Firefox 17 update

[MadRush]

on a clean install of LMDE I did this:

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sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install firefox

which bumps me up to the current firefox 17 ... aaaaaand it crashes when you try to run it.
Any suggestions where to start?

I had to grab chromium so I have a browser

[xenopeek]

I suspect there is something in your preferences or extensions that is causing problems. I suggest you reset Firefox to its default preferences and extensions, and see if that solves the issue. To do so, first close all Firefox windows. Then run the following command from the terminal:

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mv ~/.mozilla ~/firefox-old

This will rename the hidden .mozilla folder, which has your Firefox preferences and extensions, to firefox-old. As this folder also has your bookmarks, we're not deleting it just yet. Now, with this folder renamed, start Firefox again and see if it behaves normal. If so, you can import your bookmarks from the firefox-old folder in your home folder.

To import your bookmarks, from the bookmarks menu select show all bookmarks. From the import and backup menu, select restore > choose file. Then browse to your home folder > firefox-old > firefox > some folder ending in .default > bookmarkbackups. Pick the most recent bookmarks file and you should be set again.

[zerozero]

Any suggestions where to start?

yes, fully update your system, FF17 will come included in those updates.

[ausmuso]

I suspect there is something in your preferences or extensions that is causing problems. I suggest you reset Firefox to its default preferences and extensions, and see if that solves the issue. To do so, first close all Firefox windows. Then run the following command from the terminal:

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mv ~/.mozilla ~/firefox-old

This will rename the hidden .mozilla folder, which has your Firefox preferences and extensions, to firefox-old. As this folder also has your bookmarks, we're not deleting it just yet. Now, with this folder renamed, start Firefox again and see if it behaves normal. If so, you can import your bookmarks from the firefox-old folder in your home folder.

To import your bookmarks, from the bookmarks menu select show all bookmarks. From the import and backup menu, select restore > choose file. Then browse to your home folder > firefox-old > firefox > some folder ending in .default > bookmarkbackups. Pick the most recent bookmarks file and you should be set again.

Unfortunately this doesn't fix the problem, Xenopeek. A complete system upgrade a suggested by zerozero should probably fix it but that's a hell of an undertaking if you are on a sluggish ADSL system.
My suggestion: why not switch to either Iceweasel or Chromium? Both run brilliantly so who needs Firefox?

[zerozero]

why not switch to either Iceweasel or Chromium?

they are both available in the repos, historically mint (but not only) ships FF by default.

[MadRush]

yeah i tried deleting the old profile it didnt solve the problem.
i can't update just firefox by itself without breaking? is this typical in vanilla debian?

[zerozero]

i can't update just firefox by itself without breaking? is this typical in vanilla debian?

in a normal situation you could but you're up for a major system update, so it's not that straightforward.

there's no point in using lmde if you don't update it fully, so imo this is a rhetorical question.

[MadRush]

there's no point in using lmde if you don't update it fully, so imo this is a rhetorical question.

it's not rhetoric, I'm just asking if it works the same way in debian! I might have had the same problem on a vanilla debian install and I'm curious.

just finished updating and now firefox works. The problem I have is I had zero indication what was causing it to crash.. no std err output, I would have had no idea it was some outdated library or whatever causing it. Isn't that what package management is supposed to resolve? I'm just confused.

[zerozero]

there's only one way to know
start a live session, update just FF and start it via terminal hopping that the output can give us some clues (my suspicion is either libcairo or fontconfig)
(will tell you soon )

[zerozero]

(my suspicion is either libcairo or fontconfig)

i was wrong
upgraded/installed all this

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Start-Date: 2013-01-13  18:56:39
Commandline: apt-get install firefox
Upgrade: firefox:amd64 (11.0, 17.0~linuxmint1+lmde)
End-Date: 2013-01-13  18:56:51

Start-Date: 2013-01-13  19:46:14
Commandline: apt-get install chromium
Install: chromium:amd64 (22.0.1229.94~r161065-3), chromium-inspector:amd64 (22.0.1229.94~r161065-3, automatic), libnspr4:amd64 (4.9.2-1, automatic)
Upgrade: libnspr4-0d:amd64 (4.9-1, 4.9.2-1), fontconfig-config:amd64 (2.8.0-2.1ubuntu3, 2.9.0-7), libx11-6:amd64 (1.4.4-4, 1.5.0-1), libfontconfig1:amd64 (2.8.0-2.1ubuntu3, 2.9.0-7), libx11-dev:amd64 (1.4.4-4, 1.5.0-1)
End-Date: 2013-01-13  19:46:27

Start-Date: 2013-01-13  19:50:06
Commandline: /usr/sbin/synaptic
Upgrade: libcairo-gobject2:amd64 (1.10.2-2ubuntu2, 1.12.2-2), libcairo-perl:amd64 (1.090-1, 1.090-2), libcairo2:amd64 (1.10.2-2ubuntu2, 1.12.2-2)
End-Date: 2013-01-13  19:50:10


FF, chromium, fontconfig, libcairo and FF was still crashing with a useless crash report

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BuildID: 20121119183901
CrashTime: 1358103420
InstallTime: 1358103419
ProductID: {ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}
ProductName: Firefox
ReleaseChannel: default
StartupTime: 1358103419
Throttleable: 1
Vendor: Mozilla
Version: 17.0

This report also contains technical information about the state of the application when it crashed.

then with

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Start-Date: 2013-01-13  19:53:37
Commandline: /usr/sbin/synaptic
Upgrade: firefox-l10n-en-us:amd64 (11.0, 17.0~linuxmint1+lmde)
End-Date: 2013-01-13  19:53:39

language-pack FF starts without problems (typing this from the live session and from FF)

so, all rounded, it's a packaging issue.

[MadRush]

that looks unfamiliar, what am I looking at there with the start date and what not? is that output from synaptic (i usually use aptitude or apt-get)?