Error loading the runtime (/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libnssutil3.so: undefined symbol: PL_ClearArenaPool)

[nutznboltz]

Binary package hint: firefox

Upgraded to Firefox 3.6.10 only to discover this major regression.

Try installing tweetdeck now. You will get

Error loading the runtime (/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libnssutil3.so: undefined symbol: PL_ClearArenaPool)

I'm sure that the impact is much more than that. Go search for yourself to see the impact:
http://goo.gl/OA0o

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: firefox 3.6.10+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.10.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-24.42-generic 2.6.32.15+drm33.5
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-24-generic i686
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Sep 17 09:05:36 2010
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
FirefoxPackages:
 firefox 3.6.10+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.10.04.1
 firefox-gnome-support 3.6.10+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.10.04.1
 firefox-branding 3.6.10+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.10.04.1
 abroswer N/A
 abrowser-branding N/A
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100427.1)
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Firefox's own nspr has that symbol, but the system nspr is slightly older and misses that symbol.

That doesn't matter though, as FIrefox loads it's own copy of nspr rather than the one in /usr/lib (unless you've done something to your system which changes that). You get that error when loading firefox, right?

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

$ dpkg -S /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libnssutil3.so
firefox: /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libnssutil3.so

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

Chris, what part of

Error loading the runtime (/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libnssutil3.so: undefined symbol: PL_ClearArenaPool)

makes you think that this problem is in /usr/lib/libnssutil3.so and not /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libnssutil3.so ?

Thanks

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

I didn't say that. Firefox's copy of nss depends on a symbol in nspr which isn't present in the system copy in /usr/lib. That doesn't matter though because Firefox uses it's own copy of nspr, which does have this symbol.

I'm not sure how you've managed to get in to this situation really, Firefox loads it's own copy of nss and nspr by default, and so this will never happen normally

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Please post the output of "nm -D /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libplds4.so"

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

http://ubuntuone.com/p/GT7/

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

So, it has the correct symbol. You are just launching firefox normally?

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

I typed in "firefox" from a bash shell prompt.

The
Error loading the runtime (/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libnssutil3.so: undefined symbol: PL_ClearArenaPool)
message did not appear until I attempted to install tweetdeck.

Looking at ps output the Adobe Air process that Firefox had launch was a zombie by then.

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

I've got no idea then. I just installed Lucid, upgraded Firefox to 3.6.10, installed Air from the partner repo and installed Tweetdeck, and everything still works fine (neither tweetdeck or Air appear to be doing anything to Firefox).

When I launch Firefox, it still loads it's own copy of nspr, just like it did before.

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Could you post the output of "ldd /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libnssutil3.so" too please?

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Hmmm, Adobe Air does ship it's own private copy of NSS and NSPR :/

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

I used strace to confirm that the error message
Error loading the runtime (/usr/lib/firefox-3.6.10/libnssutil3.so: undefined symbol: PL_ClearArenaPool)
is coming from Adobe Air.

This used to work prior to the upgrade to firefox 3.6.10.

Have they messed with $LD_LIBRARY_PATH or another of the myriad things that control which share libraries are selected?

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

I tried with a system that still had firefox 3.6.9 due to not being upgraded and the same failure occurred.

I can work-around this with

w3m http://www.tweetdeck.com/go/download/tweetdeck

To download the current tweetdeck.

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

Super-convenient way to install Tweetdeck on Ubuntu Linux:

1) If you haven't activated the Canonical Partners Repository follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu#Adding%20Canonical%20Partner%20Repositories

2) Next install Adobe AIR. This can be done with Ubuntu Software Center or Synaptic or

sudo aptitude install adobeair

3) Now fetch the current Tweetdeck:

w3m http://www.tweetdeck.com/go/download/tweetdeck

4) then run:

sudo "/usr/bin/Adobe AIR Application Installer" `pwd`/TweetDeck_*.air

Don't forget to uncheck "Start application after installation" during the installation.

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

But it used to work with clicking on the "download tweetdeck" using firefox and I don't know exactly what broke.

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Well, nothing "broke" as such. I suspect what has happened is that something on your install has been making Firefox load the Adobe Air copy of nspr even before you noticed it was happening. That was just pure luck that it ever worked before, because it had all the features that Firefox needed. The latest version of Firefox now depends on a feature only present in it's own (and newer) copy of nspr though.

Anyway, this doesn't seem like a bug with our Firefox package, so I'm closing it.

Thanks

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

typical.

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9866195&postcount=9

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

I'm sorry that I spent nearly my entire day on Friday trying to recreate this issue (unsuccessfully).

What do you expect from me? You've installed a third party application which has broken your Firefox install by most likely causing it to load an unsupported copy of nspr (that is the only way that error could occur, as you've already demonstrated that the Firefox copy of nspr on your system has the required symbols necessary for it to run). I'm not sure what you expect me to do there, other than recommend you to report it to the vendor of the software which actually broke it.

[nutznboltz (nutznboltz-deactivatedaccount)]

So you built a new KVM guest, activated the partners repository, installed

adobeair
flashplugin-installer

then went to

http://www.tweetdeck.com/desktop/

clicked on the "Download Now It's Free" link and Tweetdeck installed for you?

[Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson)]

Yes, it works fine