Firefox -safe-mode does not work

[ocumo]

I am running Kubuntu Feisty, with all the updates. Firefox is 2.0.0.4. Recently, not sure exactly since when, but it seems to me that after the latest update of the Linux source and headers (2.6.20-16-generic), Firefox started behaving wrong: some crashes, and sometimes it will stop rendering urls from a web page that has been working for several minutes, i.e., I click in some link and it doesn't do anything, whereas I go to another tab and other website is working.

I tried firefox -safe-mode in the command line, but found that Firefox will start exactly the same as if I launch it normally, i.e., the extensions keep running. If I would type firefox -anything it will do exactly the same: just start normally, no error message. It would seem as if the script firefox is not parsing the -safe-mode option. In fact, I tried other option: firefox -width 500 and it also starts just full screen, normally, completely ignoring the -width option.

I tried running the binary file directly:

/usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin -save-mode

which doesn't help, it returns:

/usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libmozjs.so: cannot open shared object
file: No such file or directory

which I take it means that firefox needs to be lauched via the firefox script /usr/lib/firefox/firefox

The extensions I have (last versions):
ScrapBook, DownloadHelper, DownThemAll, FlashGot, Greasemonkey and MouseGestures.

My questions:

Has anybody run successfully firefox -safe-mode in Feisty recently?
Any ideas what is going on? what is broken here: is this one of this [K]Ubuntu things that I can't pass arguments to the firefox script normally and instead have to use some "special" [K]Ubuntu or Debian trick?

Many thanks in advance for any tips,

Ocumo

[SheeEttin]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

Huh. Mine isn't accepting options either.

[ocumo]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

Aha!

Could anybody else try too? Could this be just coincidence than two people are seeing this?

I am going to try in a Xubuntu 7.04 box, just for pure curiosity... I'll post the results here.

[disturbedite]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

the reason it isn't working is cuz all of you are doing it wrong.
the way all of you are doing it is trying to call the binary (directly - wrong) instead of the script to launch ff (right).
the proper way is this:
/usr/lib/firefox/firefox -safe-mode

[ocumo]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

the reason it isn't working is cuz all of you are doing it wrong.

It would seem there is somebody who knows how to do it well

the proper way is this:
/usr/lib/firefox/firefox -safe-mode

Oops! It doesn't seem to be disturbedite, though. What you are saying doesn't make sense.

When you type the word firefox at the bash prompt, you are doing exactly the same as when you type /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
Why? because...

ls -la /usr/bin/firefox
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 22 2007-06-02 19:14 /usr/bin/firefox -> ../lib/firefox/firefox

... firefox is just a link to /usr/lib/firefox/firefox

Obviously if I try it one way or the other, the result is exactly the same (doesn't work). And as you can see in my first post, I also tried running the binary file, which also doesn't work.

By the way, I have run firefox -safe-mode in Xubuntu 7.04, (2.6.20-15-generic and Firefox version 2.0.0.3) and it does work (it brings a dialog indicating that firefox will start in safe mode and giving several options before launching in safe mode). Now I am not interested now in updating neither Firefox, nor the kernel in my Xubuntu box, because I don't know yet what is causing this problem in Feisty.

Has anybody else tried to run firefox -safe-mode in the console in Feisty? Does it work for you'

Huh. Mine isn't accepting options either.

SheeEttin, does your system or configuration have anything at all in common with what I have described about my system?

Thank you,

Ocumo

[ocumo]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

I think I may have found the reason why -safe-mode was not working.

Typically, when Firefox crashes - or at least in many of the troubles commonly reported about Firefox - there is some firefox process instance that refuses to close. Now, it appears that firefox -safe-mode will not work if there would be any existing instance of firefox running.

Now, although I did close all the firefox windows before trying the -safe-mode option in the console, I did have a couple of crashes where the main window closed, and also a couple of situations where firefox stop working properly and I had to close it. This means, there is quite a big chance that I might have had a firefox process running when I tried the command in the console.

Since I opened and closed so many times the firefox application and its windows, it maybe that the crashed process that was running without a visible window died sometime, because I tried a couple of minutes ago doing

ps axjf | grep firefox

to make sure there was no firefox processes running, and then I tried

firefox -safe-mode

and this time safe mode worked.

I hope that this explains the issue with -safe-mode and that there is nothing else broken except the original issues I saw in the first place.

It seems that at least I can now start troubleshooting the original problems with the standard procedure of running the safe mode.

Ocumo

[Goeroeboeroe]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

Well, since I rebooted just before your latest post to try it out, I'll reply anyway.

I started today firefox in konsole with just firefox. Okay.
Started today few times in konsole (because I had some problems with an add-on) with firefox -safe-mode: went okay

I updated and rebooted: could still start the same way in konsole, also with -safe-mode. And when I start it the normal way it runs as always.
So the new kernel seems to give no problems.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

Oh. I guess that explains it.

I guess I should've realized that I should've closed Firefox before attempting to run another instance... It has a bit of only-one-instance code in it, which gets annoying in places like these. (It's necessary, though.)

[ocumo]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

Thank you Goeroeboeroe

you have been very kind in trying all of this in your system, and it is good to know the result of the tests you have done. The fact that it is working for you is important, specially since you mentioned you have updated the kernel.

I think that so far, we could start drafting the first moral of this story more or less like this:

Before running firefox -safe-mode , make sure that there is not any other firefox process running, even if you have closed all the visible firefox windows, and specially if you have had any previous crashes or troubles with the firefox application.

This means, you can for example, run the command

ps axjf | grep firefox

and the only instance of firefox in the output of that command should be the one of the grep command itself.

Thanks again for doing this experiment and sharing it with the community.

Best regards,

Ocumo

[SheeEttin]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

Or just "ps -e | grep firefox" and get none, otherwise "killall firefox.py".

[disturbedite]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

Oops! It doesn't seem to be disturbedite, though. What you are saying doesn't make sense.

well, obviously, in retrospect what i said was exactly correct. you just had an unusual situation.

[quote=ocumo]When you type the word firefox at the bash prompt, you are doing exactly the same as when you type /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
... firefox is just a ]
well duh, why would you bother to explain that? firefox is just a script wrapper for executing the firefox binary in *ubuntu. i never said it wasn't...
anyway, i was trying to help, so keep that in mind when someone bothers to try to answer your question.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Firefox -safe-mode does not work

Hey, there's no need for that attitude.