It won't work. Sooner you realize this better for you. Sympathy has nothing to do with this. It works. What kind of validation is that? So software is bad only if does not work? Only what I need is web browser. I don't need all these additional services. If firefox developers are not capable anymore to provide reliable browser which can be easy customized - and what more important it is me user who is deciding not firefox developers, then we done. More complex system they create - will be more vulnerable. Finally you will make computers exposed via this over mighty web browser.

Problem was not resolved.The help offered by their web page did not help. It only helped to run again firefox. But what was lost is lost. I lost my settings, perhaps saved passwords. There is reason to blame this new 78esr. It never happend before.

Firefox has not been comfortable for me since they changed user profiles every other week with their frequent security updates. I just switched to another browser and life goes on

A suggestion. Perhaps create a new profile?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb...ting-a-profile

Before this ESR update in -current I was using ruario's script to grab the latest version; with each update it would make a new profile. Frustrating, but like 1 minute of research showed me that running firefox with -p brought up the profile selector and allowed me to go back to my profile with all my settings.

Other than that Firefox has been 100% solid for me.

I know, crazy, some of us have different experiences.

Please troubleshoot and research your problem before you come in here asking to drop it from the whole distro with a vague post about it being a bad and bloated browser. If it's so awful then please just uninstall it and use something else.

@igadoter

What would you suggest replacing it with?

What you only stated is: FF works without plugins, but won't work with your plugins. Usually that means one (or more) of your plugins is misconfigured/corrupted/damaged/whatever.

FF is still ok, but you need to check your plugins one by one. You can follow the page I sent to do the next step (if you wish).

To tell the truth I don't believe it is possible to drop firefox now. I was myself user of firefox till 78esr. There are so many people around using firefox. So it is not possible to drop it but if things will go on as with last update then I would suggest to put firefox in /extra. Let us hope that perhaps not all firefox developers are agree with this line of development and fork will appear. I have no idea what can be in Slackware instead of firefox at this moment.

None of my plugin was corrupted. All was fine under firefox 68esr. Worse. The first I run 78esr I opened in different window that my earlier profile. And everything was fine. It worked as previously. So I decided to make it default profile. And that switch of default profile seems caused complete malfunction as I described earlier.

your profile is kept in:
~/.mozilla/firefox/some-random-letters-digits/prefs.js

I always keep prefs.js in a safe place (after customization). This way I can have exactly the same firefox setup irrelevant of conditions (distro/OS), even better generate your own user.js and this ir really universal file.
In addition I keep backup of userChrome.css to further customize firefox).

In terms of flexibility this is the best web browser (for me) you can get.

The argument for dropping firefox is understandable if you lost your setting and you are upset so I am not going to laugh.

However if you did not know about prefs.js/user.js (?) I am not sure how much damage was actuall done?

While I keep seeing Firefox listed here, I'm OK with it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightw...table_Security

As for the increased complexity (bloating in the opinion of others) and demand for more computing power, well, it's part of the normal/expected evolution. It runs smooth on a modern multi-core core-ix (including the entry level i3) CPU with some 8 GB of RAM and the storage cache disabled.

BTW, lynx is still around as alternative ;)

The question was not about profile but corrupted profile. What is it corrupted profile and why firefox can't recognize profile is corrupted.
So we agree firefox is not safe. Solution it offers may lead to lost of data.
I guess you right here. I see this as a deal to accept holes in firefox you can manage for its flexibility.
There nothing here to laugh or not. Bad software attracts two kinds of people. Those who want earn reputation because of their knowledge how to deal with bad software. And those more direct who wants earn money because of the same reason. Not many people around are interested in bad software. So they willing to ask others or even pay for help.
What I was supposed to know running the first time firefox 78esr? I took granted welcome that nothing wrong happens. All my action I described in my previous posts. I won't repeat here myself.

Why? It's a web browser, not an OS. There are 8 or 10 browsers that do what firefox does. Display web pages, images, media content, have a web inspector, plugins.

Give palemoon a try, you can try it without installing it. It came from firefox.
http://linux.palemoon.org/download/mainline/

Then there is all of the webkit, webengine browsers. They work fine too.

If you don't like firefox then ditch it. Taking firefox away is like taking 1 flavor of Linux away. There are lots more.

There are a lot of things I don't use in Slackware but I don't see why it should be dropped. I don't use Seamonkey, or FF - and I can already have it not installed using the expert menu during the install process; so the point is moot.

As wrote William: Much Ado About Nothing.