Browser ignores tabs in sessionstore.js

[Priestess_of_Athe]

Operating system: Windoze
Browser version: 33.7.2
32-bit or 64-bit browser?: 64
Problem URL: many (or none)
Browser theme (if not default): default
Installed add-ons: nmatrix, ublock origin
Installed plugins: (about:plugins):Java(TM) Platform SE 8, Java Deployment Toolkit 8, VLC Web Plugin

If possible, please include the output of help->troubleshooting information (as text):

After a browser call in another application opened the browser and downloaded a file which then caused the browser to close automatically, I now cannot access my session/tabs. I have retrieved sessionstore.bak and renamed it to sessionstore.js, but it only sees two tabs, one of which is about:blank, which is a fraction of the tabs I had previously. The sessionstore.js file clearly has the URLs of many more tabs, possibly all the ones I previously had, yet Pale Moon doesn't seem to recognise or read them. Since I'd been able to restore many many times before this, I don't have any reason to think that any of the tabs are causing issues, nor any of my installed add-ons or plugins. What can I do to get Pale Moon to load the tabs instead of either ignoring them, or worse, completely ignoring the session and starting a new one?

Thanks!

[Moonchild]

If your sessionstore file got structurally corrupted (which can happen), and the .bak doesn't actually have a backup, then the only way to recover would be to manually re-open the URLs in a new session.
"Open tabs" is a transitional state; using them as Internet bookmarks always runs the risk of losing your list if something untoward happens with the browser state.

You may be able to manually recover the URLs from the defunct sessionstore file if necessary, but if it's got issues otherwise and the browser won't be able to read it, then there is no "quick" way to get the open tabs back.
Please consider using the bookmarking system in the browser next time.

[Massacre]

Maybe it's possible to make more than 1 backup? This corruption can happen at any time on browser hang/crash/power goes out etc. Volume shadow copies could help but they are usually from several days ago.

[moonbat]

This corruption can happen at any time on browser hang/crash/power goes out etc.

Which is why you're advised to use bookmarks instead of keeping a 3 or 4 digit open tab count. For that matter, if you're not Jason Bourne and paranoid about the government taking a huge interest in your browser history and haven't disabled it, you can search for any previously visited site by typing any part of the URL or title in the addressbar.

How this became the preferred way to browse the web is beyond comprehension; especially for those using already memory hogging Chromezilla browsers.

[Massacre]

How this became the preferred way to browse the web is beyond comprehension; especially for those using already memory hogging Chromezilla browsers.

Usability. It's simplier to just open a tab then close it instead of adding it to bookmarks each time then deleting. Applies to reading news/wiki articles. And Pale Moon is much better at handling many tabs at once than Chromium. The problem is data loss when it crashes/hangs/etc.

[UCyborg]

Bookmarks also don't remember scroller position on the page. My session at work is actually 6 years old now. It even survived migration from Basilisk to Pale Moon, both with different implementations of tab groups. I keep number of tabs at 2 digits though.

[Moonchild]

Take this as my thoughts on the matter, as advice. Use or not; care I do not:
You can use both, you know. It's not either-or. There's a real good reason why functions like "bookmark all tabs" (to bookmark in a folder) and "open all in tabs" (to quickly open all bookmarks in a folder as tabs) exist.
As I've said many times before: open tabs are transitional in nature, by design. If you're not actively using the tabs you have open every session, they are better bookmarked; it's better for the browser, it's better for your peace of mind, and it prevents everyone spinning their wheels again every time someone has a crash at an inopportune moment. And keeping a backup in bookmarks of those tabs you always want to have open (hint: as a separate group/folder) is a good idea, as well.

[suzyne]

I want to promote Open All in Tabs too! I have a bookmark folder named Daily, which has all the places that I visit at the start of each day to catch up on new content, but which I don't need to have opened as tabs all the time. Right click on Daily in my bookmarks, use the above command and everything loads, and they are ready to go.

Then when I am finished with them, Close Tabs Below (I like vertical tabs) tidies it all up. With some reflection, it is possible to dream several different sorts of functionally related groups of bookmarks (which, of course, I periodically use export to HTML to safeguard them).

Maybe I am pessimistic, but the frequency that I read "I lost all my tabs!" posts on Reddit makes me wonder whether relying on sessions (in any browser including Pale Moon) for storing important URLs becomes a question of "when", not "if" they will eventually be lost?

[Moonchild]

Maybe I am pessimistic, but the frequency that I read "I lost all my tabs!" posts on Reddit makes me wonder whether relying on sessions (in any browser including Pale Moon) for storing important URLs becomes a question of "when", not "if" they will eventually be lost?

The thing is, this data is saved periodically into a file. If something bad happens while that saving (writing to disk) is in progress, then it will inevitably cause a broken session store file. The more open tabs you have, the longer this save operation takes, and the greater the chance is that something bad happens while a save is in progress. People who have hundreds or thousands of tabs are both the people most at risk of losing it and most at risk of being seriously impacted by it (more data lost)!
Perhaps, if this remains persistent behaviour, it's an idea to change how this is done, and use an actual fault-tolerant database format instead of various (simple) data files.

[moonbat]

Usability

What you said applies to an individual session that you may have had to interrupt; I'm looking at those with a 3 and 4 and 5 digit open tab count(not exclusive to Pale Moon) who then cry over the browser crashing. Sounds like ADHD on steroids if one is just going on opening new tabs after new tabs without closing existing ones after being done with them, like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter
As I said, you can easily find whatever you recently visited by typing in the addressbar.

Bookmarks also don't remember scroller position on the page.

Valid point. For me 15 tabs is too many, and not for shortage of system resources (64 GB RAM)

I have a bookmark folder named Daily, which has all the places that I visit at the start of each day to catch up on new content

No RSS feeds for these sites? Much more efficient to use a feed reader that will directly show you what sites have how many new articles, either the built-in Live Bookmarks, one of the several RSS extensions or a dedicated one like QuiteRSS. For sites that don't have feeds, this extension can tell you if page content has changed.

[suzyne]

No RSS feeds for these sites? Much more efficient to use a feed reader

Some do and others don't, but efficiency is not an issue because I enjoy the literal browsing of the sites.

But having said that, this extension does look very interesting and potentially useful!

For sites that don't have feeds, this extension can tell you if page content has changed.

[UCyborg]

I wonder what am I doing differently, I don't recall if I ever lost the session. Are other people's computers just unreliable?

[Gemmaugr]

For sites that don't have feeds, this extension can tell you if page content has changed.

I use that one, and it's a bit unreliable sadly (or it's just difficult to figure out its settings). It only works really well on one site for me.

I wonder what am I doing differently, I don't recall if I ever lost the session. Are other people's computers just unreliable?

I've never lost a session either. Though I never shut down "for the day/night" with tabs still loaded. I use Speed Dial for my daily sites, and Bookmarks for the rest. When a site has crashed during a browsing sessions, it always loads up the same tabs, including the offending page (so I have to be quick to close that tab).

[Moonchild]

I wonder what am I doing differently, I don't recall if I ever lost the session. Are other people's computers just unreliable?

It's usually a combination of ungodly numbers of tabs (taking a long time to save), slow storage media where their profile is stored, and some form of bad shutdown (e.g. power loss or putting a laptop to sleep and it then running out of battery in sleep state or similar).

[twigs]

I use the Session Manager Add-on (https://addons.palemoon.org/addon/session-manager/), after I had a similar issue to the OP a number of years back. Saved me a bunch of times!

[Massacre]

I wonder what am I doing differently, I don't recall if I ever lost the session. Are other people's computers just unreliable?

It does not depend on computer reliability. Hangs/crashes could occur due to specific Javascript on pages (I guess we need to completely isolate Javascript engine for this to not happen?), and power outages could lead to data loss too.

[UCyborg]

Aye, power outages and the like make sense. I also make a habit of exiting every program normally before commencing shut down. My usage patterns are probably on the lighter side in the grand scheme.

[moonbat]

I use that one, and it's a bit unreliable sadly (or it's just difficult to figure out its settings). It only works really well on one site for me.

I use SiteDelta 0.13.2.2 from CAA - that works great. Had been using it long enough that I didn't feel the need to switch to update checker.

[Gemmaugr]

I use that one, and it's a bit unreliable sadly (or it's just difficult to figure out its settings). It only works really well on one site for me.

I use SiteDelta 0.13.2.2 from CAA - that works great. Had been using it long enough that I didn't feel the need to switch to update checker.

Sounds exactly the same, but could work better. I'll have to try it out. Thanks.