[Vivaldi 7] Large history - deletion of searched entries and exit results in never ending zombie processes

[DoctorG]

Do ypu have any problems after deleting history?

1. Have large History file over months
   in my case it is 35 MBxte.
2. Open History Manager
3. Set to List view to see all entries
4. Search for some entries to be deleted
   I my case 32,000 entries
5. Delete with Del key
6. After some seconds the list is empty
7. Close History Manager
8. Exit Vivaldi
9. Confirm Close
10. Check in Windows 11 Task Manager for vivaldi processes
11. 2 are still running
    I waited 20 Minutes and they do no end.
12. In Explorer i see Histroy file does not shrink, History-jounal alternates 0 or around 56 KB.

New start results in unexpected popups

7.1.3518.4 + 7.0.3495.11 / Win 11 23H2
Can you confirm?

Only on my Windows 11?

[Pathduck]

@DoctorG I only keep history for 1 month, my History file is 26MB.

But I tried it, deleted a lot of entries in one go, and I get two processes running after browser close:

They stayed around for maybe 2-3 minutes but did disappear.
I still think it's worth a bug report.

I made a script some time ago to anonymize History, you could use it to share your file so others can test.
https://pathduck.github.io/vivaldi/tools/anonymize-history.sql

[DoctorG]

@Pathduck Ah, seems many of use have this.
That are these cockroaches which run away when we testers were checking new versions.

Report is already in tracker now.
VB-111429 "Large history - deletion of searched entries and exit results in zombie processes" - Confirmed

[Pathduck]

@DoctorG It's probably just a Chromium thing - it needs to finish the job before the processes can close.

But of course, Chromium does not allow such easy deleting of history entries as Vivaldi, in fact it's the only Chromium browser that allows such easy deletion of filtered results.

And if trying Delete Browsing Data through the dialog it clears all history and works differently.

Another problem, one which probably is a lot more worrisome for people who care about such things (not I) is that the Delete Browsing Data in Vivaldi does not actually clear the file - it does not do a vacuum; operation and it does not clear the urls tabs. This results in the file size not actually shrinking much and the visited urls are still in the binary file because the vacuum is not done.

This is probably worth another bug report if I cared enough about it
Actually I reported VB-79935 Data retained in profile data files even if all browsing data is deleted years ago.

[DoctorG]

@Pathduck said in [Vivaldi 7] Large history - deletion of searched entries and exit results in never ending zombie processes:

Actually I reported VB-79935 Data retained in profile data files even if all browsing data is deleted years ago.

I checked it now

[Pathduck]

@DoctorG Yes, for me it's not such a big deal because:

• I only keep 1 month
• I don't clear History
• No-one else can access my History or the file

But I dread what would happen if someone more privacy-oriented/tinfoil-hat-wearing would discover it.

Actually pretty easy to reproduce:

• Copy large History file into a test Standalone profile
• Note size of History file
• Open browser, Delete Browsing Data, everything + for all time
• Close browser
• Note size of History file is basically unchanged
• Use sqlite3 to list the urls table:
  sqlite3 History "select * from urls;"
• Open the file in a hex-editor or viewer or similar
• Note data is still present in binary form, or do:
  strings History | grep "http"

[DoctorG]

@Pathduck I have no need to delete because of privacy it but i stumbled over the bug when i helped an other user.