433196 - in dual-boot Mac/Vista setup with common profile, browser reinitializes on every OS switch

Status: UNCONFIRMED

(Toolkit :: Startup and Profile System, defect)

Description

[KJ Northrup]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.8.1.14) Gecko/20080404 Firefox/2.0.0.14
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.8.1.14) Gecko/20080404 Firefox/2.0.0.14

Have a MacBook Pro with Boot Camp, Leopard running on one side and Vista on the other. Latest version of Firefox app installed on each side. Single Firefox profile is stored on a third (FAT) partition. Profile manager was used to point both Mac and Vista browsers to the same profile. After switching OSes (Mac to Vista or Vista to Mac), first launch of Firefox always results in initialization routine (compatibility check on extensions and display of "Firefox updated" web page). Happens only on the first launch, after which all is normal. Cross-platform sharing of the same profile works fine. But then when the other OS is booted and the browser is launched there, initialization happens again on first use. Switch back to other OS and launch browser, initialization happens again.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Install Firefox separately on both Mac and Vista partitions of laptop.
2.Use Profile Manager to make both installations use the same profile (stored on a partition that both OSes can read/write, ideally FAT).
3.Launch browser in one OS (complete initialization routine), then quit.
4.Boot in other OS and launch browser (complete initialization routine), then quit.
5.Repeat step 4 as often as desired.
Actual Results:  
On first launch in each OS, browser reinitializes with add-on compatibility check and "firefox updated" web page.

Expected Results:  
Recognized that the browser had already been initialized.

I supposed it might be necessary to check add-on compatibility in the first launch on each OS, in case a Windows-only or Mac-only add-on had been installed on the other side since the last OS switch. But no need to display the firefox update page as if it is a completely fresh install or update.

Comment 1

[Chris]

I got the same issue starting with Firefox 43 on Windows 7 / Linux Mint and other people seem to have the same issue:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1099842
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1089646

It is really annoying to activate all addons on startup again. Especially on linux - there is no dialog so firefox gets initialized without addons activated popping up a dozen cookie dialogs from restored tabs of my last session...

Comment 2

[Chris]

It first occured in FF43 for me and the user linked above

Comment 3

[root]

Confirmed here. Windows7/Gentoo-Linux. This worked flawless for years, FF43 broke it. Can anybody explain what exactly changed?

Comment 4

[Liz Henry (:lizzard) (relman/hg->git project)]

I think this is a duplicate of bug 1236377. It was probably caused by some changes to system addons (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1236377#c5). Best to follow along in the more recent bug.