In Ubuntu Lucid Beta 1, firefox crashes on start, triggering apport "eternal loop" of bug reporting

[Anders]

Binary package hint: firefox

Command to repeat bug:
$ firefox -safe-mode -no-remote http://www.vg.no
Attempting to load the system libmoon
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

(I tried reinstalling libmoon to no avail)

Apport picks up the crash and offers to report the bug in ... firefox (the default browser). The only way to break the loop was to install an alternative browser (chromium) and report the bug through that.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Mar 21 14:12:57 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
FirefoxPackages:
 firefox 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu6
 firefox-gnome-support 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu6
 firefox-branding 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu6
 abroswer N/A
 abrowser-branding N/A
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release Candidate i386 (20091020.3)
Package: firefox 3.6+nobinonly-0ubuntu6
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-16.25-generic
SourcePackage: firefox
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-16-generic i686

[amias (amias)]

i had this problem , i started in safe-mode and chose to disable addons . this made it start ok.
i then closed it and restarted normally and it worked ok.

it then failed again and i did the same but checked the addon list and found that the web developer toolbar and split panel addons that i'm using where flag as not compatible , i disabled them and restarted and it all seems fine again.

maybe a bug in the handing of incompatible addons ?

[Anders (andersja+launchpad-net)]

Given that noone should be on Lucid Beta anymore, I suspect this bug can be closed...?

Thanks for everyone's hard work on Ubuntu - keep up the good work!

[Alejandro Mery (amery)]

probably :-)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Anders, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. However, your crash report is missing. Please follow these instructions to have apport report a new bug about your crash that can be dealt with by the automatic retracer. First, execute at a terminal:
cd /var/crash && sudo rm * ; sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade && sudo apt-get -y install firefox-dbg && sudo service apport start force_start=1

If you are running the Ubuntu Stable Release you might need to enable apport in /etc/default/apport and restart.

Now reproduce the crash, then open your file manager, navigate to your /var/crash directory and open the crash report you wish to submit.
If this fails you will have to open a terminal and file your report with 'ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash' where _my_crash_report.crash is the crash you would like to report. If you get an error that you aren't allowed to access this report you will have to file it with 'sudo ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash'. If you run the command against the crash report and a window pops up asking you to report this, but then never opens a new report, you would be affected by https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apport/+bug/994921 . In order to WORKAROUND this, one would need to open the following file via a command line:
gksudo gedit /etc/apport/crashdb.conf

and comment out the line:
'problem_types': ['Bug', 'Package'],

by changing it to:
# 'problem_types': ['Bug', 'Package'],

Save, close, and try to file the crash report again via:
ubuntu-bug /var/crash/_my_crash_report.crash

Please follow https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Bugs when you file this crash report so the necessary information is provided.

I'm closing this bug report since the process outlined above will automatically open a new bug report which can then dealt with more efficiently.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs