FirefoxStartup

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⇤ ← Revision 3 as of 2011-05-11 08:20:13 →
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← Revision 4 as of 2011-05-19 19:44:40 → ⇥
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Editor: 188-24-95-24
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Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
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 * '''Contributors''': Oliver Grawert, Micah Gersten,Jani Monoses
 * '''Packages affected''': 		 * '''Contributors''': Micah Gersten,Jani Monoses
 * '''Packages affected''': firefox
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Investigate why firefox takes a long time to start up on ARM devices. Optimise slow routines to address this. Firefox takes a relatively long time to start up, and this is more evident on ARM devices which are generally slower than x86/amd64 systems.
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Firefox has been optimised to launch significantly faster on ARM devices in Ubuntu 11.10. Firefox launches significantly faster on ARM devices in Ubuntu 11.10.
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Firefox startup on ARM is so slow that it can be faster to install a different browser and start that, even if one starts opening the terminal to do so *after* beginning the firefox startup process. This does not reflect well on firefox, and needs to be sorted. Firefox startup is slow because it is a large C++ app that does a lot of IO on startup. The slow SD/eMMC/USB storage used in ARM devices make this
even more noticable.
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First startup of Firefox after each reboot on an OEM netbook preinstalled with Ubuntu takes 12 seconds.
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This section should describe a plan of action (the "how") to implement the changes discussed. Could include subsections like: Upstream is well aware of the fact that Firefox could start up faster and have people working on the problem. They are addressing some of the issues for
upcoming releases. Oneiric will ship with FF 6 or FF 7 so chances are some improvements will land in Ubuntu even if we do not do anything.

We will make a testcase for Linaro LAVA to chart startup time during Oneiric.

Upstream resources:

IRC: #startup channel on irc.mozilla.org

Wiki: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Startup_Time_Improvements
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Should cover changes required to the UI, or specific UI that is required to implement this
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Code changes should include an overview of what needs to change, and in some cases even the specific details. Possible changes to our Firefox packaging if preloading or other shell tricks are to be used to speed up cold start.
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Include:
 * data migration, if any
 * redirects from old URLs to new ones, if any
 * how users will be pointed to the new way of doing things, if necessary.
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It's important that we are able to test new features, and demonstrate them to users. Use this section to describe a short plan that anybody can follow that demonstrates the feature is working. This can then be used during testing, and to show off after release. Please add an entry to http://testcases.qa.ubuntu.com/Coverage/NewFeatures for tracking test coverage.

This need not be added or completed until the specification is nearing beta.
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This should highlight any issues that should be addressed in further specifications, and not problems with the specification itself; since any specification with problems cannot be approved.
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Use this section to take notes during the BoF; if you keep it in the approved spec, use it for summarising what was discussed and note any options that were rejected.

Summary

Firefox takes a relatively long time to start up, and this is more evident on ARM devices which are generally slower than x86/amd64 systems.

Release Note

Firefox launches significantly faster on ARM devices in Ubuntu 11.10.

Rationale

Firefox startup is slow because it is a large C++ app that does a lot of IO on startup. The slow SD/eMMC/USB storage used in ARM devices make this even more noticable.

User stories

First startup of Firefox after each reboot on an OEM netbook preinstalled with Ubuntu takes 12 seconds.

Assumptions

Design

You can have subsections that better describe specific parts of the issue.

Implementation

Upstream is well aware of the fact that Firefox could start up faster and have people working on the problem. They are addressing some of the issues for upcoming releases. Oneiric will ship with FF 6 or FF 7 so chances are some improvements will land in Ubuntu even if we do not do anything.

We will make a testcase for Linaro LAVA to chart startup time during Oneiric.

Upstream resources:

IRC: #startup channel on irc.mozilla.org

Wiki: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Projects/Startup_Time_Improvements

UI Changes

Code Changes

Possible changes to our Firefox packaging if preloading or other shell tricks are to be used to speed up cold start.

Migration

Test/Demo Plan

Unresolved issues

BoF agenda and discussion

CategorySpec

ARM/FirefoxStartup (last edited 2011-05-19 19:44:40 by 188-24-95-24)