

After versioning, functionality and UI they now copy sandbox-mode from the Chromium project. I don't think there's much time left before you won't be able to make the distinction between Firefox and Chromium anymore.

You mean that Chrome copied IE's sandboxing?

Re: Electrolysis – run web content in a separate process from Firefox

#40

Yay, now firefox can waste just as much memory as Chrome. Guess 1GB for the whole browser wasn't enough; they had to go for ~100MB/tab. Got to keep up with Chrome after all. If I use chrome for normal browsing (I don't normally because its feature set is poor, customisability is a dirty words, and I don't like the privacy risk), it can rapidly slurp 4GB or more of memory (with perhaps two key addons, adblock and DoNo…

This makes sandboxing possible which is a huge security win and the reason I still use Chrome where I can. RAM is cheap and browsers 64-bit so a bunch of extra memory in the name of security is not a big deal really. At least that's how I see it.

I'm curious how huge of a security win it really is. The vast majority of exploits that I hear about would still be possible. Especially since phishing is by far the weakest link in any model.

I mean, sure, it sounds great to say things are sandboxed. But when the actual exploits either a) root the machine, or b) targeted the user directly, it seems that protecting tabs from each other really doesn't do much.

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