-profile seems to imply -no-remote un FF67
For some time I have been using Firefox with two instances (each with its respective profile) in parallel, one of which being the default target for opening links from eg. e-mails, Steam, etc.
So I run firefox -profile /path/to/profile1 & firefox -no-remote -profile /path/to/profile2 &
Until recently (upgrade to FF 67 ?) it worked fine. Now, when I click on a link from a third app, effectively running firefox -url https://soandso, I get the "Firefox is already running" error message.
I investigated a little and found that if I just run a firefox this instance can accept remote commands and open tabs when needed, but if I run firefox -profile $(mktemp -d) then this instance does not respond to remote commands.
How can I get again the behaviour I want ?
All Replies (6)
Firefox 67 and later can use a dedicated profile for each of the Firefox update channels and will lock the profile, so it can only be used by Firefox in a specific installation folder. For Release this profile would be a xxxxxxxx.default-release profile.
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/dedicated-profiles-firefox-installation
- https://blog.mozilla.org/2019/01/14/moving-to-a-profile-per-install-architecture/
If you have issues with accessing a profile then try to rename/remove compatibility.ini in this profile folder with Firefox closed.
Modified by cor-el
Thanks but I do not think this is relevant to my problem. I only use one Firefox installation, the one that comes with Ubuntu packages. I also do not have an issue with accessing a profile.
You can still check the profiles.ini and installs.ini file in the default location. Firefox might still be looking there even when you specify the full path.
- ~/.mozilla/firefox/
The installs.ini file stores data that maps a profile to a specific Firefox installation and locks each profile, so it can only be used by this Firefox installation.
Are you trying to address the "Firefox is already running" message ? This is not my problem, only its symptom.
The problem is that running firefox --new-tab http://soandso causes a new instance to be started instead of using the instance that was started without -no-remote.
I am not complaining that starting this new instance fails (this is logical because, indeed, the profile is already in use). I am complaining that Firefox does not reuse the existing instance.
Modified by ysalmon
What I'm trying to make clear is that Firefox might be considering this profile as locked via installs.ini and will refuse to use it. There might be use cases like what you try to do that aren't working properly with this new dedicated profile feature. There have been more reports with similar issues.
Did you try to start both instances without -no-remote?
I can easily load multiple different Firefox versions like Nightly and DE and release without using -no-remote or specifying a profile. This was previously not possible without using -no-remote.
Firefox will always try to start the (locked) default profile for this installation as set via installs.ini.
I tried to run only one instance of firefox.
If I just run firefox, this instance is then able to open a new tab when I click a link in a third app.
If I run firefox -profile $(mktemp -d) (also a fresh temporary profile), this instance does not accept solicitations from other apps to create a new tab : clicking a link in a third app causes another Firefox instance to spawn, using the default profile (which runs fine as that profile is then not currently in use).
My question is not about not being able to start a Firefox instance. My question is about Firefox instances starting (and, depending on the specifics, failing to start) when I just want to open a tab in an already running instance.