"Restart Firefox" button quits but doesn't restart after Firefox upgrades

[Marius Gedminas]

When I upgrade Firefox via apt upgrade (or, more often, Update Manager) and open a new tab, Firefox shows a page telling me that it's been upgraded and I need to restart it before I can continue browsing.

There's a "Restart Firefox" button. I press it, Firefox quits, and then fails to restart. I have to start Firefox myself.

This is similar to bug 80773, but that one was fixed back in 2012, so I think this is a new one.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: firefox 81.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-51.56-generic 5.4.65
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-51-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.9
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: mg 3603 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: mg 3603 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20201012085804
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
Channel: Unavailable
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Fri Oct 16 09:13:04 2020
DefaultProfileExtensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
DefaultProfileIncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
DefaultProfileLocales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
DefaultProfilePrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:733
DefaultProfileThemes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
ForcedLayersAccel: False
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-10-08 (7 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
Profile0Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile0IncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
Profile0Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profile0PrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:733
Profile0PrefSources: prefs.js
Profile0Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
Profiles:
 Profile1 (Default) - LastVersion=None/None (Out of date)
 Profile0 - LastVersion=81.0/20200917005511 (Out of date)
RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 04/22/2020
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: N1QET88W (1.63 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 20HES2142P
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: SDK0J40697 WIN
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: None
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrN1QET88W(1.63):bd04/22/2020:svnLENOVO:pn20HES2142P:pvrThinkPadT470:rvnLENOVO:rn20HES2142P:rvrSDK0J40697WIN:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNone:
dmi.product.family: ThinkPad T470
dmi.product.name: 20HES2142P
dmi.product.sku: LENOVO_MT_20HE_BU_Think_FM_ThinkPad T470
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T470
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Hans Joachim Desserud (hjd)]

Thanks for reporting.

I've also seen this behaviour, did some digging and found this report and bug 1871009. Since the other one has more discussion I'll mark this as a duplicate and leave a comment.