Ubuntu Mate with Raspbian kernel: New Firefox 55.0.1 crashes on startup

[Ignatiamus]

Hello everyone,

today as I was apt-updating my official Ubuntu Mate 16.04 system on Raspberry Pi 3, there was a Firefox update to v55.0.1, which I installed. After that, Firefox refused to start: It didn't even show up, only the crash reporter came up. In the console, launching Firefox gave the following output:

Code: Select all

(firefox:6391): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:27:35: Junk at end of value
(firefox:6391): Gtk-WARNING **: Theme parsing error: gtk.css:40:48: Junk at end of value
[..]
ExceptionHandler::GenerateDump cloned child 6416
ExceptionHandler::SendContinueSignalToChild sent continue signal to child
ExceptionHandler::WaitForContinueSignal waiting for continue signal...

And that's it (the "Gtk-WARNING" lines aren't too important as they are usually there as well).

I only know that in the new Firefox version they made some changes regarding hardware acceleration and multithreading, because now you can have a single thread for each tab separately. Maybe that's problematic for the Pi?

Also, unlike Raspian, Ubuntu Mate doesn't yet have any graphics hardware acceleration on the Pi.

My kernel is the normal Raspbian kernel "4.9.41-v7+", fetched via

Code: Select all

sudo rpi-update

Does anyone know about this Firefox problem and how to solve it?
Any help is highly appreciated.

Cheers

[guy67400]

I'm having the same problem - seems this release is not working on raspberry PI.

To downgrade firefox see : https://askubuntu.com/questions/661186/ ... 193#661193

[fruitoftheloom]

Ubuntu-Mate for Raspberry Pi is a Community Release (not official) and ideally one should contact them for fixing issues.

[Fidelius]

Ubuntu-Mate for Raspberry Pi is a Community Release (not official) and ideally one should contact them for fixing issues.

Ideally, yes, but…
… the Ubuntu-Mate forum is not a real forum unfortunately, and not very usable.

Also, all major Pi stuff is happening here, so this is always the first place to go for us Pi users. I've got several Pi's running, some with Raspbian, some with Ubuntu-Mate (also with Firefox crashes now since yesterdays' apt update), so I am here anyway.

Then, Ubuntu-Mate for the Pi is official enough for the Pi Foundation to offer it in their download section.

It would be great if we had an Ubuntu-Mate sub-forum here in the section "Operating system distributions" next to Arch, Fedora, RISC OS, etc. As an ex Archimedes user I love RISC OS,but I think there's more Ubuntu-Mate for Pi users than RISC OS for Pi users...? :-)

[fruitoftheloom]

Ubuntu-Mate for Raspberry Pi is a Community Release (not official) and ideally one should contact them for fixing issues.

Ideally, yes, but…
… the Ubuntu-Mate forum is not a real forum unfortunately, and not very usable.

Also, all major Pi stuff is happening here, so this is always the first place to go for us Pi users. I've got several Pi's running, some with Raspbian, some with Ubuntu-Mate (also with Firefox crashes now since yesterdays' apt update), so I am here anyway.

Then, Ubuntu-Mate for the Pi is official enough for the Pi Foundation to offer it in their download section.

It would be great if we had an Ubuntu-Mate sub-forum here in the section "Operating system distributions" next to Arch, Fedora, RISC OS, etc. As an ex Archimedes user I love RISC OS,but I think there's more Ubuntu-Mate for Pi users than RISC OS for Pi users...?

Feedback and Improvements
Please post all feedback on the dedicated community forum. If you have any improvements then please submit a pull request to the Ubuntu Pi Flavour Maker project.

This image is not an official Ubuntu image, it is community supported, so any bugs filed on the Ubuntu MATE Launchpad bug tracker will be closed with a comment directing the report to the Ubuntu MATE forums

Recent post: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=190980&sid=c7e5337 ... 1#p1199347

[jamesh]

The officially supported os is Raspbian. That is the one we develop on, which we bug fix on. No-one at Pi towers uses Ubuntu on the Pi. That's means support for Ubuntu is thin here, unless suplied by community members.

Being on download page does not make it official or supported.

Does the same problem happen on Raspbian?

[Fidelius]

The officially supported os is Raspbian. [..] That's means support for Ubuntu is thin here, unless suplied by community members. Being on download page does not make it official or supported.

Yes, I'm aware of this, and thanks for the reply.

Here in the sub-(sub-) forum Operating system distributions → Other it seems to be a good place also for Ubuntu Mate users, next to RISC OS and several other OS users, to discuss problems from community member to community member. Usually two heads are better than one, in particular when trying to find out if it's a general problem or an "own's configruation"-only problem.

Does the same problem happen on Raspbian?

I'm going to check this out in the evening with my Raspbian Pi.

Meanwhile, if another reader here happens to already use the new brand-new Firefox version 55.0.1 on his Raspbian Pi, please don't hesitate to post here if it works. Thanks.
(Btw, Ubuntu-Mate uses this firefox package : xenial-updates 55.0.1+build2-0ubuntu0.16.04.2: amd64 arm64 armhf i386 )

[Ignatiamus]

Does the same problem happen on Raspbian?

On my standard Raspbian installation, there's only the older version 52 of Firefox ESR, which works fine. However, this Firefox version 52 (without "ESR") used to work on Ubuntu-Mate-for-Pi, too.

On Raspbian it's the apt package:
firefox-esr-52.3.0esr-1~deb9u1

which is identical to:
iceweasel-52.3.0esr-1~deb9u1

So, unfortunately, I can't confirm anything.

Cheers

[fruitoftheloom]

Does the same problem happen on Raspbian?

On my standard Raspbian installation, there's only the older version 52 of Firefox ESR, which works fine. However, this Firefox version 52 (without "ESR") used to work on Ubuntu-Mate-for-Pi, too.

On Raspbian it's the apt package:
firefox-esr-52.3.0esr-1~deb9u1

which is identical to:
iceweasel-52.3.0esr-1~deb9u1

So, unfortunately, I can't confirm anything.

Cheers

firefox-esr 52.3.0 is not old it was only released within the last fortnight: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/5 ... easenotes/

Debian have always used ESR versions of Fireox (IceWeasel) as the ethos is stability not cutting-edge


FYI Firefox 55.0.2 is the current release https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/5 ... easenotes/

[GuinnessStout]

For all, fruitoftheloom is correct 55.0.2 is being pushed out, just performed the update this morning and firefox version is 55.0.2 that was installed But it is still crashing.

So the fix for the moment for me was to rollback to the last version before 55.0.x which is 52.0.2....armhf.deb

First! make a backup of your /home/(username)/.mozilla/firefox directory. This holds your profile, bookmarks, history, etc.
I assume you all know how to make a backup of a directory and even a hidden directory(from either the gui or cli) if not Google is your Friend

Now this is what I did to get back a working version of Firefox, (this is utilizing both gui and cli):

• Launch Filezilla and go to ftp://ports.ubuntu.com (anonymous login),
  in the Remote site: window type in /ubuntu-ports/pool/main/f/firefox
  if you don't have Filezilla installed you can install it or use ftp from the CLI(terminal window).

• Next scroll down and find firefox_52.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_armhf.deb,
  click and drag the file over your home directory(ex. /home/(username)/Downloads)
  (If you use ftp from the command line I am assuming that you know how to make your way to the directory and file that I specified above and the commands to download the file.)

• Open a terminal window and go to the directory that you use to download the file from above.

• Now we have to remove the existing bad version of Firefox before we can install the package we downloaded..
  sudo apt-get purge firefox <return>

• From the download directory where the firefox.xxxx.deb file is stored run the following command,
  sudo dpkg -i firefox_52.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_armhf.deb <return>

• After the dpkg was finished with the installation I launch Firefox from the command line.
  firefox & while it was launching it complained about the language pack addons not being compatible..... just ignore these messages, they are just warnings. Firefox should launch correctly and open with the two default Ubuntu tabs. Close down Firefox and now the icon for Firefox should have been installed on your Menu bar. Click on it to open Firefox again, but this time it should open with your profile so your bookmarks and preferences should still be okay. (For me this was the case.)

I hope this works for some of you. The Ubuntu download site has older version of Firefox as well so if this one doesn't work maybe an older version might, however, remember to only take versions that are made for armhf.deb.
I don't not claim that this is the absolute correct way to install or that this procedure is 100% working for everyone, it is just what worked for me, and so I submit what has worked for me in hopes that it will help some of you. If I forgot something or a step, please forgive my ignorance, let me know and I will try and correct.... or better yet submit the steps you took to achieve success. We can all benefit from others successful experiences.

[Pencoys]

Same here, Firefox just updated and crashes on running it.
Thankyou for the fix by rolling back to Firefox_52.0.2 which appears to be the answer for the moment.

I agree that just because Ubuntu for RPi is Community supported is not a reason for not having a presence in the forums
IMO there certainly should be a section in the Forums for it, and for people like me who need community support occasionally.
cheers.

p.s my RPi3 Ubuntu box is running 24/7 doing useful if boring things
atb, Pencoys

[DirkS]

I agree that just because Ubuntu for RPi is Community supported is not a reason for not having a presence in the forums
IMO there certainly should be a section in the Forums for it, and for people like me who need community support occasionally.
cheers.

It's not because it's community supported. If you look around you can see there are several community supported OSs with their own sections.
This forum is already very fragmented, with several 'marginal' subforum.

Ubuntu Mate have their own forum with sections for Pi
What's wrong with https://ubuntu-mate.community/c/support/raspberry-pi-2

[GuinnessStout]

I agree that just because Ubuntu for RPi is Community supported is not a reason for not having a presence in the forums
IMO there certainly should be a section in the Forums for it, and for people like me who need community support occasionally.
cheers.

It's not because it's community supported. If you look around you can see there are several community supported OSs with their own sections.
This forum is already very fragmented, with several 'marginal' subforum.

Ubuntu Mate have their own forum with sections for Pi
What's wrong with https://ubuntu-mate.community/c/support/raspberry-pi-2

Thanks Dirks for pointing us to https://ubuntu-mate.community/c/support/raspberry-pi-2. Looks like that forum has the same discussion going on about Firefox. Good to know and now in my bookmarks.

[Diogo]

For all, fruitoftheloom is correct 55.0.2 is being pushed out, just performed the update this morning and firefox version is 55.0.2 that was installed But it is still crashing.

So the fix for the moment for me was to rollback to the last version before 55.0.x which is 52.0.2....armhf.deb

First! make a backup of your /home/(username)/.mozilla/firefox directory. This holds your profile, bookmarks, history, etc.
I assume you all know how to make a backup of a directory and even a hidden directory(from either the gui or cli) if not Google is your Friend

Now this is what I did to get back a working version of Firefox, (this is utilizing both gui and cli):

• Launch Filezilla and go to ftp://ports.ubuntu.com (anonymous login),
  in the Remote site: window type in /ubuntu-ports/pool/main/f/firefox
  if you don't have Filezilla installed you can install it or use ftp from the CLI(terminal window).

• Next scroll down and find firefox_52.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_armhf.deb,
  click and drag the file over your home directory(ex. /home/(username)/Downloads)
  (If you use ftp from the command line I am assuming that you know how to make your way to the directory and file that I specified above and the commands to download the file.)

• Open a terminal window and go to the directory that you use to download the file from above.

• Now we have to remove the existing bad version of Firefox before we can install the package we downloaded..
  sudo apt-get purge firefox <return>

• From the download directory where the firefox.xxxx.deb file is stored run the following command,
  sudo dpkg -i firefox_52.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1_armhf.deb <return>

• After the dpkg was finished with the installation I launch Firefox from the command line.
  firefox & while it was launching it complained about the language pack addons not being compatible..... just ignore these messages, they are just warnings. Firefox should launch correctly and open with the two default Ubuntu tabs. Close down Firefox and now the icon for Firefox should have been installed on your Menu bar. Click on it to open Firefox again, but this time it should open with your profile so your bookmarks and preferences should still be okay. (For me this was the case.)

I hope this works for some of you. The Ubuntu download site has older version of Firefox as well so if this one doesn't work maybe an older version might, however, remember to only take versions that are made for armhf.deb.
I don't not claim that this is the absolute correct way to install or that this procedure is 100% working for everyone, it is just what worked for me, and so I submit what has worked for me in hopes that it will help some of you. If I forgot something or a step, please forgive my ignorance, let me know and I will try and correct.... or better yet submit the steps you took to achieve success. We can all benefit from others successful experiences.

And it works!

Thanks man!

[anubus]

Thanks GuinnesStout! This was driving me crazy. Your excellent steps on downgrading to version 52 was a life saver.

[GuinnessStout]

Update to the tutorial.

While this issue still plagues us, we all still need to be able to update our pi boxes for security patches and software updates.

There is a way to block firefox from being updated.

Run the following command: sudo apt-mark hold firefox or sudo aptitude hold firefox

This will block firefox from upgrades.

Note:
When a new working release becomes available you can unblock package updating with:
sudo apt-mark unhold firefox or sudo aptitude unhold firefox

Let's hope a new working update becomes available soon.

[feelslikeautumn]

+1 for a Ubuntu sub forum. Mate is just one flavour of Ubuntu and their forum is loathsome (stuck in the past).

[DougieLawson]

+1 for a Ubuntu sub forum. Mate is just one flavour of Ubuntu and their forum is loathsome (stuck in the past).

What's wrong with posting on the official forum at: https://ubuntu-mate.community/ ?

[feelslikeautumn]

That is the loathsome forum.

Ubuntu is not Ubuntu-Mate.

[DougieLawson]

Re-read the thread title.

[feelslikeautumn]

I was +1´ing the comment by Pencoys.

This forum isn´t particularly friendly. If your intention is to drive ubuntu users away, then it is working.

[DougieLawson]

The intention is not to drive Ubuntu users away, it's to point Ubuntu users at the forum where they're more likely to get sane, coherent and useful answers from other folks who actually use Ubuntu.

98% of users on here use Raspbian.

[feelslikeautumn]

Ubuntu-Mate uses the same kernel as Raspbian. It doesn´t use the ubuntu kernels, it is 32 bit only, and doesn´t use u-boot. Whilst I accept that a query about Firefox would be an appropriate question for the u-m forum, it certainly is not an appropriate place for questions about ubuntu core, server etc on the raspberry pi.

Instead of being positive about ubuntu creating pi images, you are negative viewtopic.php?f=63&t=141283

[DougieLawson]

Not negative, pragmatic.

Same with Win 10 IoT, Kodi, Kali, etc. The vast majority of the forum population don't use these things. So most posts will wither on the vine with no answer. That's the negative aspect. Telling folks to try the place where Ubuntu (multiple flavours), Kodi, Kali, etc. are discussed with like minded users is NOT NEGATIVE.

[feelslikeautumn]

A vine can wither through neglect. It can also wither because some vandal pours glyphosate on it.

Ubuntu is refocusing its business and IoT is one of the things it sees as the future of the business. It's madness if the raspberry pi foundation doesn't take advantage of this.