1596338 - firefox-esr 68.2.0.ESR startup error under Debian GNU/Linux

ISHIKAWA, Chiaki

Reporter

Description

•

5 years ago

I am not sure if my problem is Debian GNU/Linux specific or not, but here it goes to share my experience under linux.

firefox-esr 68.2.0.ESR startup error under Debian GNU/Linux

My debian kernel version is:
$ uname -a
Linux ip030 5.2.0-3-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 5.2.17-1 (2019-09-26) x86_64 GNU/Linux

I am using a testing package of Debian. So, that may be one of the reasons of ill-behavior.

I could use the installed Firefox ESR version (not sure which it was) a few days ago.

Symptom:

(1) I upgraded my Debian GNU/Linux packages, and firefox seemed to
updated itself some days ago or yesterday, I am not sure when.

When I tried to run Firefox for the first time after these events by
invoking it from the application menu maybe for the first time in a
few days, Firefox was not usable because any tab including the startup
tab(s) that I wanted to create crashed, and firefox displayed the
error message and offered to close the tab or restore the tab.

Since the tab(s) crashed immediately after startup, if I closed the
tab, Firefox terminated.
If I tried to restore the tabs, this again resulted in the same tab
crashing dialog screen page. There was no way out.

(2) Another bug I noticed is incorrect link in the help dialog.

I get Page not found error when I clicked on the "What's New" link:

HELP -> About Firefox -> What's New link

I get Page not Found error.

The page shown with BIG "Whoops1" message has URL:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/und/firefox/68.2.0/releasenotes/?utm_campaign=whatsnew&utm_medium=firefox-browser&utm_source=firefox-browser

If I delete the "/und" part manually and hit return in the URL bar,
I think the correct page s being accessed.
(I am not sure if the incorrect URL is Debian-specific or originated
in the mozilla binary.)

In then accessed page I see clearly the following message. So it IS
the release note.

--- begin quote

Firefox ESR
Release Notes

Release Notes tell you what’s new in Firefox. As always, we welcome
your feedback. You can also file a bug in Bugzilla or see the system
requirements of this release.

Desktop
Android
iOS
Pre-releases

68.2.0
Firefox ESR

October 22, 2019
Version 68.2.0, first offered to ESR channel users on October 22, 2019

--- end quote

Observed ERROR messages:
While the error in (1) was observed, I saw something like the following (quoted/pasted at the end of this comment) in the startup console where I typed /usr/bin/firefox-esr

Possible Workaround ??? :

I found a solution by accident. I have no idea if this works for everybody.

I tried to restart Firefox after disabling plugin, i.e., safe-mode from the firefox tool menu.
This operation failed again and no window was created.
Usually Firefox restart after disabling plugins. But I saw no such
window and there does not seem to be any live firefox process anymore.

ps axg | grep firefox

did not show firefox process.

So, after this, I ran firefox-esr again by typing the command line
this time. To my relief, this time no "tab(s) crashed" error screen
appeared, and I can access google search, for example eventually.
Something, maybe some profile or whatever, was changed for the better
(?) is my best guess.

Just thought to share my experience.

Note; Some error messages that appeared on the command tty window where I
typed firefox-esr to start Firefox.

Error messages during the time when I observed the error (1) above:

$ firefox-esr
IPDL protocol error: Handler returned error code!