Firefox 88 with problems in xfce - how to roll back?

[gown]

Hi,

I just got the firefox 88 update via the standard update channel of linux mint.

Tabs cannot be selected, firefox 88 is extremly slow and therefore firefox 88 is inoperative.

One question to you guys: how do I roll back to the latest version of firefox 87.x?

I'm using this linuxmint at the moment:

Code: Select all

RELEASE=20
CODENAME=ulyana
EDITION="Xfce"
DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 20 Ulyana"
DESKTOP=Gnome
TOOLKIT=GTK
NEW_FEATURES_URL=https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_ulyana_xfce_whatsnew.php
RELEASE_NOTES_URL=https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_ulyana_xfce.php
USER_GUIDE_URL=https://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php
GRUB_TITLE=Linux Mint 20 Xfce

Thanks you very much in advance!

[sleeper12]

Can you roll back with Timeshift?

[gown]

Good thinking about timeshift. Thanks for the hint. However, I do not use it at the moment, so there is not backup available.

[sleeper12]

Good thinking about timeshift. Thanks for the hint. However, I do not use it at the moment, so there is not backup available.

Too bad. I suppose you could install 87.x manually, but probably not what you want to do.

[Night Wing]

@gown

I installed linux Firefox 88.0 about 30 minutes ago. It is not slow on any of my Mint hard drives on any of my 4 computers (2 desktop towers, 2 laptops). Tabs can be selected without any problem. I can move the tabs around without any problems. No bugs at all on my end.

I'm guessing the problem is on your end some place and not with Firefox. You might try a new Firefox profile without any extensions or any customizations you've made either and see if that solves your problem.

[gown]

Too bad. I suppose you could install 87.x manually, but probably not what you want to do.

There are two options:
1. Manually install Firefox version 87.x -> you're right, that's not my preference
2. Wait for a bug fix version of Firefox 88 and switch to Chrome for the time being.

[sleeper12]

Do things work any better for you in Firefox private window?

[gown]

@gown

I installed linux Firefox 88.0 about 30 minutes ago. It is not slow on any of my Mint hard drives on any of my 4 computers (2 desktop towers, 2 laptops). Tabs can be selected without any problem. I can move the tabs around without any problems. No bugs at all on my end.

I'm guessing the problem is on your end some place and not with Firefox. You might try a new Firefox profile without any extensions or any customizations you've made either and see if that solves your problem.

Thanks for the tip.

Tried firefox -P to create a new profile. Firefox will create a new profile and start the main window. However, I cannot select or click on any of the menu items nor can I input an url into the address field. It's as if Firefox's UI is broken

[gown]

Correction. The UI is not broken. It is merely extremely delayed. When typing letters into the address field, it takes roughly 20 seconds before they show up. If hovering over a menu item, the mouseover effect will not take effect.

This is strange.

As indicated, I'm using xfce. Is there a graphics library in xfce which is not compatible with firefox 88? How can I find out if there are incompatible dependencies between xfce and Firefox?

[gown]

Do things work any better for you in Firefox private window?

No, switching to private mode had no effect. Same strange behavior as before.

[sleeper12]

Did you try reinstalling Firefox in Synaptic? Can't say it will help, but maybe.

[gown]

Did you try reinstalling Firefox in Synaptic? Can't say it will help, but maybe.

Thanks for the tip. Didn't work reinstalling via synaptic had no effect.

[karlchen]

Hi, gown.

This "re-install Firefox thing" is a actually a Windows based misconception.

In 95% of all cases, where the previous Firefox release worked fine, but the current Firefox releas does not, the cause is inside the user's Firefox profile.
This is why in 95% of all cases, uninstalling and re-installing Firefox on Linux Mint will not help.
Uninstalling and re-installing does not touch the user's Firefox profile.

Backup your current Firefox user profile.
Start Firefox with a fresh Firefox user profile.
See if Firefox 88.0 works correctly.
In case it does, you kow that the cause really was in your old Firefox user profile.

HTH,
Karl

[gown]

Hi, gown.

This "re-install Firefox thing" is a actually a Windows based misconception.

In 95% of all cases, where the previous Firefox release worked fine, but the current Firefox releas does not, the cause is inside the user's Firefox profile.
This is why in 95% of all cases, uninstalling and re-installing Firefox on Linux Mint will not help.
Uninstalling and re-installing does not touch the user's Firefox profile.

Backup your current Firefox user profile.
Start Firefox with a fresh Firefox user profile.
See if Firefox 88.0 works correctly.
In case it does, you kow that the cause really was in your old Firefox user profile.

HTH,
Karl

Hi Karl,

thanks for the reply. I removed all files from /home/<my_user>/.mozilla/firefox and started firefox.

The result is the same as before. The UI is extremely slow and partially broken. Firefox's UI is inoperative

I suspect there must be some change in a dependency of the usage of some graphical component which FF88 uses, but FF87 did not. How can I find and isolate the dependencies which Firefox uses in xfce?

Thanks

Sebastian

[Night Wing]

@ gown

I'm using Mint 20.1 (Ulyssa) Xfce. Firefox 88.0 is not slow on any of my computers. I only use two extensions with Firefox. They are uBlock Origin 1.34.0 and Zoom Pale WE (18.5).

So far, you are the only one having problems with Firefox (88.0) in Xfce. It has to be a problem on your end.

[gown]

@ gown

I'm using Mint 20.1 (Ulyssa) Xfce. Firefox 88.0 is not slow on any of my computers. I only use two extensions with Firefox. They are uBlock Origin 1.34.0 and Zoom Pale WE (18.5).

So far, you are the only one having problems with Firefox (88.0) in Xfce. It has to be a problem on your end.

I agree that it must be at my end, since you guys have given me so much feedback that it works on your machines.

How can I isolate the problem?

[Night Wing]

I agree that it must be at my end, since you guys have given me so much feedback that it works on your machines.

That should have been the Zoom Page WE extension I use.

I still think you need to make a new profile without any extensions added and no customizations you may have created. Deleting files in your Home folder is not the same thing as making a new profile.

[Hoser Rob]

... I'm guessing the problem is on your end some place and not with Firefox. You might try a new Firefox profile without any extensions or any customizations you've made either and see if that solves your problem.

Me too.

In any case, rolling back to an earlier release of any browser is really just begging to get hacked.

[Larry78723]

See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/pr ... -a-profile for how to create a new profile.

[gown]

I found a solution.

I started Firefox 88 in safe mode using "firefox -safe-mode".

Then I navigated to Preferences -> General -> Performance. There I deactivated both "Use recommended performance settings" and "Use hardware acceleration when available".

Firefox loaded just fine after those changes. In fact, I'm writing this post in Firefox

I'm actually surprised that Firefox faced issues with my hardware. I use a cookie-cutter HP business notebook of about six years of age. There is no unusual or "Windows-only" hardware.

I'm really happy that I can go on working with Firefox, since Firefox has been my preferred browser for more than a decade.