First I am using Slackware 14.1 on an old laptop. After running updates last week, Firefox started crashing with segmentation faults. I waited a day or two and there was another update, after installing that update, I thought the problem was fixed. I found today, however, when I tried to put a comment on Facebook Firefox crashes again. Funny thing is, i9t only happens when I try to type in the block that asks what is on your mind and only on the news feed (home page). I can comment on a post by someone else, or wish them happy birthday. There may be problems elsewhere, but this is the only place I have noticed the problem.

Any idea where to look?

The cause of segmentation faults is quite difficult to pin down. Something is trying to access memory it does not have the right to.

It's a long shot, but have you tried clearing your browser cache, history, and cookies? One of Facebook's myriad tracking cookies may be corrupt.

That didn't fix the problem, but I appreciate the help none the less.

Another longshot would be to create a new profile and see if the issues persist.

Have you tried opening it on the console and see if it outputs anything helpful? And what version are you running and where did you get it? There's a few different places to get Firefox builds, so we should narrow down what build(s) you're running.

I'm running PV's build. Updated with slackpkg. Firefox ESR 52.0.2 from one of the official repositories listed in standard install of slackpkg.

I really don't want to build a new profile, this just started with the Firefox update.

I understand you got this updated package from official repository but the error makes me think this version of Firefox has nothing to do in 14.1. According to Slackware Security Advisories (http://www.slackware.com/security/li...ecurity&y=2017), the version you should be running right now on 14.1 is 45.8.0 (http://www.slackware.com/security/vi...ecurity.398307), which is also the case for 14.2. Firefox version 52.0 is for Slackware current.

If you don't mind, please remove 52.0 and install the 45.8.0 from the Security Advisories and see if errors persist.

If you look at ChangeLog.txt files for both 14.1 and 14.2, you'll see this (for 14.1):
(and for 14.2)
So there's no need to remove Firefox 52, because that's what the latest version is for both 14.1 and 14.2.

Slackware 14.1 ChangeLog also contains this entry:
I would have guessed that optimizations were the cause of troubles interndan is experiencing, but if he's got this update installed, then there must be something else that's causing segmentation faults for him.

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Keep in mind, there's updates that aren't always security related. This update was likely done to ensure that Firefox is running on a supported ESR branch, but it wasn't fixing any actual security issues, which is why there was no security advisory for it.

As audriusk implied, it's always best to check the changelogs to catch non-security related updates.

1 members found this post helpful.

Just for grins I used slackpkg to reinstall Firefox on the off chance something went awry at my end during the update process. I also disabled all plugins. Neither seems to have been any help.

I still get segmentation fault, but (so far) only the one place.

How can I set up a log to try receiving more information?

I am running from console, but segmentation fault is all it is showing.

I gave up on trying to fix this, so I bit the bullet and installed 14.2. For now Firefox seems to be working. I guess something I had put on this old system over the years didn't want to play nice with the latest Firefox update. I'll see what happens as I start adding the third party packages that I use back on to the system.

Thanks for the assistance. And while I never found the culprit, I will consider this to have solved the problem.

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 *)
+--------------------------+