DSL Tips and Tricks :: Firefox Cache



Ok, I thought it was dumb to have the cache in the home directory where it gets backed up, since I really don't want it anyway. Yes, you can set it to cache 0, but that is a pain while you are browsing. Son instead I moved the cache dir to the /tmp/ directory. Here is what you need to do if you want to do this. (Note this was done in firefox 1.5. I am unsure about other versions.)

Load Firefox.
Type about:config in the URL bar.
right click->new->string
enter
browser.cache.disk.parent_directory
click ok
enter
/tmp/firefox/
click ok
restart firefox.

Now you can browse all you want, and your cache will not get backed up in yout backup.tar.gz file.
By default Cache is in .xfiletool.lst and is therefore not in the backup.

Firefox does have an additional directory called Cache.Trash.
Cache.Trash  could be added to .xfiletool.lst, but mine has always been empty. YMMV
just add a line in /opt/powerdown.sh to delete
the files.
As has been said in the past one thing that is important to do is to choke off firefox's guzzling of memory.

Recently I've been revisiting the past and using dsl-2.1b purely so I can use the ipw2000 drivers in the repo, and have been experiencing lots of freezes with that dsl's firefox (think I'll have to get a prism2 pcmcia card to get away from that version and the freezes). Googling reveals that version of FF was notorious for freezing, though I never experienced this back when I was using dsl-2.1b on a box with 1GB ram (now on laptop with 512mb).

So have implemented the old about:config hacks (posted a long time ago) and also dug on google for more:

1.  Faster loading and painting:

nglayout.initialpaint.delay integer 0

content.notify.interval integer 5000

5000 is ok on p3.  Go lower on a faster processor.

2.  Firefox 1.0.6 (dsl-2.1b) is prone to freezing if:

a). The last download dir has become inaccessible.
See http://forumz.tomshardware.com/softwar....26.html

The fix is apparently:

reset browser.download.lastDir in about:config

or

b)  You're using the flash plugin.
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-gnome/2005-July/011853.html  (and other posts).

So it's better not to run flash unless needed for a site with that old FF.

3. Firefox is a memory hog, so limit it's memory guzzling or it slows down.

http://www.jimmyr.com/blog/Firefox_144_2006.php

Create integer value browser.cache.memory.capacity in about:config and set its value to 16384. This limits cache size to 16MB instead of _infinity_.
On dsl I think I'll go lower to 8mb or 4mb since I still got a grind down to a freeze when firefox and frostwire were running at the same time (both access java).

Only for Firefox 1.5 or later: disable or set a new value for "browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers".   This controls pages caching in your history for surfing  back and forth in your history.  

4. Ensure  “periodically check for updates” under the Advanced tab of Preferences is switched off.  Obviously this is useless for dsl.

5. I might have to try using swap.  Never have needed to with dsl before.

6. Or use one of the later firefox.ucis.  I like opera but dislike the way it sticks itself to the top border of the screen in dsl (or it does for me).

Anyone got any more suggestions?
wow...I never noticed you could create new settings in about:config.  I wonder if there is a list of acceptable names somewhere?

Is browser.cache.memory.capacity the same as setting the cache size in preferences?
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