RSS message counts don't update without restarting Safari

• Component: New Bugs
• Status: UNCONFIRMED ---

[David Charlap]

I'm using WebKit version 34753, with Safari version 3.1.1 (Mac OS X 10.5.3).  My hardware is an iBook G4 (12" display, 1.33GHz, 1.5GB RAM).

I have an "RSS Feeds" folder on my bookmarks toolbar.  It contains feed:// URLs for 17 RSS feeds, plus a sub-folder containing 20 more RSS feeds.  RSS preferences are set to update articles both in the bookmarks bar and in the bookmarks menu, checking for updates every 30 minutes.

When I launch WebKit, the article counts are all updated, but after that, they don't change.  If I real all the articles and leave WebKit running for several hours, it will not update the article counts.  If, however, I quit and immediately restart WebKit, then the counts all update.

If I perform the same test from Safari (using the WebKit that's part of Mac OS X 10.5.3 - (WebKit 5525.20, according to the Safari about box), there is no problem - it updates the RSS article counts as scheduled.

[David Charlap]

It would appear that the about boxes don't have WebKit versions.  Following are updated version numbers, based on the User-Agent strings:

I am seeing the bug using WebKit 527+, downloaded via WebKit-SVN-r34753.dmg (the most recent build.)

The bug is not seen when WebKit 525.18 (from Mac OS X 10.5.3) is used.

In both cases, the Safari version reported by the User-Agent string is 3.1.1 (525.20)

[David Charlap]

One additional data point: My http connectivity is via a proxy.  I have a FQDN and a port number entered in Mac OS's proxy configuration.  I have not yet tested this bug on a network where direct connections to the internet are possible.

[David Charlap]

Using the latest build (r34824) I tested this on a network that doesn't use proxies.  The problem exists there as well.

I launched WebKit/Safari and saw many new RSS articles.  I read them all.  I then left Safari running for five hours, after which, there were no new articles visible next to the bookmarks.  When I quit and immediately restarted Safari, there were several new articles, most of which were timestamped more than 30 minutes ago (I have Safari configured to check RSS feeds every 30 minutes.)

[daniel thornbury]

I'm experiencing exactly the same issue running r37126 on Mac OS X 10.5.5, where RSS feeds fail to update the count in the bookmarks bar despite new articles being present.

Additionally, RSS counts sometimes don't reset to 0 after having read all articles.
 
The bug does not appear in Safari 3.1.2 (5525.20.1).

[David Charlap]

(In reply to comment #4)
> 
> Additionally, RSS counts sometimes don't reset to 0 after having read all
> articles.

I see this all the time when reading RSS with the WebKit that's built-in to Mac OS X 10.5.5.  It usually happens as a result of reading feeds while the counts are being updated.  If you quit and restart, however, the counts are correct.  In other words, the articles are properly marked as read, but something messes up the count.

Problems like this are usually the result of two different threads accessing a variable without sufficient mutex locking.

I have no clue whether this would be a WebKit bug (in which case, the developers here might be able to fix it) or a Safari bug (in which case, only Apple will be able to provide a fix.)

[George T]

Using r37849 on 10.5.5 still experiencing this issue, also when trying to switch default RSS reader in preferences to WebKit, RSS feeds fail to display at all.

[George T]

(In reply to comment #6)
> Using r37849 on 10.5.5 still experiencing this issue, also when trying to
> switch default RSS reader in preferences to WebKit, RSS feeds fail to display
> at all.
> 

Also I have just noticed that if you have Safari open while WebKit is open, as soon as the RSS feeds update in Safari, the updates are reflected in the WebKit window as well, and I am currently using this method to keep feeds updated, hope this narrows it down.