This post hits a nerve. I've relied on Firebug for a long time and it's been getting less stable for about a year. The problems are particularly apparent if you have largeish Javascript files (a few thousand lines). A lot of critical features intermittently stop working, things like breakpoints or being able to jump to the definition of a function. The Firebug project shows signs of having hit that disastrous inflection point where bug-fixing efforts create as many bugs as they fix.
I suspect the root of the problem is that Firebug started as a nice little ad hoc add-in, attempted to evolve into a production development tool, and is breaking down under the strain. That plus the personnel changes on the project would explain what we're seeing.
It's bad because none of the alternatives I've tried are an adequate replacement yet.
FF 3.5 with firebug 1.4 here, it works just fine. The whitelist bug (which I don't care for) will be fixed in the next release, no need to freak out about it. Now relax and go back to work :)
Maybe, could you pass me the links to the bugs you filed for bugzilla? Maybe I could help you and fix firebug. If your only problem is the whitelist thing, then yes, it's no big deal.
I appreciate that. Unfortunately, I don't know of a way to reproduce the bugs without loading my code, and even then they are intermittent. They seem to have to do with larger JS files, as I mentioned. As far as filing bug reports, I've been waiting until we have a released product, because presumably then I can include a URL to the public version.
I couldn't care less about the whitelist bug and don't even know what it is. All I want is a reliable console and debugger.
Edit: oh, I just remembered another problem (because it just happened): breakpoints or debugger statements that cause the debugger to break, but jump to the completely wrong source location. This happens all the time and nothing seems to help. (The recommendation to create a new FF profile, which appears to be 80% of the advice given on the Firebug discussion group, doesn't fix this.)
I suspect the root of the problem is that Firebug started as a nice little ad hoc add-in, attempted to evolve into a production development tool, and is breaking down under the strain. That plus the personnel changes on the project would explain what we're seeing.
It's bad because none of the alternatives I've tried are an adequate replacement yet.