amd64/121951: Javascript bug in _amd64_ version of Mozilla-Firefox

[Bill Squire]

>Number:         121951
>Category:       amd64
>Synopsis:       Javascript bug in _amd64_ version of Mozilla-Firefox
>Confidential:   no
>Severity:       non-critical
>Priority:       medium
>Responsible:    freebsd-amd64
>State:          open
>Quarter:        
>Keywords:       
>Date-Required:
>Class:          sw-bug
>Submitter-Id:   current-users
>Arrival-Date:   Sat Mar 22 03:30:01 UTC 2008
>Closed-Date:
>Last-Modified:
>Originator:     Bill Squire
>Release:        FreeBSD 7.0-STABLE amd64
>Organization:
Billsf Holding BV / Squire for Hire	
>Environment:
System: FreeBSD curacao.billsf.net 7.0-STABLE FreeBSD 7.0-STABLE #0: Wed Mar 12 16:30:16 CET 2008 root at curacao.billsf.net:/usr/obj/pkg/src_7/src/sys/CURACAO-SMP amd64  Xorg-xorg-7.3_1 with xf86-video-ati-6.7.196 for ATI Radeon X550 (RV370)
 5B63 (PCIE) with XFCE (Gnome apps and some KDE apps)

>Description:
 	A 'quirk' possibly in the amd64 Firefox causes an error loading 
        AJAX-style Javascript and other modern scripts that embed XML and
        javascript. Same on FreeBSD v7 and v8.

    (from the javascript error console)

    http://maps.google.com/
    http://maps.google.com/intl/en_ALL/mapfiles/103/maps2/main.js
    error: 'a has no properties' (:545) or,
    error: 'u has no properties' (:278)

    http://slashdot.org/ 
    http://slashdot.org/index.pl 
    error: '_gat is not defined' (:39) and,
    error: 'pageTracker has no properties' (:2415)

>How-To-Repeat:
    goto: <http://maps.google.com/> and note there are NO maps -- anywhere
    100% repeatable -- problem has developed over the past six months.   

    goto: <http://slashdot.org/>, login and try to "Retrieve more of ...."
    (at the bottom of the page)
    Try to set preferences or any other 'ajax-style' window 
    100% repeatable -- has developed over 1/2 a year. 

    Other very minor failures at various sites: (highly variable)
    Launching video at various news sites (non-flash) usually implies 
    manual loading into a mediaplayer or 'carefully timed manipulation'.
    BBC, CBC, VARA, VPRO etc. Note: Some sites, particularly in the US, try
    to prevent non-Windows usage. (This may or may not be related to this.) 

    <http://ns.nl/> has very good error recovery in its scripts -- works.
            error: 'u has no properties' (no noticable consequences)      
        
 >Fix: 	
    Some sites should be aware of this and perhaps write better scripts.
    Run the Linux32 version -- Usually works well.
    Run the native 32bit version on an i386 (athlon-xp) or
    Run the 32bit version under emulation on amd64. (in a jail)
        (Both the real and 'emulated' i386 work error-free.)  
    Turn off javascript when practical
    Learn Javascript-2.0!  


       
>Fix:
>Release-Note:
>Audit-Trail:
>Unformatted: