file chooser broken since last update

[Conrad Firm]

since last update (maybe a week? two weeks?) whenever I use the Open/Save option, the file chooser/browser works very, very badly...

none of the "Places" shortcuts, on the LHS, work - neither do the "Devices" shortcuts

as for my own "Bookmarks" shortcuts, they appear to be suffering from some kind of "sticky click" where as soon as you click on one, it tries to move this to somewhere instead of activating it - only if you put it back where it was (or move it up or down among the other Bookmarks) does it actually function and allow you to choose a file path

I have attached a screenshot to help demonstrate this (note: choosing the file to attach to this bug report had the same issue - even clicking on the path along the top behaves erratically)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: firefox 46.0+build5-0ubuntu0.14.04.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-85.129-generic 3.13.11-ckt36
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-85-generic x86_64
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.18
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: mic 2996 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20160425115534
Channel: Unavailable
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Fri May 6 12:50:08 2016
Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-02-08 (452 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140416.1)
IpRoute:
 default via 10.0.0.234 dev eth0 proto static
 10.0.0.0/24 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 10.0.0.90 metric 1
 10.0.0.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 10.0.0.33 metric 9
Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
MostRecentCrashID: bp-a174f844-044e-49aa-83f0-9f89b2150514
Plugins:
 Java(TM) Plug-in 10.80.2 - /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so
 Shockwave Flash - /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so
PrefSources:
 prefs.js
 [Profile]/extensions/{3d7eb24f-2740-49df-8937-200b1cc08f8a}/defaults/preferences/flashblock.js
 [Profile]/<email address hidden>/defaults/preferences/defaults.js
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=46.0/20160425115534 (In use)
RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
SubmittedCrashIDs:
 bp-a174f844-044e-49aa-83f0-9f89b2150514
 bp-48e477c4-c94f-4030-a757-2c0022150402
Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/07/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
dmi.bios.version: V1.27
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: TravelMate 8471
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: PSMBOU-1234567
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: None
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV1.27:bd10/07/2009:svnAcer:pnTravelMate8471:pvrV1.27:rvnAcer:rnTravelMate8471:rvrPSMBOU-1234567:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrNone:
dmi.product.name: TravelMate 8471
dmi.product.version: V1.27
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Patrick King (patrick-f-king)]

I'm seeing this problem in Firefox 49, did not previously see it in 45.

As a workaround, you can disable the OS file picker. Visit about:config, search for this setting and set it to false:

ui.allow_platform_file_picker

[Conrad Firm (confirm)]

can confirm this workaround mitigates the problem on Firefox 50

[Paul White (paulw2u)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. We are sorry that we do not always have the capacity to look at all reported bugs in a timely manner. There have been many changes in Ubuntu since that time you reported the bug and your problem may have been fixed with some of the updates. It would help us a lot if you could test it on a currently supported Ubuntu version.

When you test it and it is still an issue, kindly upload the updated logs by running only once:

apport-collect 1578900

and any other logs that are relevant for this particular issue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for firefox (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]