All Firefox extensions gone after update to Firefox 20.0

Slackovado · 04-26-2013, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adriv

And what happens when you downgrade to FF 19*?
Or use a beta?

yes, I've tried going back to the previous 19.0.2 version and same thing, the profile didn't work, extension would not install.

Slackovado · 04-26-2013, 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tronayne

Just for grins: open Firefox then click Help and About Firefox.

What's it say?

It's version 20.0
Everything works ok except no extension will install.
Even plugins work, Flash and Java.
I didn't have time to mess with this today as I had to work all day but I'll get back to it at some point.
What drives me crazy is that it's both Firefox and SeaMonkey.

adriv · 04-26-2013, 04:18 AM

OK, shooting from the hip:
Can you install extensions when you are logged in as root?
Can you install extensions when you are logged in as another user?
Do you have the same problem with Swiftfox?

tronayne · 04-26-2013, 06:48 AM

Something you might want to try -- it'll only take a few minutes.

First, let's make sure of something: you can edit files with a text edit and save them? You can create files, right?

What's your UMASK? It should be 0022 (open a terminal and enter umask to see it):

Code:

umask
0022

If it's not 0022, do this:

Code:

umask 0022

Do ls -l /home; your user account should look exactly like (whith, of course, your userid, not mine):

Code:

drwxr-xr-x 86 trona    users    20480 Apr 25 11:44 trona/

If you user account does not look like that, do this:

Code:

su -
chmod 755 /home/your_user_id
Ctrl-D

If you had to change either of those, then start Firefox and try an extension/add-on (while you're at it, if the umask was not 0022, check your .profile, .bashrc, whatever and fix that -- the default system-wide UMASK is 0022, if you've changed that somewhere or other, change it back). One possibility is /etc/profile:

Code:

 .
 .
 .
# Default umask.  A umask of 022 prevents new files from being created group
# and world writable.
umask 022
 .
 .
 .

Then, if the above did not work,

Log in as root (yeah, yeah you're supposed to do that so be careful).
startx
Start Firefox
Install, oh, Adblock Plus or NoScript (or both)
Does it work? If so:
Create a new user (use adduser; be sure to use the up arrow when you get to the Additional Unix Groups part
Log out of root, log in as the new user
Start Firefox
Install one or two extensions/add-ons
Did it work? If so, there's not a thing wrong with Firefox, it's your profile.

My bet is that somewhere along the line copying your ~/.mozilla directory back and forth something has gotten borked (probably something encrypted), especially if you've done that back and forth between Windows and Slackware but possibly some other way (who really knows? well, nobody).

What I would do is

Create a back up of your bookmarks (Bookmarks, Unsorted Bookmarks, Import and Backup, Backup)
Click Edit, Security, Saved Passwords, show passwords then write down on a piece of paper the address, username and password (you have to do this manually and you'll have to log in to those accounts to get things back, nice to have a list).
Shut down Firefox, SeaMonkey and Thunderbird (maybe not Thunderbird, it doesn't matter)
Open a terminal, get into your home directory and mv .mozilla .mozilla.bak; rm -r .mozilla
Start Firefox (this will create a new, clean profile)
Restore your Bookmarks (Bookmarks, Unsorted Bookmarks, Import and Backup, Import, Choose File, the .JSON file you created above)
Add one or two extensions/plug-ins

If that works, your next step would be to attempt to restore your passwords (you've already done that, I think). If that screws it up, you know where the problem is. Do the whole create a new profile thing again (but don't make the back up) and manually log in to the web pages and enter the user name and password you wrote down.

Hope this helps some.

cynwulf · 04-26-2013, 07:40 AM

Creating a new user is probably the first thing you should have tried, so before you do anything else do the following:

- create a new user - add it to the typical groups

- do not restore/copy across any dot files, profile directories or anything else from your existing user

- log in as the new user and startx

- open firefox and/or seamonkey and try to install any extension

Slackovado · 04-26-2013, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adriv

OK, shooting from the hip:
Can you install extensions when you are logged in as root?
Can you install extensions when you are logged in as another user?
Do you have the same problem with Swiftfox?

I'll try those today, that was next on my list of tests.

Slackovado · 04-26-2013, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tronayne

Something you might want to try -- it'll only take a few minutes.

First, let's make sure of something: you can edit files with a text edit and save them? You can create files, right?

What's your UMASK? It should be 0022 (open a terminal and enter umask to see it):

Code:

umask
0022

If it's not 0022, do this:

Code:

umask 0022

Do ls -l /home; your user account should look exactly like (whith, of course, your userid, not mine):

Code:

drwxr-xr-x 86 trona    users    20480 Apr 25 11:44 trona/

If you user account does not look like that, do this:

Code:

su -
chmod 755 /home/your_user_id
Ctrl-D

If you had to change either of those, then start Firefox and try an extension/add-on (while you're at it, if the umask was not 0022, check your .profile, .bashrc, whatever and fix that -- the default system-wide UMASK is 0022, if you've changed that somewhere or other, change it back). One possibility is /etc/profile:

Code:

 .
 .
 .
# Default umask.  A umask of 022 prevents new files from being created group
# and world writable.
umask 022
 .
 .
 .

Then, if the above did not work,

Log in as root (yeah, yeah you're supposed to do that so be careful).
startx
Start Firefox
Install, oh, Adblock Plus or NoScript (or both)
Does it work? If so:
Create a new user (use adduser; be sure to use the up arrow when you get to the Additional Unix Groups part
Log out of root, log in as the new user
Start Firefox
Install one or two extensions/add-ons
Did it work? If so, there's not a thing wrong with Firefox, it's your profile.

My bet is that somewhere along the line copying your ~/.mozilla directory back and forth something has gotten borked (probably something encrypted), especially if you've done that back and forth between Windows and Slackware but possibly some other way (who really knows? well, nobody).

What I would do is

Create a back up of your bookmarks (Bookmarks, Unsorted Bookmarks, Import and Backup, Backup)
Click Edit, Security, Saved Passwords, show passwords then write down on a piece of paper the address, username and password (you have to do this manually and you'll have to log in to those accounts to get things back, nice to have a list).
Shut down Firefox, SeaMonkey and Thunderbird (maybe not Thunderbird, it doesn't matter)
Open a terminal, get into your home directory and mv .mozilla .mozilla.bak; rm -r .mozilla
Start Firefox (this will create a new, clean profile)
Restore your Bookmarks (Bookmarks, Unsorted Bookmarks, Import and Backup, Import, Choose File, the .JSON file you created above)
Add one or two extensions/plug-ins

If that works, your next step would be to attempt to restore your passwords (you've already done that, I think). If that screws it up, you know where the problem is. Do the whole create a new profile thing again (but don't make the back up) and manually log in to the web pages and enter the user name and password you wrote down.

Hope this helps some.

Thanks Tronayne, you've covered a lot of ground.
Some of it raises more questions though.
I've had my user account's permissions set to drwx--x--x for a long time now.
Actually I think I've set them to 700 some years ago and it's always worked fine.
Good think you've pointed that out as I'll have to examine my permissions and tighten them again.
I don't want my girlfriend, who uses my computer sometime, to browse my files. She has her own account but permissions are set so she is limited to that account and a few shared folders for videos, pictures etc outside of /home
The permissions should not break Firefox, and I've already set 755 on .mozilla recursively.

I'll try her account, Firefox and installing extensions. And I'll try root too.
I'll report back after work.
Thanks again for the help

Slackovado · 04-26-2013, 03:12 PM

Ok, so I've run a quick test before I have to leave for work.
Extensions install and work just fine as root.
Another user account exhibited the same problem as my own, extensions were broken after starting Firefox (after the upgrade to version 20.0).
There was only one extension installed in the other account, Add-block Plus, and it disappeared and couldn't be reinstalled.
So this breakage happens when going from Firefox 19.0.2 to the 20.0.
Both user account have permissions drwx--x--x when ls -l /home .

adriv · 04-27-2013, 03:25 PM

On my machine it's
drwx------

Slackovado · 04-27-2013, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adriv

On my machine it's
drwx------

Yeah, it's worked fine for years with these permissions.

Another problem that's showed up is I lost all my search engines and when I type address into the address field it will not launch the site.
That's in Firefox.
I'm starting to suspect that it's not Firefox or user profile related but something went wrong with my Slackware install.
Strange because Thunderbird is working fine.