44590 - Browser won't start if ~/.mozilla not present

Status: VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 41057

(Core Graveyard :: Profile: BackEnd, defect, P3)

Description

[Ann Adamcik]

If I do not have a ~/.mozilla directory, starting mozilla will create one, but
it will not start up.  There are no error messages and no core file - it just
quietly exits.  Subsequent attempts to start it will also quietly fail.

Workaround:
	1. Remove ~/.mozilla
	2. Run Netscape6 to properly recreate ~/.mozilla
	3. Exit
	4. Run the nightly build - it will now start up.

I'm guessing that the default profile isn't being created correctly?

Comment 1

[scottputterman]

reassiging to racham.  Are we creating everything correctly when creating a new
profile? If so, then we should reassign to a better owner.

Comment 2

[Grace Bush]

I cannot reproduce this with build 2000070508- either mozilla build or Netscape 
6 build using ./mozilla or ./netscape to run (ie creating a default profile)
I did see strange bookmark file when I ran after creating a new profile- see bug 
44339

Comment 3

[racham]

I couldn't reproduce this either.....

Comment 4

[R.K.Aa.]

same phenomena reported for linux: bug 44795

Comment 5

[Ann Adamcik]

This appears to be fixed.  I just tried last night's build (2000070704), with
no ~/.mozilla directory.  It now creates the directory and starts up properly.  

Comment 6

[R.K.Aa.]

*** Bug 44795 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7

[R.K.Aa.]

Setting "works for me" based on reporters last comments, and the fact that
reporter of bug 44795 also says bug is now gone again.

Comment 8

[Grace Bush]

.

Comment 9

[Ann Adamcik]

Although I can no longer reproduce this with SPARC, I am still seeing the
problem with Solaris on intel (build 2000071005).  Changing the platform to PC.

Comment 10

[timeless]

oh goody. I'll look into this tomorrow when I get solarix x86. Out of 
curiosity: Reporter are you still seeing this?

Comment 11

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

timeless - any luck here?

Gerv

Comment 12

[timeless]

solaris8intel
test runs ./run-mozilla ./mozilla-bin

a portion of the output [retyped, i'm using an unfriendly x server]:
...
WEBSHELL += 4
...
Enabling Quirk StyleSheet
...
WARNING: chrome: failed to get base url for 
chrome://global/content/htmlBindings.xml -- using wacky default, file 
nsChromeReigstry.cpp line 507

last pid: 15114;  load averages:  0.03,  0.02,  0.02                   20:43:26
115 processes: 114 sleeping, 1 on cpu
CPU states: 99.8% idle,  0.0% user,  0.2% kernel,  0.0% iowait,  0.0% swap
Memory: 128M real, 40M free, 98M swap in use, 498M swap free

  PID USERNAME THR PRI NICE  SIZE   RES STATE   TIME    CPU COMMAND
15097 test       8  59    0   54M   32M sleep   0:06  0.00% mozilla-bin
15091 test       1  18    0  848K  624K sleep   0:00  0.00% run-mozilla.sh
15084 test       1  48    0 1992K 1364K sleep   0:00  0.00% bash
15074 test       1  48    0  844K  660K sleep   0:00  0.00% sh

the behavior i get isn't identical but it's similar.

Comment 13

[racham]

You must have a .mozilla and contents to reach this far.
Is this still happening ? Can anyone give stacktrace ?

Comment 14

[Sitsofe Wheeler]

I believe this problem is really being caused by bug 41057 - "Mozilla should not
need write access to the binary directory". I found making the package directory
recursively world writeable fixed this problem (but this is hardly an ideal
solution)...

Comment 15

[timeless]

I find that hard to believe since i build as timeless and run as timeless.  But 
who knows.  yes I'm well aware of the correct procedure to run mozilla. I'll 
check again tonight.

Comment 16

[David A. Madore]

I just encountered this problem (with a CVS trunk build from 2000-10-29).  It
definitely exists.  It is definitely not a product of anyone's imagination.  And
it is related to (or duplicate of?) bug 41057.  Specifically, I observed that if

* .mozilla directory doesn't exist _AND_

* Mozilla binary directory is not writable by user

THEN mozilla will not start.  There also seem to be some strange problems when
.mozilla doesn't exist but .netscape does - so here I assume that .netscape
doesn't exist.

I don't observe exactly the same as has been reported: I find that mozilla
starts but just hangs there.  strace shows that one of the threads just sits in
poll().  I can give a stack trace if needed.

IMHO, it is of the highest importance that this bug be fixed ASAP.  At the very
least, it would be very desirable to have a workaround stating which files must
be made writable in the distribution directory, or which file should be copied
from a legit .mozilla directory.

Should I have attached that comment to bug 41057?  Should I mark this bug as a
duplicate of it (or vice versa)?  I'll let someone else make the decision.

Just my 0.02 EUR.

Comment 17

[Sitsofe Wheeler]

Sorry should have hunted about a bit more before posting bug numbers. This is a 
dup of bug 41057 - Mozilla should not need write access to the binary 
directory. Marking as such.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 41057 ***

Comment 18

[Sitsofe Wheeler]

Urk too tired not, writing sane comments. I do think this is a dup of bug 41057 
though (which is why I bit the bullet and marked it). Just out of interest, 
does anyone know of a quick fix to this? I don't want to ask on 41057 because 
it seems a highly strung bug at the moment...

Comment 19

[timeless]

I need to build again, but again I highly doubt this is the case.

I build as timeless, and I run as timeless. There is now way the directories 
i'm creating would have some other owner.

Comment 20

[Grace Bush]

vfy duplicate