[K12OSN] Firefox Running Slow

[k12ltsp]

Hi everyone,

In Hermon, we are using K12LTSP V5 and overall, we are having great
success!

However, we have noticed one issue. Before getting into detail, I should
describe our setup:

We use NIS authentication on a single central Linux server. This box acts
as an NFS store for the home folder, which is mounted on all of our Linux
servers. This allows students to use their same accounts anywhere in the
district, even on different LTSP servers.

Issue: We have noticed that with the new version of LTSP, whenever a user
launches Firefox on Server A, then launches it on Server B, there is a
SIGNIFICANT delay on the Firefox application launching. After this delay,
the browser window opens up, and the user's information is there,
including their bookmarks. Also, relaunching it again on the same server
no longer causes a delay. However, launching Firefox on a different LTSP
server with their account, will cause the delay to happen all over again.

In the middle school, I've watched about 5 students corrupt their Firefox
profile because they thought Mozilla wasn't launching, and kept trying to
launch it again (causing multiple launches and leaving the LOCK file in
their mozilla folder.) It can take up to a minute for Firefox to display
when a student launches it for the first time on a new server.

Diagram:

First Mozilla Launch on Server A --------------------------------> Second
Mozilla Launch on Server B (major delay before it shows)

Third launch on Server B (launches in good time)
----------------------------> Forth launch on Server A (delay returns)

It sounds like the preferences in the new version of Firefox need to be
modified to run on a server before it launches, which would explain the
delay.

Has anyone noticed this as well?

I should point out that all servers use the same version of Firefox. We
use a seperate repository to ensure all servers have the same version of
Linux packages.