Firefox on Linux in the MPI CBS

Overview

The Web browser Firefox is the supported default browser in the institute.

FAQ

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"Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To use Firefox, you must..."


Quick solution:
  • Type this command into a terminal:
    user@host > fireparent
  • The program will test, if Firefox is running on another computer ...
  • ... and show, which commands to use to stop it there ...
  • ... and make the browser profile usable locally in the process.

Explanation:
  • Graphical programs need persistent storage to function. A Browser stores e.g. bookmarks in the user's home directory.
  • In the institute, a centralized home directory concept is being used. Your home folder resides on a file server and is being used by all your graphical sessions.
  • Browser data consists of complex data structures (usually several actual data base files).
  • Complex data structures cannot be used by two entities at the same time, it would break them.
  • Operating systems provide a "lock" function to mark files as being used. Firefox uses this function
  • The "lock" function works in the whole network.
  • A second browser instance trying to lock the Firefox database will fail (since the files are already locked) and show an error message.

However, the fireparent command tries to determine, on which computer an already running browser instance can be found and shows you, how to stop it to enable you to run a browser in your current session.

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Firefox looses its bookmarks all the time. What to do?


Quick solution:
  1. Close all running Firefox instances.
  2. Remove your browser Profile (which is the folder .mozilla/firefox in your home directory including all sub folders)
  3. Start Firefox.
  4. Configure Firefox to use "Firefox sync" which is a cloud based synchronization mechanism.
  5. Next time, your profile is lost, delete the .mozilla/firefox folder again, set up the sync mechanism, done.
  6. As a side effect, you can apply the Firefox Sync account to your browser at home or on your Android phone to have all data shared between those devices.

Explanation:

A local browser profile is a complex data structure. Firefox is very careful not to destroy any data which sometimes means that the old set of browser data (bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, ...) is being ignored to avoid doing harm to it. A new empty profile is then created and used--giving the impression of all data being gone.

Measures are in place at the institute to mitigate these problems. A common cause for "ignoring profile data" is version confusion. Firefox profiles are only upward compatible but not downward. Here is a recipe for trouble:

  1. You use your browser on RemoteLinux and you close it again to not run into This problem.
  2. You go to a G5 workstation (an old workstation with an older browser)
  3. Upon start Firefox will see a profile that is "too new", refuse to use it and create a new one.
  4. The next time you're on RemoteLinux, this new profile is being used there as well.

IT always updates Firefox to the latest release possible on all workstations and terminal servers. This is done for security reasons but mitigates Firefox profile trouble as a side effect.

If you're an experienced computer user, you can restore your profile manually by using firefox -ProfileManager , changing ~/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini and removing redundant profiles via rm . If you're not, the quick solution mentioned earlier is the way to go.

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How can I restore bookmarks?


After a Linux upgrade to the next generation or after a browser upgrade/crash, bookmarks could be corrupted or lost. Firefox automatically creates backups of bookmarks that can be restored.

  1. After the start of Firefox your bookmarks are missing.
    fx1.png
  2. Select Manage Bookmarks via the menu bar or the menu on the right hand side or press Ctrl+Shift+o.
    fx2a.png
    fx2b.pngfx2c.png
  3. Click Import and Backup, Restore, and then Choose File.
    fx3.png
  4. Open your file manger and navigate to your home directory (hu_username). If necessary enable Show Hidden Files (Ctrl+h) to show files with a dot at the beginning of their name.
    fx4.png
  5. Look for the folder ".mozilla" and open it.
    fx5.png
  6. Go to the folder Firefox.
    fx6.png
  7. Here are all Firefox profiles. After the latest Linux upgrade (G7), you can identify new profiles by the extension "-esr". To restore the bookmarks, the last functioning folder have to be selected. You can identify this with help of the date (double click).
    fx7.png
  8. Double-click "bookmarkbackups" in this folder. If it is not there, the profile folder is not complete. In this case, try another profile.
    fx8.png
  9. Select the right backup.
    fx9.png
  10. Confirm. Any new bookmarks created in the current profile will be lost!
    fx10.png


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This topic: EDV/FuerUser > WebHome > SoftwareLinux > SoftwareFirefoxLinux
Topic revision: 05 Aug 2024, wherbst
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