firefox-3.0 transitional packages missing (file overwrite issue on Lucid upgrade)

[michael37]

Binary package hint: firefox

I recently upgraded from Firefox 3.0.17 directly to Firefox 3.6 using Mozilla team firefox-stable PPA. As you know, Firefox 3.5 was never available/supported on Hardy 8.04 LTS.

After the upgrade, the Firefox default profile is corrupted. Firefox application fails to start with the following error message:

XML Parsing Error: undefined entity
Location: chrome://browser/content/browser.xul
Line Number 31, Column 1:<window id="main-window"
^

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: lpia
Date: Tue Jan 26 22:20:23 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.04
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Package: firefox 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~mfs~hardy1
PackageArchitecture: lpia
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox
Uname: Linux 2.6.24-24-lpia i686
UnreportableReason: This is not a genuine Ubuntu package

[goncheff (goncheff)]

I've end up with the same problem. I can't find such file at all. Any ideas how to workaround this?

[michael37 (misha37)]

Workaround:

start firefox as
firefox -ProfileManager
create new profile (let's call it new)
firefox will start and display a blank look (without any of your extensions)
close firefox
go to directory .mozilla/firefox
copy "important data and their files" EXCEPT User styles (see http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile#Your_important_data_and_their_files) from broken profile XXXXXX.default to YYYYYY.new
do not copy anything else, esp User styles and extensions.

you will lose all your extensions, so you will need to manually download them.

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

@michael37

Did you also have a problem that firefox-branding didn't install and firefox-3.0-branding was left installed?

[michael37 (misha37)]

No, firefox-3.0-branding is removed. Here are the steps that I followed. Hope it helps.

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
<<>>
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  firefox-branding
The following packages will be upgraded:
  firefox firefox-gnome-support
2 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
<<>>
Unpacking firefox-branding (from .../firefox-branding_3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~mfs~hardy1_i386.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox-branding_3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~mfs~hardy1_i386.deb (--unpack):
 trying to overwrite `/usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop', which is also in package firefox-3.0
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste killed by signal (Broken pipe)
<<abort>>

firefox-3.0 firefox-3.0-gnome-support -- remain installed, can't be removed by apt

sudo dpkg --force-all -r firefox-3.0 firefox-3.0-gnome-support
<<works>>

sudo apt-get -f install
<<completes installation>>

$ dpkg -l | grep firefox
ii firefox 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~mfs~hardy1 safe and easy web browser from Mozilla
rc firefox-3.0 3.0.17+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.8.04.1 safe and easy web browser from Mozilla
ii firefox-branding 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~mfs~hardy1 Package that ships the firefox branding
ii firefox-gnome-support 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu1~mfs~hardy1 Support for GNOME in Mozilla Firefox
ii mozilla-firefox-locale-en-gb 2.0.0.7+1-0ubuntu4 Mozilla Firefox English language/region pack

Hope that clarifies.

[Micah Gersten (micahg)]

Thanks for reporting this bug and any supporting documentation. Since this bug has enough information provided for a developer to begin work, I'm going to mark it as Triaged and let them handle it from here. Thanks for taking the time to make Ubuntu better! Please report any other issues you may find.

[goncheff (goncheff)]

@michael37

Thank you Michael. I've first tried to remove .mozilla directory but didn't work. Following your way I've managed to create new default profile and all was good. Next, just from curiosity, removed .mozilla again and start firefox, this time the profile was created normally and starts fine.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package firefox - 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu2

---------------
firefox (3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu2) lucid; urgency=low

  [ Alexander Sack <email address hidden> ]
  * fix firefox-3.5-gnome-support transitional package typo; depend
    on firefox-gnome-support instead of firefox-3.5-gnome-support
    - update debian/control

  [ Michael Vogt <email address hidden> ]
  * add missing Replace: firefox-3.0 for the firefox-branding package
    (LP: #518747). This fixes a upgrade issues from hardy to lucid.
    - update debian/control

  [ Jamie Strandboge <email address hidden> ]
  * debian/firefox.postinst.in:
    - remove AppArmor profile from dailies on upgrades (LP: #512470)
    - remove extraneous -T -W from apparmor_parser
    - check for disabled profile ourselves, since apparmor_parser on Ubuntu
      9.04 and earlier didn't honor the disable/ directory
  * debian/firefox.preinst.in: unconditionally disable the AppArmor profile
    on Ubuntu 9.04 and earlier, since it requires abstractions found only
    in 9.10
  * debian/control: have firefox Depends on lsb-release (needed in preinst)
  * debian/usr.bin.firefox.apparmor.in:
    - adjustments in rules for name change (LP: #513160)
    - allow /usr/bin/tr

  [ Micah Gersten <email address hidden> ]
  * Add replaces to firefox-branding on kubuntu-firefox-installer (LP: #439431)
    - update debian/control
  * Add firefox 3 transitional packages and Replaces/Provides/Conflicts
    (LP: #513074)
    - update debian/control
  * Don't install firefox.xml for adding entries to
    gnome-default-applications-properties (LP: #519606)
    - update debian/control
  * Update rosetta template name to firefox-3.6
    - update debian/translation-support/install.rdf.in
  * Update EM_TRANSLATION variables for firefox 3.6
    - update debian/rules
 -- Micah Gersten <email address hidden> Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:52:12 -0600