Firefox won't start (nor will thunderbird or tor-browser) unless it is a flatpak
System: Arch Linux x86_64 (up to date) Gnome 43.2 Wayland Mesa Intel HD Graphics 530 (SKL GT2) Intel Core i7-6700HQ Nvidia GTX 960M Kernel 6.1.1-arch1-1 Firefox 108.0.1-1 Thunderbird 102.6.1-1 Tor-Browser 12.0.1-1
Description and Steps I Tried to Solve: Around Dec 2 2022 Firefox, Thunderbird and Tor-Browser stopped starting. I moved every cache and config to a new place so it would create new ones and failed the same way. I created a new user for the system and it would fail the same way. Downloaded Firefox from the site and it would fail the same way. Then I downloaded Firefox, Thunderbird and Tor-Browser as flatpaks and those worked fine. I copied my backups profiles over the flatpak newly generated ones and it still was working fine.
What I know at this point: My profiles, cache and configs are not the problem as those worked at flatpak installations. Whatever the problem is it only affects firefox and derivatives installed running directly over the system as flatpaks operates over its own libraries and runtimes. Whatever the problem is no other software seams to be affected by it. It does not look like it is a problem with a newer version of firefox since it has updated a few times since the problem started, both minor and major versions. It looks like it is not a Firefox (and derivatives) problem by itself but something that is wrong with some other dependency in the system.
To be clear: everything was working fine for years up until recently, like 2016-ish.
Note: I know Tor-Browser is not developed by Mozilla. I just mentioned it here as a reference of another application that is derived from Firefox that is showing the same problem.
Logs On trying to execute from the terminal those were the responses I get.
The troubleshooting information attached is from the Flatpak version. I am sending it just for completeness and maybe there is something I am missing that someone can identify.
$ firefox ExceptionHandler::GenerateDump cloned child 362286 ExceptionHandler::SendContinueSignalToChild sent continue signal to child ExceptionHandler::WaitForContinueSignal waiting for continue signal... Failed to open curl lib from binary, use libcurl.so instead
The first 3 lines are printed to terminal and a dialog shows giving the option to send the crash report to Mozilla. On clicking to send it the 4th line is printed. The text below is what the crash report sends. The application exits with error code 0 (zero). Nothing happens at the system log. (sudo journalctl --follow)
AdapterDeviceID: 0x191b AdapterDriverVendor: mesa/iris AdapterDriverVersion: 22.3.1.0 AdapterVendorID: 0x8086 AvailablePageFile: 0 AvailablePhysicalMemory: 359014400 AvailableSwapMemory: 0 AvailableVirtualMemory: 8615792640 BackgroundTaskMode: 0 BuildID: 20221216153905 CrashTime: 1672149323 DesktopEnvironment: gnome EMCheckCompatibility: true HeadlessMode: 0 InstallTime: 1671334301 IsWayland: 1 Notes: Arch LinuxFP(D00-L1000-W00000000-T000) Has dual GPUs. GPU #2: AdapterVendorID2: 0x10de, AdapterDeviceID2: 0x139b ProductID: {ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384} ProductName: Firefox ReleaseChannel: release SafeMode: 1 SecondsSinceLastCrash: 2562 StartupCrash: 1 StartupTime: 1672149322 SubmittedFrom: Client Throttleable: 1 TotalPageFile: 16636678144 TotalPhysicalMemory: 16636678144 UptimeTS: .58987544 Vendor: Mozilla Version: 108.0.1
This report also contains technical information about the state of the application when it crashed.
$ thunderbird [ImapModuleLoader] Using nsImapService.cpp [NntpModuleLoader] Using NntpService.jsm [Pop3ModuleLoader] Using Pop3Service.jsm [1] 362880 segmentation fault (core dumped) thunderbird
This is everything that happens and the prompt is returned after that with exit code 139. The system log however... gives this much below:
dez 27 11:08:49 neouni audit[363617]: ANOM_ABEND auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=4 pid=363617 comm="thunderbird" exe="/usr/lib/thunderbird/thunderbird" sig=11 res=1 dez 27 11:08:49 neouni kernel: audit: type=1701 audit(1672150129.580:1069): auid=1000 uid=1000 gid=1000 ses=4 pid=363617 comm="thunderbird" exe="/usr/lib/thunderbird/thunderbird" sig=11 res=1 dez 27 11:08:49 neouni audit: BPF prog-id=196 op=LOAD dez 27 11:08:49 neouni audit: BPF prog-id=197 op=LOAD dez 27 11:08:49 neouni audit: BPF prog-id=198 op=LOAD dez 27 11:08:49 neouni kernel: audit: type=1334 audit(1672150129.620:1070): prog-id=196 op=LOAD dez 27 11:08:49 neouni kernel: audit: type=1334 audit(1672150129.620:1071): prog-id=197 op=LOAD dez 27 11:08:49 neouni kernel: audit: type=1334 audit(1672150129.620:1072): prog-id=198 op=LOAD dez 27 11:08:49 neouni systemd[1]: Started Process Core Dump (PID 363683/UID 0). dez 27 11:08:49 neouni audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=systemd-coredump@5-363683-0 comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success' dez 27 11:08:49 neouni kernel: audit: type=1130 audit(1672150129.654:1073): pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=systemd-coredump@5-363683-0 comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success' dez 27 11:08:50 neouni systemd-coredump[363684]: [
Opaite Mbohovái (4)
What happens with a live usb stick or vm? Also, test in X11 and KDE.
Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20221225 KDE Plasma Version: 5.26.4 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.101.0 Qt Version: 5.15.7 Kernel Version: 6.1.0-1-default (64-bit) Graphics Platform: X11 Processors: 16 × AMD Ryzen 7 5825U with Radeon Graphics Memory: 62.1 GiB of RAM Graphics Processor: AMD Radeon Graphics Manufacturer: HP Product Name: HP ProBook 455 15.6 inch G9 Notebook PC
jonzn4SUSE disse
What happens with a live usb stick or vm? Also, test in X11 and KDE.
Thanks jonzn4SUSE for your suggestions. It took me sometime to get back to the computer but now I have tried the tests you suggested.
First thing I noticed is that X11 is not working anymore, just Wayland. With both Gnome and KDE Plasma. So there is one avenue to investigate further.
Second, KDE Plasma on the same machine, over Wayland, also does not run any of Firefox, Thunderbird or Tor-Browser, presenting the same behavior as with Gnome.
Third, tried running those programs with both Fedora Workstation Live 37 and Manjaro Gnome 22.0 from usb stick and everything worked well. With Manjaro I tryed both with opensource graphics drivers and closed source ones.
This further my original impression that this is something that is happening to my system outside of the Flatpak system. X11 not working is a huge red flag. I will look into it and hope there is a common issue.
Any other suggestion would be much appreciated.
Try this too Restart your computer. Sometimes problems can be fixed by simply restarting your computer and then starting Firefox again. Clear your cookies and cache. Restart Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode. Reinstall Firefox. Refresh Firefox. Create a new Firefox profile.
Regards, Will
Thanks for the suggestion, willjoe24421. Unfortunately those investigations were already tried before to no avail. Also, as I described, this is happening to other products Firefox-related and happened simultaneously, so I am now quite certain it is not a problem with Firefox it self but with something it, and all other related products, needs to work properly outside of Flatpak universe.
As Gnome and KDE Plasma will not load with X11 anymore I am looking for a possible connection between the circumstances.