Ask HN: Dear GitHub the browser memory sucks

by bojoon 9/20/2023, 4:57 AMwith 6 comments

I've gone through 3-4 Firefox upgrades in Linux over the last several months and have consistently watched GitHub tab memory balloon out from 1gb to 30gb+ each and every time. At first I thought it may have been a Firefox or distribution bug, but only GitHub blows things up so bad.

Why is this so terrible? I don't use other browsers so perhaps a Firefox only bug? Do they check this?

Have had a couple friends confirm, but HN community? Thoughts?

by Raed667on 9/20/2023, 2:49 PM

On a macbook+firefox: when viewing small repositories Github is around 250-350MB

When viewing a large PR (+200 files, 2k additions/deletions) Github is around 780MB

by Zelphyron 9/20/2023, 7:29 PM

Seems trite but, my honest answer is that Github is owned by Microsoft. I saw the same thing happen to LinkedIn after that acquisition.

by eimrineon 9/20/2023, 6:27 PM

I don't even have a 30GB of RAM, can I have a github link which is too bad for 16GB computer?

by vinhnxon 9/22/2023, 2:47 AM

I missed the old plain GitHub UI. circle 2011-2012 when I first learn git. GitHub struck me a the best developer-friendly UI out there. Nowadays it seems bloated with too many (unwanted, for me) features.

by KomoDon 9/21/2023, 3:18 PM

What are you viewing on Github for that to happen?

by jerrygoyalon 9/20/2023, 4:04 PM

I tend to avoid visiting the site for example i prefer vscode github pr extension for code reciews