Make the deb package install the firefox snap

[Olivier Tilloy]

Canonical and Mozilla are working together to make the firefox snap the only supported package in Ubuntu, thus deprecating the deb package in the archive.

This bug tracks the transformation of the firefox package in the archive into a transitional package that installs the snap, much like was done for chromium-browser in Ubuntu 19.10.

There are a number of known problems and regressions with the snap compared to the deb (see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=snap and https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bugs?field.tag=snap), those are actively being worked on and will be addressed in due time, please refrain from using this bug to point them out. Instead, file separate bugs in the upstream bug tracker (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi), making sure to specify this is about the snap package.

[Lenin (gagarin)]

so you want people to install firefox from source, or binaries, and not doing security updates, then calling canonical/ubuntu unsecure?

[Erich Eickmeyer (eeickmeyer)]

Lenin,

This was ultimately Mozilla's decision as part of the redistribution agreement. Mozilla could have just pulled it from being redistributed at all. This was the only way they were willing to allow Firefox to be redistributed as part of Ubuntu.

Additionally, for anyone who might read this, and since I have the feeling this can turn into a heated discussion:

To maintain a respectful atmosphere, please follow the code of conduct - http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu/conduct. Bug reports are handled by humans, the majority of whom are volunteers, so please bear this in mind.

[fossfreedom (fossfreedom)]

For Ubuntu Budgie we need the auto theming to work for the transition.

In addition we will need to seed two further snap theme packages in addition to the firefox theme since our themes are not in the general theme snap ubuntu uses.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Thanks Erich!

Indeed, I would kindly request people who come across this bug report to not use it as a forum for debate about the underlying decision to transition the deb to the snap.

Use Discourse (https://discourse.ubuntu.com/) instead, and make sure to always keep the conversation polite and constructive.

This bug is intended to track the technical changes required to complete this transition, that's all.

[Alkis Georgopoulos (alkisg)]

Will the firefox-esr Debian package be available in universe like all the other browsers there?

If not, I guess in cases like netbooted clients where snap apps don't work properly yet, Ubuntu users will have no option but to migrate to google-chrome.deb.

[Roman Shipovskij (roman-shipovskij)]

Firefox Snap package still does not work properly. It crashes every time on upgrade which cause data loss, it disappear from the panel but still running on unknown workspace...

All this is very annoying to the average user and gives a negative impression of using Ubuntu.

I think Firefox Snap is not ready for using in LTS release by default.

The same situation with Chromium Snap package, I had to switch to Google Chrome .deb package because I tired from Chromium Snap problems.

P.S. All Snap packages which I tried to use have the same issues, I'm tired of riding on square wheels when everyone is riding on round ones.

[Roman Shipovskij (roman-shipovskij)]

Separate bug report about Firefox snap crash https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1962718

[Lenin (gagarin)]

Does the snap respect /etc/firefox configuration? (I guess not, but I couldn't be persuaded the check it myself)

[George Shuklin (george-shuklin)]

I just found it completely trashed my system on install. The reason was that I don't have snapd on my machine and installation attempted to install it, causing X to crash and login to reject my account because I'm not in 'nopasswdlogin' group.

Reverting back to firefox=97.0.1+build1-0ubuntu1 and setting "apt-mark hold firefox" fixed the issue.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Installing snapd shouldn't cause X to crash, that's concerning. Can you reliably reproduce the crash if you invoke "sudo apt install snapd"? If so, would you mind filing a bug at https://bugs.launchpad.net/snapd/+filebug ?

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Lenin, the snap does respect policies in /etc/firefox/policies.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Time to unblock the migration and deal with the fallout.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

I filed bug #1965314 to request the removal of firefox binary packages that are no longer built from source on ppc64el and s390x.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package firefox - 1:1snap1-0ubuntu1

---------------
firefox (1:1snap1-0ubuntu1) jammy; urgency=medium

  * Install the firefox snap in place of the debian packages (LP: #1962021)

 -- Olivier Tilloy <email address hidden> Tue, 22 Feb 2022 10:47:48 +0100

[Alkis Georgopoulos (alkisg)]

The upgrade dialog says:

```
Upgrade to the firefox snap Starting in Ubuntu 22.04, all new releases of firefox are only available to Ubuntu users through the snap package.
This package update will transition your system over to the snap by installing it. It is recommended to close all open firefox windows before proceeding to the upgrade.
<OK>
```

Is it possible to add a <Cancel> button there, so that people that don't want to install snap get a chance to cancel that upgrade, so that they uninstall firefox first, and then resume with their `apt full-upgrade`s?

[Alkis Georgopoulos (alkisg)]

The commands to install firefox.deb from the PPA are:

sudo -i
add-apt-repository --yes ppa:mozillateam/ppa
echo 'Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam
Pin-Priority: 1001' >/etc/apt/preferences.d/60local
apt install firefox firefox-locale-en

If you need more locales like `firefox-locale-el` add them to the last command.

[Emmanuel Andres Rivas (emmandyar)]

To add to the comment by Alkis, since this is one of the top no-mozilla bugzilla related entries) if you removed snap and this change made it install itself again, the steps to remove it are:

snap remove firefox
snap list #(proceed to remove one by one the remaining packages, in my case)
snap remove gtk-common-themes
snap remove gnome-3-38-2004
snap remove core20
snap remove bare
snap remove snapd
apt remove --purge snapd #(this will purge your firefox data as well make sure to bakup or sync before)

[MarkusUlm (markusulm)]

Please give deb-package back.
Let people at lease a choice!
Snap is a Bug not deb.