Firefox 52.0.2 crashes
 

Hi,

I just upgraded our local school's network, and users are complaining about Firefox crashing all the time. Indeed, it looks like 52.0.2 is much more crash-prone than its predecessor 45.x.

What now?

I use Firefox 52.02 in slackware-current and all is ok,no crash

To make things clear: is it Firefox 52.0.2 ESR from Slackware 14.2? From your comment about its preceding version I'm guessing that it is.

Its not crashing for me in Current and I use it all the time. Perhaps an add-on/plugin is affecting it (looks over at Shockwave Flash). I use lightbeam, openh264, ant video, and Firefox hasn't crashed on me once.

Firefox 52.0.2 ESR (Patrick's official build) is very stable here on Slackware 14.2 64 bit.

Did you see this thread?

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...up-4175603501/

Perhaps it is the same issue?

firefox 52.x has Electrolysis enabled by default, which is a huge improvement, but not all the addons works fine and some even disable it, go to "about:support" in the address bar (check for "multi process") and see

https://www.arewee10syet.com/

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Electrolysis/Addons

I just set up MLED 14.2 64 in vbox vm, FF ESR 52.0.2 (64-bit), hasn't crashed for me, any web sites you know it crashes on?

Firefox 52.0.2 crashes
 

I'm running Slackware 14.1 32bit

mozilla-firefox-52.0.2esr-i486-2_slack14.1.txz
from
http://packages.slackware.com/?r=sla..._slack14.1.txz

crashes (even in safe-mode) when attempting to access https://www.touchsupport.com/


While https://www.touchsupport.com/about-us/ opens without any problems.

Seamonkey browser exhibits the same crash behavior on the same pages.

/var/log/packages/seamonkey-2.46-i486-3_slack14.1

Konqueror browser Version 4.10.5 opens both
https://www.touchsupport.com/about-us/ and https://www.touchsupport.com/ without any issues.

Can anyone duplicate this?
How can I troubleshoot this further?

I have Slackware 14.1 32-bit installed in our local school's network. I upgraded all client desktops last weekend, and since yesterday, I get crash reports galore on all machines for Firefox.

There's clearly a problem. I strongly suggest to revert to 45 ESR until this is sorted out.

Cheers,

Niki

From what I've seen on this forum regarding recent Firefox update, this combination (Slackware 14.1 and Firefox 52) seems to be problematic.

Could be a problem with new requirements that v52 introduced, like for example gstreamer flag that was noted in old 14.1 slackbuild has been deprecated.
From what I've seen gstreamer is now irrelevant, latest version needs parts of ffmpeg, specifically the libvpx part.
It's possible some sites have embedded media which cause the crash in case ffmpeg is missing or compiled without required media library.
Note that I don't use 14.1 or firefox, but I've built icecat v52 (which is based on firefox v52) on slackware64-14.2 and linked it with ffmpeg-3.2.4 libvpx-1.6.1 and gtk+2-2.24.31 with no problem, it hasn't crashed yet.
Other than that, I don't know why it would crash, could be anything, even python or automake version mismatch, it's not like it hasn't happened before.

Thank you Niki is very sound advice..

However when you say-
.
Can you detect any kinda pattern or similarities in the type of errors causing the crashes?

I'm trying to approach this as a opportunity for me to learn (slowly) some basic application debugging. I am hoping there are individuals on this board that can provide me with some basic guidance on HOW TO narrow down the actual cause of the crashes.

Why is it occurring here and not here?
Meaning what is the most likely error causing slice of code (or even just general section of code) that is different on this page that is NOT on that page.

Does anyone here know WHERE the crash error logs can be found on a slackware machine?
Nothing shows up in:

Quote:

/var/log/syslog /var/log/messages /var/log/Xorg.0.log

I understand mozzilla firefox provides the about:crashes screen within the browser itself but nothing is appearing for me there. I imagine the Operating System MUST log an error someplace BEFORE it appears to the Browser API. Does anyone on this board now where I should first look for it?

By launching firefox from within the terminal window:

I am able to see:

when I attempting to access https://www.touchsupport.com/

But then the trail goes cold for me.

I understand segmentation faults CAN be caused by failing RAM chips.. So i ran memtest+ for three passes with no errors and was hoping someone else could corroborate the same crash using the same:

System 14.1 32bit
Software version from official repository mozilla-firefox-52.0.2esr-i486-2_slack14.1.txz and
Website https://www.touchsupport.com/.

"There are four common mistakes that lead to segmentation faults: dereferencing NULL, dereferencing an uninitialized pointer, dereferencing a pointer that has been freed (or deleted, in C++) or that has gone out of scope (in the case of arrays declared in functions), and writing off the end of an array. " Source:http://www.cprogramming.com/debugging/segfaults.html

It would be FUN to find where exactly this is occurring or even just to eliminate where it is NOT occurring. But my debugging knowledge is pretty slim.

Any advice for the debugging, SlowLearner?

If you want to debug it, build firefox with debugging symbols, run it in gdb, reproduce the crash, get a backtrace and finally share it with the firefox devs.

Sorry, but I don't have time to potty-train the new Firefox version. I'll see how I can get my hands on the previous 45.8.0 version (which unfortunately disappeared from all the Slackware mirrors) and install that while the Firefox devs get their act together.

Cheers,

Niki

Yes. My phone ringing and users complaining about Firefox crashing when they try to access $WEBSITE.

George uploaded packages for 45.9.0 yesterday. As usual, this is a repackaging of official binaries with lot of locales bundled:

You know where to find them, but for other readers:
http://slackware.uk/salix/x86_64/14.1/
http://slackware.uk/salix/i486/14.1/

This reminds me that I should upgrade TB in a similar fashion in the Slint repos.

I just want to make it clear I was replying to this.

Thanks @orbea.. I think i can do this! I know next to nothing about gdb but i'm sure i can figure it out with time. Seems like a good time waiting to happen.


@kikinovak lol is ok- no need for apologies :-)
I enjoy making the time to play with inner workings and LEARN (however slowly). I'm just addicted to the learning process itself. This addiction/obsession with learning new skills and discovering how things work together is a big reason WHY i originally chose and still prefer using the slackware platform.

But yes- i do always wish i had much MORE time to play/learn or... you know, perhaps potty train troublesome glitches.

the old standard "..that's not a bug, that's a FEATURE!" lol
or my personal favorite:

There are no problems, there are only opportunities to succeed.

@Didier Spaier Thank You - Thank You !
I am just soooo thankful that this board exists as it makes it so much easier for us all to succeed in our own way.

To be honest, it doesn't sound very fun to do it with firefox, but if you really want to debug it that is what needs to be done. Building firefox with debugging symbols (Be sure to not strip them as many slackbuilds do by default) will probably require much more space to build than it already does... GDB will be the easy part.

And then you will have the entire log complete with the backtrace, a much more verbose output of the backtrace and a list all of the running threads (Which sometimes may be useful) in your new firefox.log file. You can then give this log file to a firefox developer who is interested in fixing the issue.

@orbea
Ya SEE what i mean !
I adore this community
THANKS AGAIN for the further much more detailed guidance.

Incidentally, the rob.rice on another LQ thread greatly narrowed down the cause of the abrupt seg fault mozilla firefox crashes occuring after the latest updated of:

Basically, not surprisingly it's a javascript issue.


http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?p=5699802#post5699802

is the post where I explain how to disable javascript from about:config in firefox.

I'm assuming this'll make the firefox gdb process easier...

Here is to knowing where to start!

I would suggest noscript or an equivalent addon which will disable javascript by default effectively masking this issue. At least until you enable the wrong bit of javascript on a poorly made webpage...

That didn't take long!

"...switching back to the 45.x ESR branch due to instabilty of the
52.x ESR branch on Slackware 14.1."


http://www.slackware.com/security/vi...ecurity.320508

Here are the details from the Slackware 14.1 ChangeLog:
+--------------------------+
patches/packages/mozilla-firefox-45.9.0esr-i486-1_slack14.1.txz: Upgraded.
This release contains security fixes and improvements.
Also, switching back to the 45.x ESR branch due to instabilty of the
52.x ESR branch on Slackware 14.1.
For more information, see:
https://www.mozilla.org/security/kno...irefoxESR.html
(* Security fix *)
+--------------------------+

Patrick is one amazing dude.

Member response
 

Hi,

I was having issues with; mozilla-firefox-52.0.2-x86_64-1ro as being very slow and locking. Not a ESR package but generated by latest-firefox.sh script by Ruari Oedegaard. I did a upgradepkg using ./mozilla-firefox-53.0-x86_64-1ro.tgz. Still no fun in the sun! I did some trouble-shooting and found the add-on 'IP and Domain Information' to be at fault. I simply disabled that extension and restart to find that was indeed the problem. Further checking found that add-on was replacing my DNS with a totally different address that were my preferred nameservers in '/etc/resolv.conf'. Unsure as to the locking but since disabling that add-on I have no locks using Firefox.

So to my fellow Slackers, be aware of what you are using and what are the potential issues. Check thoroughly! Even signed extensions or whatever can cause issues beyond the installed package.

Check out this post for some useful information for ESR and future Firefox releases; http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ml#post5699909

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!
:hattip:

Firefox 52.1.0 ESR is out. Tried to build it with my own and the standard SlackBuild which led to an error. It is a problem with FileSystemDirectoryReader.h and I think that the Mozilla developers forgot something, but I am not a C/C++ programmer. However, with this patch applied FF 52.1.0 builds fine:

Well, for Slackware stable at least maybe we could wait the end of the qualification period i.e. FF 52.2.0 ESR to switch to the 52 branch, as only then we can expect the same level of stability as for the 49 branch. Only my humble opinion, of course.