Open Bug 1206441 Opened 9 years ago Updated 2 years ago

tell us Firefox unsupported in Linux root

Categories

(Toolkit :: Startup and Profile System, defect)

40 Branch
All
Linux
defect

Tracking

()

People

(Reporter: Nick_Levinson, Unassigned)

References

Details

(Whiteboard: [dupme])

I'm told (in bug 1201354, comment 7, and see bug 1201354, comment 9) that running Firefox in a Linux root account is unsupported. I assume that fixing that is complicated, although we may need Firefox while in root. However, even if changing that is too complicated, at least tell us it's unsupported. For example, when FF starts, have it detect if it is in the root account and, if so, display a message about being unsupported (and probably recommending the use of any nonroot account, which root users should have anyway). Otherwise, we'd legitimately assume that whatever FF does or gets is the same as in a nonroot account and that if it obviously fails it must be for some reason other than our choice of an all-powerful account.

If this involves su (etc.) as well, the same or a similar solution should be applied.
Component: General → Startup and Profile System
Product: Firefox → Toolkit
Hardware: Other → All
Severity: major → normal
See Also: → 95828
Bug 1323302 has been resolved, and Firefox should no longer start when run as root.  yay!

reference also Wontfixed Bug 1460297 - Cannot run Firefox as root - that running as root is broken and it's usage is discouraged

Whiteboard: [dupme]

What's left to do is saying so. If it's in Help through the support website, it shouldn't require a lot of digging to find it, because relatively few people, even experts, would, when the content is not well organized for finding this bit of information. Being in a bug report is inadequate for telling users.

Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
See Also: → 1460297
Severity: normal → S3
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