Duplicated Mapped Javascript Source not Saving Changes on Chrome's Dev Tools

Question

I'm making a local web page (.html) that loads a few .js files and am having trouble using Google Chrome's Developer Tools.

Definition

The problem I'm having has to do with the Source Panel: I have one source tab open with a specific file and when I open this file by clicking the console or the source file at the left, randomly a duplicate is created instead of just redirecting it to the one already open.

Both will have the same file-path:

Both will allow me to write and save the file (even showing/hiding the asterisk correctly)
Only one of them will correctly save the contents to disk.

I have to fix it by closing both files and opening it again, but sometimes I can't see that there is a duplicated file and it causes me to fix a problem only to find out that the file wasn't actually saved, reverting completely every change I made to that file when I refresh the page.

Example of the problem

The most common appearance of the bug is when I'm doing the following:

1. I identify a console.warn / console.error / syntax error log in the console
2. I click the line that caused that log (at the rightmost of the console) and I'm redirected to the source panel, where a new source file tab opens and I begin editing it.
3. Somewhere in the source tabs is another source file of that same file (with the same filepath): That tab should be the one I was editing: only this original tab will correctly save changes made to the file.
4. I fix the random javascript problem in the file that I was lead to by clicking the console.
5. I hit Ctrl+S (or Right Click > Save), the asterisk that indicates a unsaved file disappears. At that point Chrome expects to have saved the file successfully, but it didn't (I can check by opening the file in Notepad)
6. I hit F5 to refresh the page.
7. Chrome loads the old, unsaved file, erasing all the changes I made in the source file.

Sometimes the very same steps doesn't create a duplicate file, but all I have to do is refresh and try again until it does. Recreating this bug is a matter of chance, I can't predict or pinpoint its causes either.

When refreshing the page with the Dev Tools open, there's a small chance that it will creates a broken mapping, where the mapped project becomes only partially mapped

even though it was fine seconds before: (only restarting chrome fixes that)

This last paragraph may or may not have something to do with the problem but I can clearly select and open the "fake" file and the "real" file even though they have the same file path.

I made this gif to show how the file paths are identical to each other in the Dev Tools: http://i.imgur.com/ULlbskO.gif

Details of the setup

I'm using the local file system (file:///) strictly, there is no localhost or server being used to host my application, it is pure HTML + Javascript.

I'm using Google Chrome 57 for Windows without any extensions, but I've been having that problem since December, 2016.

My project was mapped by adding the folder to the workspace and mapping it to a local file, which used to work in the past.

Here's a picture of my configurations: http://i.imgur.com/IEmE3zG.png

Things I've tried

1. Clearing Chrome's Cache
2. Removing the project from the Source Panel workspace and adding it again
3. Reinstalling Chrome
4. Moving the project path to somewhere else
5. Searching on Google
6. Letting go / Accepting defeat (I've grown too dependent on the tool)
7. Waiting 2 months for someone to have this problem too and post it somewhere in the internet

Questions I need help with

Can I minimize/fix this problem in any way?

Has anyone dealt with this before?

Does someone know if this is a Chrome bug or am I doing something wrong with my workflow?

Answer 1

Found the answer myself after several months working with web development.

The duplicated file has been fixed in Chrome since the time I made this question, but files keep loosing "connection" with the local file system (green dot that marks them as sync'd with local) randomly, which made me investigate and I finally found the reason:

What's happening is that Dev Tools is trying to save the file and, when it retrieves it it loads from cache (because my local web server was sending cache-specific headers), which makes the browser think that file file is not actually the one it saved, so it stops its syncronization!

To solve it, all I had to do is ensure my local web server is disabling any form of cache for my javascript files, which I can check from the network panel:

My local web server was sending cache headers for 1 hour, which made chrome open the cached file, which was different from my edited file which was an indication that the file is not the one it saved.

After changing the server to serve static content without the cache headers, everything went smoothly and files kept sync'd correctly!