-----Original Message----- From: CLOSE Dave Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2016 06:17 PM Pacific Standard Time To: support-firefox@lists.mozilla.org Subject: Re: Firefox 44 on Fedora 23 won't start
I wrote:
A fresh installation of Firefox 44 on a fresh installation of Fedora 23 server edition. All packages installed directly from the Fedora repos. According to dnf, there are no missing dependencies. I see the same behavior on about 25 new machines.
Starting Firefox from an icon shows an entry in the panel for a few seconds, then nothing. Starting it from the command line in a shell window returns a new prompt after a few seconds. The exit code is zero and there is nothing recorded in syslog or the systemd journal. No Firefox window ever appears.
I've also tried adding the -preferences and/or -private switches with the same result. The only thing I see strange is a new file in the saved-telemetry-pings directory each time I try to start Firefox. If FF is trying to use telemetry by default before I get a chance to disable it, FF will fail because it will never get through the proxy.
Additional information. I have one machine where FF works. This is also running Fedora 23 but was installed from the live DVD rather than using PXE as were those which are failing. It has FF 42 rather than FF 44. Thus far, I've tried these remedies without success.
* Downgrade FF to 42 on a failing machine.
* Compare the list of packages installed on both machines and install on the failing machine any which were previously only on the working one. (In fact, the working machine has several hundred /fewer/ packages installed but had a few extra ones as well.
* Per tjoen's suggestion, verified that both machines have NSS installed and configured identically. Neither is using LDAP.
In all cases, FF exits with a zero status. I've run both the working and failing copies under strace and compared the output (there's a lot of output!). Certainly there are differences but nothing stands out as an indicator of the problem.
There must be some way to get FF to tell me why it is failing!
On 02/21/16 22:46, CLOSE Dave wrote:
-----Original Message----- From: CLOSE Dave Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2016 06:17 PM Pacific Standard Time To: support-firefox@lists.mozilla.org Subject: Re: Firefox 44 on Fedora 23 won't start
I wrote:
A fresh installation of Firefox 44 on a fresh installation of Fedora 23 server edition. All packages installed directly from the Fedora repos. According to dnf, there are no missing dependencies. I see the same behavior on about 25 new machines.
Starting Firefox from an icon shows an entry in the panel for a few seconds, then nothing. Starting it from the command line in a shell window returns a new prompt after a few seconds. The exit code is zero and there is nothing recorded in syslog or the systemd journal. No Firefox window ever appears.
I've also tried adding the -preferences and/or -private switches with the same result. The only thing I see strange is a new file in the saved-telemetry-pings directory each time I try to start Firefox. If FF is trying to use telemetry by default before I get a chance to disable it, FF will fail because it will never get through the proxy.
Additional information. I have one machine where FF works. This is also running Fedora 23 but was installed from the live DVD rather than using PXE as were those which are failing. It has FF 42 rather than FF 44. Thus far, I've tried these remedies without success.
Downgrade FF to 42 on a failing machine.
Compare the list of packages installed on both machines and install on
the failing machine any which were previously only on the working one. (In fact, the working machine has several hundred /fewer/ packages installed but had a few extra ones as well.
- Per tjoen's suggestion, verified that both machines have NSS installed
and configured identically. Neither is using LDAP.
In all cases, FF exits with a zero status. I've run both the working and failing copies under strace and compared the output (there's a lot of output!). Certainly there are differences but nothing stands out as an indicator of the problem.
There must be some way to get FF to tell me why it is failing!
Couple of questions....
Have you checked to see if FF is running in the background but just not showing up on your display? ps -eaf | grep firefox
Have you tried creating a fresh new user on the failing system and running FF from the new account?
On 02/21/16 08:46, CLOSE Dave wrote: <<>>
There must be some way to get FF to tell me why it is failing!
-- there is. it is know as "Error Console" and is a history of errors encountered and be rather long.
you access it from menu bar by selecting;
Tools > Web Developer > Error Console
or press keys;
<alt+t>, <w>, <c>
"catch 22", you have to have firefox running to access. ;-)
step 1: check your firefox profile.
you did not mention what desktop you are using. i am using kde4, you can make adjustments for your dte.
to see where it is failing, 1st you need to know if it is you user profile. open a file browser to your home directory, /home/username, locate hidden profile directory ".mozilla", rename it to ".mozilla.org". start mozilla from icon or how ever you start firefox.
if it starts, great. you have a bad profile, which may be an add-on or an add-on conflict, or something else in your profile.
if not, it is a firefox installation problem and you need to reinstall.
after new install, if needed, leave your ".mozilla.org" file as is, remove new ".mozilla" directory. start firefox. if it starts, great. if not, you may be loading a bad rpm package or there are other problems. memory or hdd? can not say for sure, but both need testing.
step 2: check to see if failure is an add-on. _copy_ ".mozilla.org" to ".mozilla".
from a command, enter;
firefox safe-mode
if firefox starts, you have a faulty add-on or conflicting add-ons.
while firefox is open, maximize window, press <alt+t>, <a> to open add-on manager. scroll list to guess2mate number, enable half. close manager, restart firefox. if opens, open add-on manager, enable half of remaining remembering where you are in list. repeat until firefox fails. when it does, start in safe-mode again.
open add-on manager, enable what ever half worked, enable rest one by one, restart until fail. you now know which is problem. problem may be with the add-on or it and another add-on are conflicting.
to see if it is conflict, disable all add-ons, enable problem add-on only, restart firefox. if starts, you have a conflict. if not, you have a bad add-on if. to test for bad, remove it, reinstall from mozilla.
to find conflict, with problem add-on enabled, enable other add-on by half until firefox fails. repeat as above.
much luck.
hth.
-
CLOSE Dave -
Ed Greshko -
g