this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
14 points (100.0% liked)

Linux

7975 readers
184 users here now

Welcome to c/linux!

Welcome to our thriving Linux community! Whether you're a seasoned Linux enthusiast or just starting your journey, we're excited to have you here. Explore, learn, and collaborate with like-minded individuals who share a passion for open-source software and the endless possibilities it offers. Together, let's dive into the world of Linux and embrace the power of freedom, customization, and innovation. Enjoy your stay and feel free to join the vibrant discussions that await you!

Rules:

  1. Stay on topic: Posts and discussions should be related to Linux, open source software, and related technologies.

  2. Be respectful: Treat fellow community members with respect and courtesy.

  3. Quality over quantity: Share informative and thought-provoking content.

  4. No spam or self-promotion: Avoid excessive self-promotion or spamming.

  5. No NSFW adult content

  6. Follow general lemmy guidelines.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm going to use this guide to downgrade Firefox to something around version 127 or below because I did not have this issue with earlier versions of FF.

Btw where does Firefox store crash logs? I typed "about:crashes" in the URL bar but it says that "No crash reports have been submitted". I have also used journalctl to find these errors but I'm not sure how relevant they are:

org.mozilla.firefox.desktop[15004]: Exiting due to channel error.

org.mozilla.firefox.desktop[49355]: [Parent 2, Main Thread] WARNING: g_strv_length: assertion 'str_array != NULL' failed: 'glib warning', file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:187

firefox-bin[49355]: g_strv_length: assertion 'str_array != NULL' failed

top 22 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] DarkThoughts@fedia.io 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Have you tried a fresh profile? I used a years old profile over multiple systems and it caused similar hangs that I could not figure out, until I created a fresh one.

[–] KickassWomen@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Interesting, I have never tried this before.

I'll try out your solution and get back to you.

[–] jrgd@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

An aside to the technical question of how to migrate profiles to older versions:

DO NOT DOWNGRADE FIREFOX BELOW 131.0.2 OR ESR 128.3.1, 115.16.1

I feel that given this recent vulnerability, it is important to make this notice.

Otherwise:

For migrating profiles between the same major version, Mozilla provides a guide for full profile migration. This also works with forwards compatibility. I generally wouldn't try to go backwards however as many new major versions change the data format and contents of your profiles, which older versions have no idea how to interpret.

For downgrading, it's best to export bookmarks, go through your important addons and backup the settings for each one that needs configuration, and take note of anything you're previously modified in about:config to your preference. Perhaps take screenshots of your tab bar and overflow menu as well so you can recustomize them to your liking easily on the downgraded version.

[–] 299792458ms@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you want a more stable version firefox-esr could be helpful

[–] nanook@friendica.eskimo.com 2 points 1 day ago

@299792458ms @KickassWomen Problem with downgrading Firefux is that an older release won't read a newer releases profile.

[–] sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

in firefox you could export bookmarks and passwords but be aware that passwords will be exported in plain text.

because its running as flatpak, the exported files should be somewhere in $HOME/.var/app/

[–] nanook@friendica.eskimo.com 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

@sun_is_ra @KickassWomen You can run Firefox as flatpak, snap, or you can use the Mozilla repository and install as .deb package. However no matter which way you use it, the video is broken on some Youtube videos, Bitchute has no audio, and Netflix won't play at all, which is why I switched to Thorium.

[–] sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Am using latest version of firefox but I am running it directly (no snap, flatpak, ..). I have zero problem with youtube videos

[–] nanook@friendica.eskimo.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

@sun_is_ra Great, what OS are you running, what release? I'm on Ubuntu-Mate 24.04, did not have issues with 22.04, but Thorium is working fine on 24.04.

[–] sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I am running Gentoo. Could be something Ubuntu related? Also is it possible that your Firefox profile was corrupted somehow and when you installed Thorium you got a fresh profile and that's why it worked well?

[–] nanook@friendica.eskimo.com 3 points 11 hours ago

@sun_is_ra Oh definitely related, it was working ok under 22.04 not 24.04, but I suspect it has something to do with decoder ffmpeg, as other applications using it also have issues with H.264 v10 video. However Thorium does not. Perhaps it has it's own decoder rather than using ffmpeg.

[–] KickassWomen@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

For me sites like YouTube, Rumble, Odysee, and Bitchute work but unfortunately this version of flatpak Firefox is giving me problems.

[–] nanook@friendica.eskimo.com 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I've been having issues with Firefox since v128, and I've tried snap, flatpak, and straight from the Mozilla repository. I ended up switching to Thorium which works with all the same plugins I was using for Firefox, has the same general layout, AND can import my bookmarks and passwords from Firefox so it was a pretty seamless transition.

[–] KickassWomen@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I appreciate your recommendation but I'm boycotting Google and as much of its tech as possible—that's why I was using Firefox.

[–] nanook@friendica.eskimo.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

@KickassWomen Alexander Frick is the lead developer of the Thorium browser. Thorium is a cross-platform, open-source web browser based on Chromium. That's Chromium as in the open source browser, not Chrome as in the Google browser, and it still has the old API that works with ad-blockers. I am using ublock origin with it and it works great.

[–] KickassWomen@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It uses Google's Chromium engine, that's the problem.

[–] nanook@friendica.eskimo.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

@KickassWomen It is primarily maintained by them but it is an open sourced project and there are other contributors. But whatever, if you find something that doesn't involve Google and still properly functions and doesn't do slimy tactics like replace a vendors ads with it's own, AKA Brave, I'm interested, in the meantime I need something that at least functions which Firefux ceased to do.

[–] mox@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 1 day ago

It is primarily maintained by them but it is an open sourced project and there are other contributors.

Chromium may be technically open-source, but Google still controls it and has been caught abusing that power before. People concerned about privacy have good reason avoid it.

[–] Magister@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm using FF always the latest version in a .deb format, native, never had a problem, in YT or others videos site

[–] nanook@friendica.eskimo.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

@Magister @KickassWomen What OS and release? As I mentioned, I didn't have issue with 22.04 Ubuntu but do with 24.04 Ubuntu-Mate.

[–] Magister@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

I'm using MX Linux Xfce (Debian based), whenever a new FF is released, it takes a few hours or the next day to have it appears in my update