Firefox snaps (pfft) v. software distrib -

[kc1di]

I have never used it but maybe Librewolf could be the answer to privacy concerns?

https://itsfoss.com/librewolf/

[TWPonKubuntu]

jlittle Hear, Hear! Privacy is paramount in today's world.

[GreyGeek]

I have never used it but maybe Librewolf could be the answer to privacy concerns?

Got it, run it. Works like FireFox.

[NoWorries]

No, its the same thing. Same binaries, libs, etc. (as far as I can tell, at least)

I have found that I often get messages of Firefox being slow to start since the snap version was introduced. I have now found that my hidden file .mozilla is no longer referenced.

I have recently been snookered by the snap version. I had two Firefox versions running, one with all my preferred string of tabs open and the other with just two tabs open. I foolishly exited the version with all my tabs and then the version with just two tabs. After this I could not get back to my version of many tabs.

I have two laptops and this problem only occurred on my Sacrificial Laptop. So I thought by copying the .mozilla folder from the Laptop with all my tabs working onto the Laptop which just had Firefox with two tabs. How wrong I was, as the .mozilla hidden file is not referenced and this copy made no difference.

So I am not happy with the snap version of Firefox because of its slow startup and no way to recover from mistakes. I have backup .mozilla_All_Tabs and .mozilla_All_Tabs2 files which are no longer of any use

[arsivci]

I have found that I often get messages of Firefox being slow to start since the snap version was introduced. I have now found that my hidden file .mozilla is no longer referenced.

I have recently been snookered by the snap version. I had two Firefox versions running, one with all my preferred string of tabs open and the other with just two tabs open. I foolishly exited the version with all my tabs and then the version with just two tabs. After this I could not get back to my version of many tabs.

I have two laptops and this problem only occurred on my Sacrificial Laptop. So I thought by copying the .mozilla folder from the Laptop with all my tabs working onto the Laptop which just had Firefox with two tabs. How wrong I was, as the .mozilla hidden file is not referenced and this copy made no difference.

So I am not happy with the snap version of Firefox because of its slow startup and no way to recover from mistakes. I have backup .mozilla_All_Tabs and .mozilla_All_Tabs2 files which are no longer of any use

Snaps use "~/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla" directory for config files. I do not know exactly where you should place your folder but it should give you a start.

[GreyGeek]

A description of Snaps, with both the pros and the cons, is here.
The problem I have with snapd is that it runs continually in the processes as a service to interface with the Discovery Store, which is closed source. Since I am not continually searching for packages to install or remove why do I need a service lurking in the background "watching" my every keystroke?
While snaps are self-contained and sandboxed applications, so are AppImages, and they don't require a continually running process. I have thirteen on my system. Like snaps, AppImages doesn't touch your system or use its files, and can be removed by simply deleting the AppImage file.

Microsoft had a strategy for eliminating competition: Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
Like Explorer, Ubuntu users embraced Snaps because it was on their system automatically and it was free. Canonical extended it to work on other distros, leaving the store proprietary and hardcoded. Snaps purpose, IMO, is to extinguish other software management systems. Who would support apt or dpkg if people stopped using them?

When I was using KANOPPIX for 3 or 4 months it was based on RPM. I was given a roller-coaster ride because of how RPM's worked at the time One day, while I upgraded a KDE Package which happened to be in the most recent point release. The entire KDE release was downloaded and installed. The package and the new point release worked perfectly. The next day I installed another KDE package but never noticed it was for the PREVIOUS point release of KDE. Too late to stop the download I let it go to completion. The reboot failed. Not knowing as much about Linux and KDE as I do now, my only choice was a re-install from a CDROM. I have no doubt that RPM is now as stable as dpkg, so I wouldn't have any qualms about using it now.

[NoWorries]

Snaps use "~/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla" directory for config files. I do not know exactly where you should place your folder but it should give you a start.

Thanks very much for that suggestion and I have now restored all my tabs.

I am kicking myself for not using the command find to locate .mozilla which shows its location in snaps

[rab0171610]

No one is forced to use Snap to have Firefox installed. The Firefox website lists four ways to install on Linux. Search Install Firefox on Linux and the first link that comes up is Mozilla Support. There are four options listed.

Table of Contents

1. Install from your distributionpackage manager (Recommended)
2. Install from Flatpak
3. Install from Snap
4. Install Firefox from Mozilla builds (For advanced users)

Anyone that can type in the command line can unpack and manage Firefox by using the instructions in the fourth option for Advanced Users. Also, it will automatically update in the app when you go to About Firefox in help submenu exactly how it does in Windows. Linux is still about choice and the default option, Snap, is not forced on anyone. It is the default option. If you are "advanced" enough, you can skip the step about creating a desktop file, by copying the one installed from Snap and to point to the new Firefox binary. Easy Peasy.
I prefer this method as I can skip the middle man and get the software and updates directly from upstream.
6 easy steps.

[jlittle]

I intend, when I get to jammy, to use the Mozilla builds. Do anyone know if it will pick up the Firefox profile I use presently?

[rab0171610]

In my experience, if the Firefox version you are trying to use is the same as or newer than the one used to create the profile, then yes. If it is older, Firefox will complain and refuse to load the profile and instead offer to start with a clean profile.
To get it to use your preferred or previous profile:
Profiles are stored in ~/.mozilla/firefox/ in the users home directory. They are directories with names such as: et9bnznt.default-release. If you are not sure which default-release directory is your preferred profile, have a look inside the folders for clues. Look to see if you can find references to your bookmarks and add-ons,etc. Most empty or unused profile directories with not have these items. Compare the different default-release folders to identify your preferred profile.

In ~/.mozilla/firefox/ there are also files called installs.ini and profiles.ini. First, backup both .ini files before editing. If you open the ~/.mozilla/firefox/installs.ini file with a text editor, you will see something like this:

[6AFDA46A1A8AD99]
Default=6j2yxnl4.default-release
Locked=1

You can see that the current installation of Firefox that I have, referenced above as 6AFDA46A1A8AD99 is defaulting to profile 6j2yxnl4.default-release. That is the name of a profile folder in the same directory but it is not the one I want to use (et9bnznt.default-release).

If you open the ~/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini file with a text editor, you will see something like this:

[Profile1]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=6j2yxnl4.default
Default=1

[Profile0]
Name=default-release
IsRelative=1
Path=6j2yxnl4.default-release

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2

[Install6AFDA46A1A8AD99]
Default=6j2yxnl4.default-release
Locked=1

Note that there may be more that one install referenced here. In this instance, the strings 6j2yxnl4.default and 6j2yxnl4.default-release need to be changed to tell Firefox to open my preferred profile, et9bnznt.default-release. I will change all references from 6j2yxnl4 to et9bnznt.
It should now read:

[Profile1]
Name=default
IsRelative=1
Path=et9bnznt.default
Default=1

[Profile0]
Name=default-release
IsRelative=1
Path=et9bnznt.default-release

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=1
Version=2

[Install6AFDA46A1A8AD99]
Default=et9bnznt.default-release
Locked=1

For conformity, but maybe not necessary, I changed the installs.ini file to also reference my profile:

[6AFDA46A1A8AD99]
Default=et9bnznt.default-release
Locked=1

Now when opening the new install of Firefox, all of my tabs, bookmarks, history, and add-ons are restored. Once it is opening the with the right profile, the unused default-release folders can be deleted from the ~/.mozilla/firefox/ directory.

Hope this helps.

[Melcar]

As soon as I saw that FF snap took more than 5 seconds to load (very silly on a PC with my hardware) I replaced it with the flatpak version. I'm using a few flatpaks for programs that would otherwise requiere either a from source build or use a PPA (trying to limit the number of PPAs I use). Flatpaks seem to work righ, except for broken theming (snaps are no better in this regard I find). Going to try and give snaps another chance, but I really don't like them. It's good that we still have a choice on how to install things, but it's very obvious that Canonical is pushing hard on snaps and slowly forcing them on users.
I really don't want to change distros mostly because I have grown complacent and lazy (last time I distro hopped was 6 years ago), but if push comes to shove I will.