How do I track and debug JavaScript memory leaks in Firefox?

Question

I've been trying to track this one for literally a month now without any success. I have this piece of code on an car advertising website which basically allows thumbnails to rotate in search results given that a car has multiple pictures. You can see it in action at the following:

http://www.abcavendre.com/4506691919/

It is built on the mootools 1.2 framework. The problem is that this script, under Firefox 3, consumes a rather large amount of memory overtime when a page is full of those rotating pictures, such as this inventory page:

http://www.abcavendre.com/Vitrine/Israel_Huttman/

You can see the source of the script in question here:

http://www.abcavendre.com/scripts/showcase_small.js

Any ideas as to what is causing the memory leak? The weird thing is this code behaves properly under IE7.

I did not manage to solve it. I am getting valuable information from the Leak Monitor Addon. I'm still working on it. — Andrew Moore
– Andrew Moore, Commented Oct 15, 2008 at 4:08

Joe Scylla · Accepted Answer · 2008-10-14 13:25:18Z

8

A way to track memory leaks in Firefox is with the Leak Monitor Addon. It shows memory leaks of javascript (including extension-scripts).

Please remind that the plugin will sometimes show leaked objects that will get cleaned up later by the garbage collection. If that is the case the plugin will launch a new window showing you the new status.

edited Oct 14, 2008 at 13:25

answered Oct 14, 2008 at 12:28

Joe Scylla

7013 silver badges5 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

PhiLho Over a year ago

You missed : after https, so SO makes a curious URL sending to TheEdge... :-)

Matt Ball Over a year ago

Seeing as SO is an English-language site, you might want to provide an English-language link: addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2490

machineghost Over a year ago

Leak monitor no longer works with any of the modern versions of Firefox :-(

Vladimir Starkov Over a year ago

it's so sad that last addon's update have been made 5 years ago

Thomas Aylott · Accepted Answer · 2008-10-17 10:48:11Z

0

Update to MooTools 1.2.1, we've improved garbage collection and leak handling.

answered Oct 17, 2008 at 10:48

Thomas Aylott

8991 gold badge6 silver badges11 bronze badges

Comments

brainjam · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-18 12:37:16Z

0

Try nulling elements variable array in the end of the initialize function

    ...

    if (ads.length > 0)
        {
        this.imagesFx = new Fx.Elements(elements,
            {
            wait: false,
            duration: 1000
            });
        this.moveNext.periodical(2500, this);
        }

    elements = null; //Add THIS!
}

edited Mar 18, 2011 at 12:37

brainjam

19k8 gold badges60 silver badges85 bronze badges

answered Oct 14, 2008 at 12:01

Daniel Silveira

42.7k36 gold badges102 silver badges125 bronze badges

1 Comment

Andrew Moore Over a year ago

That wouldn't explain the memory leak happening overtime (with no page refresh) as the initialize function is called only once per page.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How do I track and debug JavaScript memory leaks in Firefox?

3 Answers 3

4 Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

4 Comments

Comments

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related