Pale Moon 28.13.0 crashes on PBS.org site

[BookMark]

I discovered this odd effect on my primary PC, which is running 28.13.0-64 on Windows 10 (v2004). Not a site I normally use, so I can't be certain if this is only related specifically to that latest version. Connecting to any variation of pbs.org (which will redirect to https://www.pbs.org) opens the site apparently normally. They have something running some sort of geolocation which attempts to find the closest PBS station. As soon as the mouse cursor is moved onto the web page, PM crashes instantly. When PM is re-opened it shows the recovery screen, and any sites open prior to the crash - but not pbs.org. I tried running PM in safe mode and it did not crash. I then tried instead disabling all extensions, and it still crashed.

Next I downloaded Pale Moon Portable 28.13.0 32 bit and 64 bit - both crashed in the same way.

I then moved to another PC still running PM 28.9.0.2-64. It did not crash on the pbs.org site. However running PM Portable 28.13.0 from a USB stick on that same PC - instant crash.

Today I had the chance to try the USB stick PM portable 28.13.0 on 3 other PC's - 2 Win 10 PC's and 1 Win 8.1 PC. PM crashed on the Win 8.1 PC and only one of the Win 10 PC's.

On all of the PC's above, I also tried PM Portable 28.9.3 which I already had on USB and it did not crash on any PC.

In all instances, the site loads with the attempt to display the closest PBS station, and stays loaded until the mouse is moved anywhere onto the displayed page.

[ron_1]

I tried running PM in safe mode and it did not crash. I then tried instead disabling all extensions, and it still crashed.

With this bit of info, it might be useful to list what extensions you're using.

Using your link, I visited the site and I got no crash. I had to disable uBlock Origin to get the geolocation thing. It didn't crash, neither before nor after disabling uBo. Not sure if it makes a difference, but I'm on Linux.

[coffeebreak]

No crash here either. (PM 28.13, Win 7 x86)

I tried running PM in safe mode and it did not crash. I then tried instead disabling all extensions, and it still crashed.

Safe mode does a few things besides disable extensions.

What happens if you disable hardware acceleration?
(Requires a restart)

[jars_]

Win7x64 + PM 28.13.0x64 - crash.

Clean profile:

Code: Select all

@echo off
set PROF=%~dp0Profiles\%RANDOM%
start "" /D "%~dp0" "palemoon.exe" -no-remote -profile "%PROF%"

- crash.

CleanProfile + SafeMode :

Code: Select all

@echo off
set PROF=%~dp0Profiles\%RANDOM%
start "" /D "%~dp0" "palemoon.exe" -no-remote -safe-mode -profile "%PROF%"

= ok, page loads normally.

[BookMark]

No crash here either. (PM 28.13, Win 7 x86)

I tried running PM in safe mode and it did not crash. I then tried instead disabling all extensions, and it still crashed.

Safe mode does a few things besides disable extensions.

What happens if you disable hardware acceleration?
(Requires a restart)

Very good - disabling hardware acceleration prevented the crash on the 3 PC's that are mine. But there is little in common between all ofthese PC's. They are different models with different video cards. Mine are a Dell desktop running Win 10, an HP desktop running Win 10, and a home-built system running Win 8.1. (The other 2 are Win 10 PC's at another location which I won't be back to very soon. It was one of those that did not crash.) Only 2 have Pale Moon installed on them - my Win 10 PC's.

I have been testing with PM Portable 28.13.0-64 on a USB stick, with no profile or extensions, which crashed 4 of the 5 PC's. However testing with PM Portable 28.9.3-64 on USB did not result in any crashes, even though acceleration was enabled. So there has to be some difference in the way PM implements the hardware acceleration in 28.13.0 vs 28.9.3.

One other small thing that might affect other folks testing - the PBS.org screen correctly suggests WGBH as my local PBS station, so it is possible it sets up a link to WGBH in the background.

[coffeebreak]

disabling hardware acceleration prevented the crash on the 3 PC's that are mine. But there is little in common between all ofthese PC's. They are different models with different video cards.

That would need to be looked at by someone more knowledgeable than myself.

You can help by providing information re your three computers/browser environments where Pale Moon crashed:

Please read the sticky at the top of the General support board, [IMPORTANT!] Information to include when asking for support, and provide the information detailed there for your three computers. Paste the information into your post in three chunks, one for each computer, and put each chunk of text inside it's own "hide" tags.

As also requested in that sticky, please provide a report from NirSoft's AppCrashView for each of your three computers:

• "If you get application crashes, use AppCrashView to check the details of the app crash and post them"

[Moonchild]

A quick check in Basilisk also shows the crash which seems to be a null dereference crash. I'll see if I can debug it locally.

[Moonchild]

Try setting layout.css.clip-path-shapes.enabled to false in about:config and see if that resolves the crash?

[ron_1]

Why are some people getting a crash and some aren't?

[jars_]

Try setting layout.css.clip-path-shapes.enabled to false in about:config and see if that resolves the crash?

for me yes!

[Moonchild]

Why are some people getting a crash and some aren't?

Because some crashes are intermittent and depend on many things. In this case it's obviously related to how paths/masks are rendered. Likely it is a web design problem (e.g. having such narrow clipping that it rounds to zero on some hardware, for example) but we shouldn't be crashing as a result.

[Moonchild]

Try setting layout.css.clip-path-shapes.enabled to false in about:config and see if that resolves the crash?

for me yes!

OK, so looks like I may have to disable the clip paths again until we figure out the crash. Tracking in Issue #1650 (UXP).

[New Tobin Paradigm]

VERIFIED FIXED - https://github.com/MoonchildProductions/UXP/commit/9eb8b61b8c30255bd3be8c67031e5f14bc1ab8a5

[BookMark]

Try setting layout.css.clip-path-shapes.enabled to false in about:config and see if that resolves the crash?

Yes, that fixes it.

[New Tobin Paradigm]

... It doesn't fix anything.. It merely bypasses the codepath for the feature that has the missing null check that results in a possible crash. The FIX has been done in the code and will be in the next release.

[Moonchild]

Just remember to flip the preference back to default after you've upgraded, so your workaround doesn't hinder proper use of the feature on other websites.

[Tharthan]

Thanks for always being on top of this stuff, Moonchild.

PBS's website is a very important one to be able to visit, so it is good that this problem will be fixed next release.

[BookMark]

Just remember to flip the preference back to default after you've upgraded, so your workaround doesn't hinder proper use of the feature on other websites.

I only changed the setting to verify that it stopped the crashing, and then set it back to default. I can change again if needed.

[New Tobin Paradigm]

Just remember that any workaround be it flipping a pref or a ua override or whatnot != a fix.

[Tharthan]

If this was an error on their end, then it is probable that the only way a true fix would happen would be if PBS actually tried to work on their own site so that this problem didn't occur.

But PBS being what it is, and being as well=known, respected, and utilised as it is, they don't have much incentive to go out of their way for "the little guy".