is it a good idea to have an extension that forces GC and minimize memory usage on every tab close

[blue_dragon]

i see Pale Moon currently dont free much memory when opening a new site on a tab and closing right away so i tried making this

Code: Select all

const Cc = Components.classes, Ci = Components.interfaces, Cu = Components.utils;
const gMgr = Cc['@mozilla.org/memory-reporter-manager;1'].getService(Ci.nsIMemoryReporterManager);
Cu.import("resource://gre/modules/Services.jsm");

function onTabClose() {
	// gc
	Services.obs.notifyObservers(null, 'child-gc-request', null);
	Cu.forceGC();

	// minimize memory usage
	Services.obs.notifyObservers(null, 'child-mmu-request', null);
	gMgr.minimizeMemoryUsage(() => {});
}

const windowListener = {
	onOpenWindow(xulWindow) {
		const domWindow = xulWindow.QueryInterface(Ci.nsIInterfaceRequestor).getInterface(Ci.nsIDOMWindow);
		domWindow.addEventListener('load', function onLoad() {
			domWindow.removeEventListener('load', onLoad);
			if(domWindow.document.documentElement.getAttribute('windowtype') !== 'navigator:browser')
				return;
			domWindow.gBrowser.tabContainer.addEventListener('TabClose', onTabClose);
		});
	},
	onCloseWindow(xulWindow) {
		const domWindow = xulWindow.QueryInterface(Ci.nsIInterfaceRequestor).getInterface(Ci.nsIDOMWindow);
		if(domWindow.document.documentElement.getAttribute('windowtype') !== 'navigator:browser')
			return;
		domWindow.gBrowser.tabContainer.removeEventListener('TabClose', onTabClose);
	},
};

function startup(data, reason) {
	Services.wm.addListener(windowListener);
}

function shutdown(data, reason) {
	Services.wm.removeListener(windowListener);
}

function install() {}

function uninstall() {}

it seems to be somehow effective but closing tab causes lag spikes. also im not sure if this is a good approach since i have seen some memory management extensions randomly crash the browser. but reducing memory usage is needed especially in 32-bit OS because if Pale Moon ever hits 1GB ram usage it becomes super unstable (tested on Windows 7 even on the official build)

i see that idle/tab close gc was once implemented but reverted due to performance issues recently although i didnt feel a big perf drop

[Moonchild]

You have to choose one or the other.
Either let GC do its thing on its own and let memory be recovered, OR force GC and CC immediately on close, and have the browser pause while it does that.