Privacybadger: "Waiting for privacy badger"

[pde]

When I loaded the latest github version of PB for Chrome, I started getting a lot of browser status notices (bottom left corner) saying "waiting for privacy badger". They _imply_ that the browser is being way slower because of PB. We should figure out if that's really the case, and if so what we can do about it...

[cooperq]

That is what happens whenever we are blocking (e.g. when we are in the function called during the 'beforeSendHeaders' event. It is not a sign of breakage, but we should make sure that our blocking calls are as optimized as possible.

[stuaxo]

Seem to spend most of my time looking at "Waiting for privacy badger" ... would be good if there was a way of finding out what is actually happening during that time.

[anand-bhat]

https://www.cloudflare.com/http2/ also appears to trigger this. JavaScript CPU profile of the extension background page when the page is being loaded:

[QJeffR]

Had to disable Privacy Badger on Chrome Version 49.0.2623.75 (64-bit) this morning. I was seeing "Waiting for Privacy Badger" message on every tab where I took an action, including existing tabs (YouTube, Medium) and new tabs (Google search).

I've also seen a number of cases recently where all Chrome tabs fail to load, with the message "resolving host" -- I'm afraid these may also be due to Privacy Badger. Let me know if I can provide any further information to track these down.

[benjaminpwarren]

I was also just now having an issue trying to follow links, "Waiting for Privacy Badger". All tabs were affected.

I just did a "chrome://restart" and I'm no longer having a problem.

Just in case it's somehow relevant, I'm connected via a VPN service (the above mention of cloudfare made me think it is somehow relevant, seeing as I'm seeing their "suspicious activity" / "I'm not a robot" pages a lot recently whilst connected via VPN service).

[kevwil]

I'm also having this issue, where multiple tabs hang with "waiting for extension Privacy Badger" for quite a few minutes with no end in sight. I'm giving up, I've had to disable it. :( Hope it get fixed soon.

[bitops]

I just had the same issue and had to remove Privacy Badger from Chrome. It's not acceptable to cause a 5 to 15 second wait time.

[tulensrma]

I have this issue as well. OSX 10.11.3, Chrome v 49.0.2623.87 (64-bit). Restarting Chrome fixes the issue temporarily until it appears again.

[ThomkDC]

I just gave up and removed Privacy Badger. No matter what I tried I could not get past "waiting for extension privacy badger." I could not open any webpage under any circumstance. I will try again when I see that this issue is taken seriously, and resolved.

[Levino]

Same here. This should be labelled BUG not "enhancement". Renders the extension unusable.

[JBildstein]

I'm having the same issue, chromium 49.0.2623.87 on Debian 8.3
It happens randomly but if it happens, it's on all tabs that are loading.
Workaround -> go to extensions, disable PB and re-enable again (can be done right away).

[QuentinMoss]

Having the same issue as JBildstein. Disable and re-enable is the only fix I've found.

Chrome: Version 49.0.2623.87 (64-bit)
OS X 10.10.5

[4kbt]

Just hit this, too. Disable/re-enable fixed it.

Chromium 49.0.2623.87 , Debian build, x86 box.

[Seth-Johnson]

I am also experiencing this issue. "waiting for privacy badger" is adding ~10-15 seconds to page load time. Neither chrome://restart nor re-enabling the extension solved the issue. it'll have to stay disabled on my machine for now.

[safiire]

This happens to me at least once per day, where I need to disable and then re-enable Privacy badger.

Chrome Version 49.0.2623.110 (64-bit)
OSX 10.9.5

No sites I open during this time will load, and display waiting for extension PrivacyBadger on the bottom bar.

[Chaz6]

I have this issue with Chrome 49.0.2623.112 m (64-bit) on Windows 10.

[paulb]

I've just removed Privacy Badger as this is happening more frequently, and it's not just a few seconds wait. Pages will not load until the extension is disabled and reenabled. Includes loading of pages on the local network which have no tracking ability that I know of, e.g., my router admin page.

Chrome Version 49.0.2623.110 (64-bit)
OS X 10.9.5

[berlincount]

Chrome Version 49.0.2623.112 m (64-bit)

Windows 8.1

[cooperq]

okay I think I have finally tracked this down and have a fix for this in #807
I will be pushing out a new release today which should fix this problem.

[bitops]

Thank you for the fix.

On Apr 13, 2016, at 11:45 AM, Cooper Quintin [email protected] wrote:

okay I think I have finally tracked this down and have a fix for this in #807
I will be pushing out a new release today which should fix this problem.

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[XtinaSchelin]

It's still happening as of today. Not sure if this was intended to be a full fix or a "well, it happens _less_" fix. Swift disable/re-enable of the extension gets me over the hurdle.

[cooperq]

@XtinaSchelin can you confirm that you have the latest version?
Everyone else on this thread: has my fix worked for you or are you still having this problem?

If you are still having this problem please take the following steps:

1. open chrome://extensions/
2. click the checkbox to enable developer mode
3. click the link under privacy badger that says "inspect background page"
4. in the popup click "profiles" and then "collect javascript cpu profile" and then "start"
5. navigate to a page that is giving you the problem
6. once the page has loaded click "stop"
7. Save the profile that you created which is listed under cpu profiles, and attach it here.

[cooperq]

The fixed version is 2016.4.13 please make sure you are on that version.

[yoniLavi]

I'm on 2016.4.13 and just had it happen to me again. I don't see an "inspect background page", so I couldn't troubleshoot it.

[frosforever]

Still having the issue sporadically. Reloading chrome or the extension seems to work.
Version: 2016.4.13
Chrome: Version 50.0.2661.75 (64-bit)
OS: OSx 10.10.5

[cooperq]

okay, I will keep looking into this. Though I suspect that my time is better spent on removing the ABP machinery which should solve this and a bunch of other bugs and make privacy badger way faster.

[stuaxo]

If it will simplify looking into many bugs, including this, then the removing that machinery could make sense? - (Having said that, this bug has been the impetus for me to switch back to ff and a different extension, so maybe not the best person to listen to).

[anand-bhat]

While my earlier comment was for a page that was loading albeit slowly due to Privacy Badger, I ran into the issue where the page is stuck at "Waiting for Privacy badger" for eternity with no activity. I enabled Javascript CPU profiling per @cooperq's instructions but I observed that the background page inspection page was behaving erratically. After I stopped CPU profiling, it continued to record. The profile did not load and the Start/ Stop button was disabled or non-functional. All other tabs on the background inspection page (Elements, Console, etc.) were not working as well.

For some reason, I recall seeing that the URL of the background looked different but I do not have enough coffee in me to be certain about this.

Disabling the extension and re-enabling it fixed the problem. Are there any other things that can be captured if/ when this occurs again (besides the URL of the background page)?

[ghost]

happened twice today. Privacy Badger version 2016.04.13, Mac OSX 10.11.4, Chrome Version 50.0.2661.94 (64-bit). i previously reported this in another bug that was closed as a duplicate. this is a new instance of the issue.

[pandorra2]

got the same bug several times over the last ~3 months. last time a couple of minutes before i posted this.

[cooperq]

Okay, This should be completely fixed in the latest version of privacy badger. As of today I have only deployed it to 10% of users (it has some huge changes!) but if you want to try it out early you can take the following steps.

1. Download the crx file from the chrome web store
2. Open a new tab to chrome://extensions
3. Drag the downloaded file and drop it onto the extensions window.
   You should now have Privacy Badger version 2016.5.15
   If this doesn't fix the problem please let me know. If you find any new bugs please file a separate issue.

[dieseltravis]

I just updated my Chromebook to 2016.5.16

The CPU for the extension never drops below 30% (it is 55% in that image) and browsing is impossible.

_Edit_: this appears to happen the first time that I try to open the options. After restarting it has been ok.

[cooperq]

Great! the options page does still admittedly have some kinks to work out, but I think that it will be improving a lot in the next couple of weeks. Let me know if you have any more high cpu usage or 'waiting for privacy badger' issues.

[pandorra2]

kk, will keep my eye on it. thanks man!

btw pls fix year 2015 in changelog ;)
https://github.com/EFForg/privacybadgerchrome/blob/master/doc/Changelog

[cooperq]

I'm going to assume this is fixed for now unless someone tells me otherwise.

[stuaxo]

Awesome, will be trying in next few days,thanks for the work :)

[ghost]

please open back up. just happened again to me. disabled. version 2016.5.23. chrome. mac.

[frosforever]

Just hit this again.
Version: 2016.5.24
Chrome: Version 50.0.2661.102 (64-bit)
OS: OSx 10.11.5

[cooperq]

@frosforever @vball525 if you are able to consistently reproduce this please open a new issue with steps to repro.