Multi-account-containers: Multi-Account Container Sync Creating Additional Containers.

[dylanmorroll]

• Multi-Account Containers Version: 7.1.0
• Operating System + Version: Debian Buster + Windows 10
• Firefox Version: 81
• Other installed Add-ons + Version + Enabled/Disabled-Status:
  Name Type Version Enabled ID
  Amazon.co.uk extension 1.3 true [email protected]
  Amazon.com extension 1.3 true [email protected]
  Bing extension 1.2 true [email protected]
  Chambers (UK) extension 1.0 true [email protected]
  DuckDuckGo extension 1.1 true [email protected]
  eBay extension 1.2 true [email protected]
  Firefox Multi-Account Containers extension 7.1.0 true @testpilot-containers
  Google extension 1.1 true [email protected]
  Wikipedia (en) extension 1.1 true [email protected]
  English (GB) Language Pack locale 81.0buildid20200917005511 true [email protected]
  Checkmarks extension 1.6.1 false {bd97f89b-17ba-4539-9fec-06852d07f917}
  DownThemAll! extension 4.2.6 false {DDC359D1-844A-42a7-9AA1-88A850A938A8}
  DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials extension 2020.8.18 false jid1-ZAdIEUB7XOzOJw@jetpack
  Facebook Container extension 2.1.2 false @contain-facebook
  Forest: stay focused, be present extension 4.4.0 false @forest-firefox-addon
  GNOME Shell integration extension 10.1 false [email protected]
  HTTPS Everywhere extension 2020.8.13 false [email protected]
  Joplin Web Clipper extension 1.0.25 false {8419486a-54e9-11e8-9401-ac9e17909436}
  ModHeader extension 3.1.9 false {ed630365-1261-4ba9-a676-99963d2b4f54}
  Saka Key extension 1.26.3 false {46104586-98c3-407e-a349-290c9ff3594d}
  uBlock Origin extension 1.30.0 false [email protected]
  Vue.js devtools extension 5.3.3 false {5caff8cc-3d2e-4110-a88a-003cc85b3858}

Actual behavior

When syncing firefox between linux and windows, a huge amount of 'Banking' and 'Shopping' containers are created.

I have tried modifying 'containers.json' on both machines to remove these containers before syncing, but every time I then sync a bunch more containers are created (sometimes up to 50 containers). This proceeds to massively slow down my firefox making it unusable.

Expected behavior

Containers would be synced across machines without additional containers being created.

Steps to reproduce

1. Modify containers.json on both machines so only the containers I have created are available.
2. On one machine click 'Sync Now'.
3. Additional containers are created.
4. On the other machine click 'Sync Now'.
5. Additional containers are transferred to 2nd machine.

Notes

I just tried it again and all my containers were wiped and replaced with the default containers...

[isthisrubble]

I have also had this issue although it didn't create as many new containers as yours. hope it can be fixed.

[brettworks]

I'm getting this too and boy is it annoying. If I disable the sync in settings for the add-on they don't come back, but enabling sync even on one appears to bring them back, and LOTs of duplicates.

[FlorianWendelborn]

@brettworks @isthisrubble @dylanmorroll did anyone of you find a fast way to delete them? I currently have around 1k "Temporary Containers" from the temporary container addon and I’m pretty sure they’re multiplying due to this same bug. Using the menu is incredibly slow due to the 20 clicks required to delete a single container, so this would take me like a day to clean up that way...

[dylanmorroll]

@FlorianWendelborn editing the containers.json file in your mozilla profile directory is the fastest way I have found - also the only way I currently know of to rearrange the containers order.

To find it navigate to about:profiles in your address bar and open the root directory folder of the profile in use, the file should be in there.

[joeltimothyoh]

@dylanmorroll Thank you for this. For some reason the sync feature worked in syncing all my containers but in an incorrect order on my other computer. I simply closed Firefox, replaced the containers.json with the one from my main computer, and restarted Firefox. The containers are now in the correct order.

It looks like the syncing function has an issue with syncing container IDs. I discovered this through using another extension that works with this extension where the container settings of said extension were applying to the wrong containers. I was trying to find a way to get the containers in the right order but didn't find such a feature available in v7.1.0. I then realized the settings were applying to containers in the order of how they are listed in the Multi-Account Containers UI. I suspected there to be an issue with container and container ID mappings that influenced the order of how the containers were listed. I can confirm this to be so based on the contents of the containers.json file.

[joeltimothyoh]

@dylanmorroll I've also a number of new containers created each time the extension was set up on a new windows system, but not nearly as many as you mention. I usually delete them via the GUI before they have a chance to sync to the main computer, though this is only possible because of the unreliability of the sync.

I'm thinking perhaps plenty of duplicates are created when the containers.json file is modified on multiple systems at once, and especially with Firefox instances open on either or both machines. Maybe you could try deleting the duplicates only on one machine via the GUI and modifying the containers.json file only one machine at a time as a last resort.

[isthisrubble]

@isthisrubble did anyone of you find a fast way to delete them?

I just did it manually because it was less than 10. but they kept coming back until I turned sync off again. after that it worked. luckily I don't sync regularly so it didn't cause too much havoc.

[barygusey]

this issue is out of hand for me and multiple tries at correcting it have been unsuccessful