Do the Firefox children processes correspond to number of tabs?
up vote
2
down vote
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I am running Firefox Quantum 63.0.3 (32-bit) on Ubuntu.
In output of htop command (sorted by Command name) I see the following
I see 6 children process below the original firefox process. What do they correspond to? I have more than 6 tabs open in the browser.
process firefox background-process browser
asked Nov 26 at 1:18
Roger That
626
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
I am running Firefox Quantum 63.0.3 (32-bit) on Ubuntu.
In output of htop command (sorted by Command name) I see the following
I see 6 children process below the original firefox process. What do they correspond to? I have more than 6 tabs open in the browser.
process firefox background-process browser
asked Nov 26 at 1:18
Roger That
626
The number of content processes will one day vary based on the number of content origins if Project Fission gets going, which is kind of like Site Isolation from Chrome.
– dsstorefile1
Nov 26 at 23:30
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
up vote
2
down vote
favorite
I am running Firefox Quantum 63.0.3 (32-bit) on Ubuntu.
In output of htop command (sorted by Command name) I see the following
I see 6 children process below the original firefox process. What do they correspond to? I have more than 6 tabs open in the browser.
process firefox background-process browser
asked Nov 26 at 1:18
Roger That
626
I am running Firefox Quantum 63.0.3 (32-bit) on Ubuntu.
In output of htop command (sorted by Command name) I see the following
I see 6 children process below the original firefox process. What do they correspond to? I have more than 6 tabs open in the browser.
process firefox background-process browser
process firefox background-process browser
asked Nov 26 at 1:18
Roger That
626
asked Nov 26 at 1:18
Roger That
626
asked Nov 26 at 1:18
Roger That
626
asked Nov 26 at 1:18
Roger That
626
asked Nov 26 at 1:18
Roger That
626
626
The number of content processes will one day vary based on the number of content origins if Project Fission gets going, which is kind of like Site Isolation from Chrome.
– dsstorefile1
Nov 26 at 23:30
add a comment |
The number of content processes will one day vary based on the number of content origins if Project Fission gets going, which is kind of like Site Isolation from Chrome.
– dsstorefile1
Nov 26 at 23:30
The number of content processes will one day vary based on the number of content origins if Project Fission gets going, which is kind of like Site Isolation from Chrome.
– dsstorefile1
Nov 26 at 23:30
The number of content processes will one day vary based on the number of content origins if Project Fission gets going, which is kind of like Site Isolation from Chrome.
– dsstorefile1
Nov 26 at 23:30
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
accepted
Multiprocess Firefox is an architecture that splits the Firefox browser into two pieces - a single parent process that displays the browser UI, and child processes that display the actual web content. These are the processes you see in the htop output.
As documented under performance settings, you can control the number of child processes.
Content process limit: With Multiprocess Firefox, also called
electrolysis or e10s , Firefox runs web content for all tabs
separately from the main Firefox process for increased security and
performance. Using multiple content processes can further increase
performance and minimize the impact of content process crashes. You
can modify this setting if multiprocess is enabled; however, having
too many content processes can slow down your computer, and
consequently, Firefox. The recommended maximum is four, but you can
set up to seven.
Therefore, the total number of processes are controlled by the configuration, and is not directly related to the number of tabs in use. You can check the configuration for your system under Options > General > Performance.
As listed under the Process model for Firefox, Multiprocess Firefox also uses child processes to sandbox untrusted content. In addition to web content child process, Firefox also uses sandboxed child processes for the following on Linux:
- Gecko Media Plugins (GMPs), used for media playback
- File content process, used to load 'file://' URLs
- WebExtension Process, used to load extensions built using the
WebExtensions API.
On Firefox 63.0.3, the WebExtensions process is also loaded at startup, which is the extra process seen in the htop output. You can verify this by accessing the about:memory URL from Firefox, and the selecting 'Show Memory Reports' > 'Measure'. The main process and the child processes (including the WebExtensions child process) will be listed here, along with their respective PIDs.
answered Nov 26 at 6:18
Haxiel
51138
Thanks. I had that Content Process Limit option set to 4 (default). Why then the htop showed 6 child processes? Also when I changed the content process limit to 1, now, after restarting browser I see 2 child processes (instead of expected 1).
– Roger That
Nov 26 at 7:01
1
@RogerThat I have updated my answer with details on the extra Firefox process.
– Haxiel
Nov 26 at 17:40
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
3
down vote
accepted
Multiprocess Firefox is an architecture that splits the Firefox browser into two pieces - a single parent process that displays the browser UI, and child processes that display the actual web content. These are the processes you see in the htop output.
As documented under performance settings, you can control the number of child processes.
Content process limit: With Multiprocess Firefox, also called
electrolysis or e10s , Firefox runs web content for all tabs
separately from the main Firefox process for increased security and
performance. Using multiple content processes can further increase
performance and minimize the impact of content process crashes. You
can modify this setting if multiprocess is enabled; however, having
too many content processes can slow down your computer, and
consequently, Firefox. The recommended maximum is four, but you can
set up to seven.
Therefore, the total number of processes are controlled by the configuration, and is not directly related to the number of tabs in use. You can check the configuration for your system under Options > General > Performance.
As listed under the Process model for Firefox, Multiprocess Firefox also uses child processes to sandbox untrusted content. In addition to web content child process, Firefox also uses sandboxed child processes for the following on Linux:
- Gecko Media Plugins (GMPs), used for media playback
- File content process, used to load 'file://' URLs
- WebExtension Process, used to load extensions built using the
WebExtensions API.
On Firefox 63.0.3, the WebExtensions process is also loaded at startup, which is the extra process seen in the htop output. You can verify this by accessing the about:memory URL from Firefox, and the selecting 'Show Memory Reports' > 'Measure'. The main process and the child processes (including the WebExtensions child process) will be listed here, along with their respective PIDs.
answered Nov 26 at 6:18
Haxiel
51138
Thanks. I had that Content Process Limit option set to 4 (default). Why then the htop showed 6 child processes? Also when I changed the content process limit to 1, now, after restarting browser I see 2 child processes (instead of expected 1).
– Roger That
Nov 26 at 7:01
1
@RogerThat I have updated my answer with details on the extra Firefox process.
– Haxiel
Nov 26 at 17:40
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
accepted
Multiprocess Firefox is an architecture that splits the Firefox browser into two pieces - a single parent process that displays the browser UI, and child processes that display the actual web content. These are the processes you see in the htop output.
As documented under performance settings, you can control the number of child processes.
Content process limit: With Multiprocess Firefox, also called
electrolysis or e10s , Firefox runs web content for all tabs
separately from the main Firefox process for increased security and
performance. Using multiple content processes can further increase
performance and minimize the impact of content process crashes. You
can modify this setting if multiprocess is enabled; however, having
too many content processes can slow down your computer, and
consequently, Firefox. The recommended maximum is four, but you can
set up to seven.
Therefore, the total number of processes are controlled by the configuration, and is not directly related to the number of tabs in use. You can check the configuration for your system under Options > General > Performance.
As listed under the Process model for Firefox, Multiprocess Firefox also uses child processes to sandbox untrusted content. In addition to web content child process, Firefox also uses sandboxed child processes for the following on Linux:
- Gecko Media Plugins (GMPs), used for media playback
- File content process, used to load 'file://' URLs
- WebExtension Process, used to load extensions built using the
WebExtensions API.
On Firefox 63.0.3, the WebExtensions process is also loaded at startup, which is the extra process seen in the htop output. You can verify this by accessing the about:memory URL from Firefox, and the selecting 'Show Memory Reports' > 'Measure'. The main process and the child processes (including the WebExtensions child process) will be listed here, along with their respective PIDs.
answered Nov 26 at 6:18
Haxiel
51138
Thanks. I had that Content Process Limit option set to 4 (default). Why then the htop showed 6 child processes? Also when I changed the content process limit to 1, now, after restarting browser I see 2 child processes (instead of expected 1).
– Roger That
Nov 26 at 7:01
1
@RogerThat I have updated my answer with details on the extra Firefox process.
– Haxiel
Nov 26 at 17:40
add a comment |
up vote
3
down vote
accepted
up vote
3
down vote
accepted
Multiprocess Firefox is an architecture that splits the Firefox browser into two pieces - a single parent process that displays the browser UI, and child processes that display the actual web content. These are the processes you see in the htop output.
As documented under performance settings, you can control the number of child processes.
Content process limit: With Multiprocess Firefox, also called
electrolysis or e10s , Firefox runs web content for all tabs
separately from the main Firefox process for increased security and
performance. Using multiple content processes can further increase
performance and minimize the impact of content process crashes. You
can modify this setting if multiprocess is enabled; however, having
too many content processes can slow down your computer, and
consequently, Firefox. The recommended maximum is four, but you can
set up to seven.
Therefore, the total number of processes are controlled by the configuration, and is not directly related to the number of tabs in use. You can check the configuration for your system under Options > General > Performance.
As listed under the Process model for Firefox, Multiprocess Firefox also uses child processes to sandbox untrusted content. In addition to web content child process, Firefox also uses sandboxed child processes for the following on Linux:
- Gecko Media Plugins (GMPs), used for media playback
- File content process, used to load 'file://' URLs
- WebExtension Process, used to load extensions built using the
WebExtensions API.
On Firefox 63.0.3, the WebExtensions process is also loaded at startup, which is the extra process seen in the htop output. You can verify this by accessing the about:memory URL from Firefox, and the selecting 'Show Memory Reports' > 'Measure'. The main process and the child processes (including the WebExtensions child process) will be listed here, along with their respective PIDs.
answered Nov 26 at 6:18
Haxiel
51138
Multiprocess Firefox is an architecture that splits the Firefox browser into two pieces - a single parent process that displays the browser UI, and child processes that display the actual web content. These are the processes you see in the htop output.
As documented under performance settings, you can control the number of child processes.
Content process limit: With Multiprocess Firefox, also called
electrolysis or e10s , Firefox runs web content for all tabs
separately from the main Firefox process for increased security and
performance. Using multiple content processes can further increase
performance and minimize the impact of content process crashes. You
can modify this setting if multiprocess is enabled; however, having
too many content processes can slow down your computer, and
consequently, Firefox. The recommended maximum is four, but you can
set up to seven.
Therefore, the total number of processes are controlled by the configuration, and is not directly related to the number of tabs in use. You can check the configuration for your system under Options > General > Performance.
As listed under the Process model for Firefox, Multiprocess Firefox also uses child processes to sandbox untrusted content. In addition to web content child process, Firefox also uses sandboxed child processes for the following on Linux:
- Gecko Media Plugins (GMPs), used for media playback
- File content process, used to load 'file://' URLs
- WebExtension Process, used to load extensions built using the
WebExtensions API.
On Firefox 63.0.3, the WebExtensions process is also loaded at startup, which is the extra process seen in the htop output. You can verify this by accessing the about:memory URL from Firefox, and the selecting 'Show Memory Reports' > 'Measure'. The main process and the child processes (including the WebExtensions child process) will be listed here, along with their respective PIDs.
answered Nov 26 at 6:18
Haxiel
51138
edited Nov 26 at 17:40
answered Nov 26 at 6:18
Haxiel
51138
answered Nov 26 at 6:18
Haxiel
51138
answered Nov 26 at 6:18
Haxiel
51138
51138
Thanks. I had that Content Process Limit option set to 4 (default). Why then the htop showed 6 child processes? Also when I changed the content process limit to 1, now, after restarting browser I see 2 child processes (instead of expected 1).
– Roger That
Nov 26 at 7:01
1
@RogerThat I have updated my answer with details on the extra Firefox process.
– Haxiel
Nov 26 at 17:40
add a comment |
Thanks. I had that Content Process Limit option set to 4 (default). Why then the htop showed 6 child processes? Also when I changed the content process limit to 1, now, after restarting browser I see 2 child processes (instead of expected 1).
– Roger That
Nov 26 at 7:01
1
@RogerThat I have updated my answer with details on the extra Firefox process.
– Haxiel
Nov 26 at 17:40
Thanks. I had that Content Process Limit option set to 4 (default). Why then the htop showed 6 child processes? Also when I changed the content process limit to 1, now, after restarting browser I see 2 child processes (instead of expected 1).
– Roger That
Nov 26 at 7:01
Thanks. I had that Content Process Limit option set to 4 (default). Why then the htop showed 6 child processes? Also when I changed the content process limit to 1, now, after restarting browser I see 2 child processes (instead of expected 1).
– Roger That
Nov 26 at 7:01
1
1
@RogerThat I have updated my answer with details on the extra Firefox process.
– Haxiel
Nov 26 at 17:40
@RogerThat I have updated my answer with details on the extra Firefox process.
– Haxiel
Nov 26 at 17:40
add a comment |
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The number of content processes will one day vary based on the number of content origins if Project Fission gets going, which is kind of like Site Isolation from Chrome.
– dsstorefile1
Nov 26 at 23:30