Firefox segfault when switching tabs or loading extension manager

[James Bennett]

I just upgraded to the latest Firefox package (calls itself Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U;
Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050720 Firefox/1.0.2 (Ubuntu package 1.0.2
MFSA2005-56) in the UA string), and have begun notice frequent segmentation
faults when performing basic operations such as switching tabs. When attempting
to disable extensions and isolate the cause of the crashes, I noticed that
loading the extension manager also causes a crash. Firefox does not seem to
output any useful error message to the console in this case, aside from "***
loading the extensions datasource" followed by "Segmentation fault".

[James Bennett (jbennett)]

Same crash seems to occur when loading themes manager or history, too.

[James Bennett (jbennett)]

Trying the same version of Firefox with a freshly-created user who has no
extensions results in no crashes; so I guess this is an extension bug, just a
matter of figuring out which extension.

[James Bennett (jbennett)]

Scratch that last comment; it's begun happening with a "clean" user as well, and
I've been able to reproduce the crashes after disabling and uninstalling all the
extensions I was using with my normal user.

[James Bennett (jbennett)]

Finally coaxed some error messages out of it. At this point, even when no
extensions are installed, Firefox routinely crashes when installing a new
extension. After a restart the extension is generally installed and functional.
Same goes for installation of themes. When installing a new extension of theme,
Firefox is sending the following error messages to the console:

*** getItemProperty failing for lack of an item. This means getResourceForItem
               failed to locate a resource for aItemID (item ID =
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/extensions/web_developer/web_developer-0.9.3-fx.xpi,
property = disabled)
*** getItemProperty failing for lack of an item. This means getResourceForItem
               failed to locate a resource for aItemID (item ID =
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/extensions/web_developer/web_developer-0.9.3-fx.xpi,
property = internalName)

This pair of messages repeats once for each installed extension and each
installed theme, then Firefox segfaults.

[James Bennett (jbennett)]

Working from a completely clean installation, no extensions of any sort, here's
the situation:

Segfault when installing a theme, with messages to the console like those in the
previous comment.

Segfault when installing some, but not all, extensions, with the same error
messages.

Much of the other behavior above seems to go back to the Web Developer
extension, which causes even more problems (including segfault when closing a
tab or switching tabs); I'll work to file bugs with the developers of that
extension, but in the meantime the two items above occur regardless of any
extensions being present.

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19117 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19113 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[James Bennett (jbennett)]

Couple more extensions which seem to cause problems, so folks who come here will
know what to watch out for:

"All-in-one mouse gestures" will cause browser crashes.
The Google PageRank statusbar indicator (not the Google Toolbar) will crash on
installation.

[albertm (albertm)]

To downgrade to the previous version of Firefox in Hoary:

sudo apt-get install mozilla-firefox=1.0.2-0ubuntu5
mozilla-firefox-gnome-support=1.0.2-0ubuntu5

[James McGuigan (james-lists)]

I have had the same set of problems with a very recent ubunbtu x86_64 install.

Starting with a clean profile (removed the ~/.mozilla/ directory), I started
intalling extensions one by one and firefox would crash on during the install,
giving the error message "getResourceForItem failed to locate a resource for
aItemID", however I can confirm having it referencing both the "linky" package
and the "customize google" package.

Another intresting item, is the fact that firefox would segfault (*** loading
the extensions datasource *** \n Segmentation fault) when attempting to view the
extensions dialogue, but usually only on the first run after installing an
extension after a crashed extension install. On opening it the second time, I
would see two instances of the the new extension in the menu, one with no name
or text (just an icon) and the other with full text. I was able to uninstall the
blank entry.

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19119 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Thanks for the reports, I'm working on an update. It seems that Firefox crashes
for everybody but me...

[Tommy Trussell (tommy-trussell)]

(In reply to comment #9)
> To downgrade to the previous version of Firefox in Hoary: (updated slightly)

sudo apt-get install mozilla-firefox=1.0.2-0ubuntu5 \
mozilla-firefox-gnome-support=1.0.2-0ubuntu5

(I added the backslash for folks like me who copy and paste into the terminal window --
both go into the same command line but the web page and email will wrap it!)

[Daniel Robitaille (robitaille)]

*** Bug 19122 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

*** Bug 19135 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

*** Bug 19139 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

I'm aware of these bugs. Unfortunately the security patches changed the API
(unavoidable), so that many extensions do not work any more with the upgraded
version. This also applies to Firefox 1.0.6, it seems to have similar problems,
so I think I did not completely screw up the patches.

Can you guys please uninstall all extensions? The package mozilla-tabextension
seems to be particularly nasty.

I keep debugging this issue, but apart from reverting the security patch I don't
really know what I should do about this. If you need a particular extension,
please downgrade to the Hoary version, as described in an earlier comment.

[Tom Badran (tom-badran)]

Thanks, i removed the extensions i hadnt really used, and was left with AdBlock
and FoxyLicious which both seem to be ok. Problem sorted for me, appreciate it.
Out of interest any idea how the security team at debian handled this problem in
sarge, did they break api compatibilty for extensions too?

[Daniel Robitaille (robitaille)]

*** Bug 19131 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Daniel Robitaille (robitaille)]

*** Bug 19130 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Daniel Robitaille (robitaille)]

*** Bug 19127 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[James Bennett (jbennett)]

I have Adblock and Tabbrowser preferences installed, and it seems pretty stable.
As I said above, Web Developer and the various mouse gesture extensions seem to
be the worst offenders.

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19142 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Tommy Trussell (tommy-trussell)]

(In reply to comment #17)
> Can you guys please uninstall all extensions? The package mozilla-tabextension
> seems to be particularly nasty.

I downgraded, removed ALL extensions, then reapplied the security updates, and
the browser seems stable.

I tried to install my favorite extension (Bookmarks Synchronizer) and Firefox
segfaulted as soon as I clicked the link to install it. Interestingly TWO
Bookmarks Synchronizer lines appeared in the Extensions window, and the
extension seemed to be working, but I decided NOT to risk it for now so I
removed both entries in the Extensions window. The other extension I will sorely
miss will be FlashBlock but I think I will wait to try it again....

[David James Pettifor (djp-nipl)]

I do not have any extensions installed under firefox but still notice
instability since the security update. Following a link for example, to an ogg
file, would normally result in a prompt to open in the default application or
save it to disk. However since the security update, it just does nothing. It
appears to apply to all file types that normally open an external application,
though I haven't actually tested this with every file type for obvious reasons!

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19143 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[James Bennett (jbennett)]

re comment #25: I'm seeing the same thing with zip files; in the prefs I've got
Firefox set to prompt me for a download location every time, but clicking a link
to a .zip results in nothing. The throbber moves for a moment, then stops, and
that's it.

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19146 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Nikola Kasabov (nikaas)]

I have reinstalled (clean) - completely removed firefox and deleted the profile. And
on the fresh install with no extentions and bookmarks the browser crashes when
trying
to show the sidebar (bookmarks or history). Now after importing bookmarks the bug
disappeared.

[Nikola Kasabov (nikaas)]

(In reply to comment #29)
> I have reinstalled (clean) - completely removed firefox and deleted the
profile. And
> on the fresh install with no extentions and bookmarks the browser crashes when
> trying
> to show the sidebar (bookmarks or history). Now after importing bookmarks the bug
> disappeared.

Not absolutely - it happens once per about 20 -30 clicks on bookmarks/history.

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19152 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19154 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

(In reply to comment #18)
> Thanks, i removed the extensions i hadnt really used, and was left with AdBlock
> and FoxyLicious which both seem to be ok. Problem sorted for me, appreciate it.
> Out of interest any idea how the security team at debian handled this problem in
> sarge, did they break api compatibilty for extensions too?

They didn't fix it yet at all.

For the record, I'll look into backporting the 1.0.6 changes to Hoary at Monday,
that should help quite much.

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19170 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19200 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19201 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

*** Bug 19214 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Should be fixed in USN-149-2:

 mozilla-firefox (1.0.6-0ubuntu0.1) hoary-security; urgency=low
 .
   * Backporting broke many extensions and introduced other regressions; update
     to the complete 1.0.6 upstream version. (Ubuntu #12882, #12854)
   * browser/app/profile/firefox.js: Revert Ubuntu change of fixing
     general.useragent.vendorSub to "1.0" to be able to install addons again.
     (Ubuntu #10681)

[Rick DeNatale (rick-denatale)]

I'm having problems with mozilla-firefox 1.0.6-0ubuntu0.1. Not crashes but XML
parsing errors for many menu selections.

I'd been away until late last night and updated my laptop system when I got
home. I missed most of the crashes pointed out by this bug, but now I have
reduced function on firefox to say the least. Here are some, but not all,
examples. Note that there might be some typos here since the error message does
not have copiable text so I had to retype.

Manage bookmarks brings up an error window:

XML Parsing Error: not well-formed
Location: chrome://browser/content/bookmarks/bookmarksManager.xul
Line Number 1, Column 33:

 endHourItemNode.removeAttribute("disabled");
--------------------------------^

Tools>Downloads brings up:

XML Parsing Error: syntax error
Location: chrome://mozapps/content/downloads/downloads.xul
Line Number 1, Column 1:

("typeIcon");
^

Tools>Extensions:

XML Parsing Error: not well-formed
Location: chrome://mozapps/content/extensions/extensions.xul?type=extensions
Line Number 1, Column 7:

 event="keypress" keycode="vk_enter" actions="if (this.selected)
this.selected.fireEvent('open');"/>
------^

Tools>Themes:

XML Parsing Error: not well-formed
Location: chrome://mozapps/content/extensions/extensions.xul?type=themes
Line Number 1, Column 7:

 event="keypress" keycode="vk_enter" actions="if (this.selected)
this.selected.fireEvent('open');"/>
------^

Tools>AdBlock>Preferences brings up a blank window.

[Corey Burger (corey.burger)]

Please open another bug if you are having specific issues with 1.0.6

[Rick DeNatale (rick-denatale)]

I thought it might be related to the crashes.

In any event, I re-installed mozilla-firefox after which I could bring up the
extensions tool and most other things. After I removed the sage extension,
everything seems to be working.