Firefox Issues

[billquinn]

I am becoming increasingly disappointed in Firefox. There has been considerable forum discussion of certain behaviors of 3.x.x that represent changes from 2.x.x that made Firefox worse rather than better. I agreed, but my complaint right now is a little different. I do a yum upgrade almost every night. Back in the "old days" with Firefox 2.x.x., the Firefox updates through yum worked beautifully: the plugins were uneffected (i.e., still worked without having to be reinstalled), and the Firefox icon in the Gnome panel still executed the program.

When I got the update for 3.0.2 a while back, I discovered that although there were still a bunch of Totem plugins in the /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.2/plugins directory, my Flash, Adobe Reader, mozplugger, and Java plugins were now missing. They were still in the /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins directory, but they were no longer in the ...firefox-3.0.2/plugins directory. I had to reinstall them.

I also think that Firefox used to be able to read the duplicate set of plugins in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins. Maybe I'm wrong on this point though. But updates certainly should not destroy or delete existing plugins in the Firefox plugins directory.

Now, just last night, yum installed Firefox-3.0.4. Not only are the old faithful Totem plugins missing, but the whole /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.4/plugins directory is completely gone!!!

"about:plugins"

revealed that NO plugins were currently installed. Then, just to rub salt into the wound, the Firefox icon on the Gnome panel no longer worked. I had to manually change the command line in the properties to access the new Firefox program!

What is happening with Firefox?

I guess the simplest question to ask after my tirade of complaints is this: is there a way to make Firefox 3.0.4 read and use the plugins in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins? Then I would not have to create the plugins directory in the Firefox directory and reinstall ALL the plugins. I don't even know how to install the Totem plugins.

Another question might be: Is it time to switch to SeaMonkey?

[pwca]

Your experience I think is just that: Yours.

I have updated through all the same versions as you using yum (including the present 3.0.4) and never has the update: a) deleted plugins or b) required me to re-install plugins.

Furthermore, I've noticed markedly increased speeds when surfing the web and no freeze-ups like with 3.0.1 or 3.0.2.

I just wish Firefox would be more security conscious than they are. Almost seems like they're on a kick to be as insecure as possible.

[billquinn]

Your experience I think is just that: Yours.

That doesn't change the fact that the effects I described did occur. There must be a reason.

(1) 3.0.2 had a plugins directory with installed plugins.

(2) I mere executed "yum upgrade"; Firefox 3.0.4 was installed, along with about twenty other upgrades.

(3) Now there is no plugins directory at all, and "about plugins" said no plugins present.

(4) The Gnome icon still had firefox-3.0.2

[pwca]

I'm not saying that it didn't occur. What I'm saying is that you seem to be the only fellow experiencing this difficulty. I was letting you know my experience so that you could possibly re-evaluate your assertion that it's Firefox's fault or Yum's. It could very well be something else performing these acts you've experienced.

The only part where I flat-out disagree with you concerns Firefox's reliability. I believe it's gotten better not worse as you claim. We disagree... so what. :-)

[billquinn]

The only part where I flat-out disagree with you concerns Firefox's reliability. I believe it's gotten better not worse as you claim.

You mentioned increased speed and fewer freeze-ups. I never mentioned those issues. They very well might represent improvement. After all, from a statistical standpoint based on how many changes are actually made, something has to be improved with a new version.

However, the chain of events I related do prima facie indicate a problem with Firefox (not yum; I never suggested yum might be at fault). If the problem is not Firefox, I am, of course, open to another explanation of the problem. That I have yet to read.

As far as Firefox having "gotten better not worse," I stand by what I said at the beginning of my opening paragraph in my first post. Some changes, in the opinion of many users, DID make 3.x.x "worse" and not "better." I refer to the operation of the "smart location bar." This can be documented by checking the Firefox forum:

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/...Website+Forums

A search on "smart location bar" will reveal numerous complaints regarding 3.x.x. I fully agree with these complaints. Much of the discussion revolved around how to make 3.x.x behave more like 2.x.x. in this regard. As additional evidence that this was a step in the wrong direction and that 2.x.x. was superior on this issue, it also has come out on the forum that 3.1 will include a new option that will enable restoring 2.x.x-type behavior for the smart location bar.

But all that is simply an academic debate. Although interesting, it is not directly related to the sequence of events I summarized with reference to my latest upgrade to 3.0.4. I am still anxious to read an explanation.

.

[pwca]

Have you downloaded the rpm for Firefox, extracted the files from the rpm and then looked through the install scripts to see what exactly they are doing? That's the first step I would have done before posting a thread dumping on Firefox. Another step, of course would have been to see if the problem happens every time you attempt to install/upgrade. Have you filed a bug report with bugzilla yet? Or searched bugzilla for anything on this behaviour your experiencing? Finally, if you're concerned about having to constantly update your plugins then why not use Dangermouses' install script for all these things. http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=171660

[Dan]

Moved to Linux Chat.

No support question asked.

[billquinn]

Have you downloaded the rpm for Firefox, extracted the files from the rpm and then looked through the install scripts to see what exactly they are doing? That's the first step I would have done before posting a thread dumping on Firefox.

What I would have done was courteously make these suggestions in my first response instead of taking criticism of Firefox as a personal attack and responding accordingly.

[Rincewindcl]

I experienced a few crashes recently in Firefox. I've noticed that my copy of Vista is very unstable, but updated on my 'nix today and have not had any trouble so far....

[PatMcLJr]

It's a free world, in Linuxland anyway.

I like Firefox, I used to be a huge Opera fan, but now a days is all SeaMonkey!

Best of Luck,
Pat Jr.

[Dan]

Hmmm.

Ok, Bill. I missed the question the first skim through. I think it got lost in the vitriol. I've edited your original post to remove the smiley. The code tags work well for that.

I think the heavy dissappointment and attitude expressed in your first post, and to some degree, your last post, may be resulting in less than satisfactory answers. But ... it is what it is, and you sure aren't the first guy to get heartily frustrated by software, so I suspect rather than react to negative posts, you may be better served to just ignore the less useful ones, and concentrate on positive responses.

Don't feel like the lone stranger here, though. The last round of F8 updates cold-blooded-killed my Firefox multimedia functions too. <....>

[n3t]

I just updated mine on the 14 and firefox is just about the only thing that worked right after that. All my plugins seem to be in order..

Installed plugins
Find more information about browser plugins at mozilla.org.
Help for installing plugins is available from plugindoc.mozdev.org.
Shockwave Flash

    File name: nswrapper_32_64.libflashplayer.so
    Shockwave Flash 10.0 r12

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
application/x-shockwave-flash     Shockwave Flash     swf     Yes
application/futuresplash     FutureSplash Player     spl     Yes
Helix DNA Plugin: RealPlayer G2 Plug-In Compatible

    File name: nswrapper_32_64.nphelix.so
    Helix DNA Plugin: RealPlayer G2 Plug-In Compatible version 0.4.0.4005 built with gcc 3.4.3 on Feb 25 2008

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin     RealPlayer Plugin Metafile     rpm     Yes
VLC Multimedia Plug-in

    File name: nswrapper_64_64.libvlcplugin.so
    Version 0.9.5 Grishenko, copyright 1996-2007 The VideoLAN Team
    http://www.videolan.org/

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
audio/mpeg     MPEG audio     mp2,mp3,mpga,mpega     Yes
audio/x-mpeg     MPEG audio     mp2,mp3,mpga,mpega     Yes
video/mpeg     MPEG video     mpg,mpeg,mpe     Yes
video/x-mpeg     MPEG video     mpg,mpeg,mpe     Yes
video/mpeg-system     MPEG video     mpg,mpeg,mpe,vob     Yes
video/x-mpeg-system     MPEG video     mpg,mpeg,mpe,vob     Yes
audio/x-mpegurl     MPEG audio     m3u     Yes
video/mp4     MPEG-4 video     mp4,mpg4     Yes
audio/mp4     MPEG-4 audio     mp4,mpg4     Yes
audio/x-m4a     MPEG-4 audio     m4a     Yes
application/mpeg4-iod     MPEG-4 video     mp4,mpg4     Yes
application/mpeg4-muxcodetable     MPEG-4 video     mp4,mpg4     Yes
video/x-msvideo     AVI video     avi     Yes
video/quicktime     QuickTime video     mov,qt     Yes
application/x-ogg     Ogg stream     ogg     Yes
application/ogg     Ogg stream     ogg     Yes
application/x-vlc-plugin     VLC plug-in     vlc     Yes
video/x-ms-asf-plugin     Windows Media Video     asf,asx     Yes
video/x-ms-asf     Windows Media Video     asf,asx     Yes
application/x-mplayer2     Windows Media         Yes
video/x-ms-wmv     Windows Media     wmv     Yes
video/x-ms-wvx     Windows Media Video     wvx     Yes
audio/x-ms-wma     Windows Media Audio     wma     Yes
application/x-google-vlc-plugin     Google VLC plug-in         Yes
audio/wav     WAV audio     wav     Yes
audio/x-wav     WAV audio     wav     Yes
audio/3gpp     3GPP audio     3gp,3gpp     Yes
video/3gpp     3GPP video     3gp,3gpp     Yes
audio/3gpp2     3GPP2 audio     3g2,3gpp2     Yes
video/3gpp2     3GPP2 video     3g2,3gpp2     Yes
video/divx     DivX video     divx     Yes
video/flv     FLV video     flv     Yes
video/x-flv     FLV video     flv     Yes
video/x-matroska     Matroska video     mkv     Yes
audio/x-matroska     Matroska audio     mka     Yes
application/xspf+xml     Playlist xspf     xspf     Yes
DivX Browser Plug-In

    File name: gecko-mediaplayer-dvx.so
    Gecko Media Player 0.9.0

    Video Player Plug-in for QuickTime, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player streams using MPlayer

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
video/divx     DivX Media Format     divx     Yes
video/vnd.divx     DivX Media Format     divx     Yes
QuickTime Plug-in 7.4.5

    File name: gecko-mediaplayer-qt.so
    Gecko Media Player 0.9.0

    Video Player Plug-in for QuickTime, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player streams using MPlayer

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
video/quicktime     Quicktime     mov     Yes
video/x-quicktime     Quicktime     mov     Yes
image/x-quicktime     Quicktime     mov     Yes
video/quicktime     Quicktime     mp4     Yes
video/quicktime     Quicktime - Session Description Protocol     sdp     Yes
application/x-quicktimeplayer     Quicktime     mov     Yes
RealPlayer 9

    File name: gecko-mediaplayer-rm.so
    Gecko Media Player 0.9.0

    Video Player Plug-in for QuickTime, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player streams using MPlayer

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
audio/x-pn-realaudio     RealAudio     ram,rm     Yes
application/vnd.rn-realmedia     RealMedia     rm     Yes
application/vnd.rn-realaudio     RealAudio     ra,ram     Yes
video/vnd.rn-realvideo     RealVideo     rv     Yes
audio/x-realaudio     RealAudio     ra     Yes
audio/x-pn-realaudio-plugin     RealAudio     rpm     Yes
application/smil     SMIL     smil     Yes
Windows Media Player Plug-in

    File name: gecko-mediaplayer-wmp.so
    Gecko Media Player 0.9.0

    Video Player Plug-in for QuickTime, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player streams using MPlayer

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
application/asx     Media Files     *     Yes
video/x-ms-asf-plugin     Media Files     *     Yes
video/x-msvideo     AVI     avi,*     Yes
video/msvideo     AVI     avi,*     Yes
application/x-mplayer2     Media Files     *     Yes
application/x-ms-wmv     Microsoft WMV video     wmv,*     Yes
video/x-ms-asf     Media Files     asf,asx,*     Yes
video/x-ms-wm     Media Files     wm,*     Yes
video/x-ms-wmv     Microsoft WMV video     wmv,*     Yes
audio/x-ms-wmv     Windows Media     wmv,*     Yes
video/x-ms-wmp     Windows Media     wmp,*     Yes
application/x-ms-wmp     Windows Media     wmp,*     Yes
video/x-ms-wvx     Windows Media     wvx,*     Yes
audio/x-ms-wax     Windows Media     wax,*     Yes
audio/x-ms-wma     Windows Media     wma,*     Yes
application/x-drm-v2     Windows Media     asx,*     Yes
audio/wav     Microsoft wave file     wav,*     Yes
audio/x-wav     Microsoft wave file     wav,*     Yes
gecko-mediaplayer 0.9.0

    File name: gecko-mediaplayer.so
    Gecko Media Player 0.9.0

    Video Player Plug-in for QuickTime, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player streams using MPlayer

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
video/mpeg     MPEG     mpg,mpeg     Yes
audio/mpeg     MPEG     mpg,mpeg     Yes
video/x-mpeg     MPEG     mpg,mpeg     Yes
video/x-mpeg2     MPEG2     mpv2,mp2ve     Yes
audio/mpeg     MPEG     mpg,mpeg     Yes
audio/x-mpeg     MPEG     mpg,mpeg     Yes
audio/mpeg2     MPEG audio     mp2     Yes
audio/x-mpeg2     MPEG audio     mp2     Yes
audio/mp4     MPEG 4 audio     mp4     Yes
audio/x-mp4     MPEG 4 audio     mp4     Yes
video/mp4     MPEG 4 Video     mp4     Yes
video/x-m4v     MPEG 4 Video     m4v     Yes
video/3gpp     MPEG 4 Video     mp4,3gp     Yes
audio/mpeg3     MPEG audio     mp3     Yes
audio/x-mpeg3     MPEG audio     mp3     Yes
audio/x-mpegurl     MPEG url     m3u     Yes
audio/mp3     MPEG audio     mp3     Yes
application/x-ogg     Ogg Vorbis Media     ogg     Yes
audio/ogg     Ogg Vorbis Audio     ogg     Yes
audio/x-ogg     Ogg Vorbis Audio     ogg     Yes
application/ogg     Ogg Vorbis / Ogg Theora     ogg     Yes
audio/flac     FLAC Audio     flac     Yes
audio/x-flac     FLAC Audio     flac     Yes
video/fli     FLI animation     fli,flc     Yes
video/x-fli     FLI animation     fli,flc     Yes
video/x-flv     Flash Video     flv     Yes
video/vnd.vivo     VivoActive     viv,vivo     Yes
audio/x-matroska     Matroska Audio     mka     Yes
video/x-matroska     Matroska Video     mkv     Yes
application/x-nsv-vp3-mp3     Nullsoft Streaming Video     nsv     Yes
audio/x-mod     Soundtracker     mod     Yes
audio/basic     Basic Audio File     au,snd     Yes
audio/x-basic     Basic Audio File     au,snd     Yes
audio/midi     MIDI Audio     mid,midi,kar     Yes
audio/x-scpls     Shoutcast Playlist     pls     Yes
NPAPI Plugins Wrapper 1.1.2

    File name: npwrapper.so
    nspluginwrapper is a cross-platform NPAPI plugin viewer, in particular for linux/i386 plugins.
    This is beta software available under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
unknown/mime-type     Do not open     none     Yes
GCJ Web Browser Plugin (using IcedTea) 1.2

    File name: gcjwebplugin.so
    The GCJ Web Browser Plugin (using IcedTea) executes Java applets.

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
application/x-java-vm     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.2     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.1.3     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.2     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.2.2     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.3     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.3.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.4     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.4.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.4.2     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.5     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;version=1.6     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-applet;jpi-version=1.6.0_00     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.1.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.1.2     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.1.3     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.2     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.2.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.2.2     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.3     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.3.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.4     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.4.1     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.4.2     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.5     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;version=1.6     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
application/x-java-bean;jpi-version=1.6.0_00     IcedTea     class,jar     Yes
iTunes Application Detector

    File name: librhythmbox-itms-detection-plugin.so
    This plug-in detects the presence of iTunes when opening iTunes Store URLs in a web page with Firefox.

MIME Type     Description     Suffixes     Enabled
application/itunes-plugin             Yes 

[Dan]

Thanks for the PM, Bill.

Truth is, I got distracted and forgot. <....>

Moved to General support.

[JungleNut]

Your experience I think is just that: Yours.

I'm afraid not. I have exactly the same issue - all my plugins have disappeared from Firefox after updating to 3.0.4 via yum. The odd thing is that it is only on my pc, while my laptop was updated exactly the same way and still has the plugins.

I dont see any solution posted to the question in the OP, i.e. "is there a way to make Firefox 3.0.4 read and use the plugins in /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins? ".

[oystercatcher]

Being a dial up user, I dont update automatically and firefox3 was a long time in coming.

[pstan@juglans cdiso]$ rpm -qa | grep firefox
firefox-3.0.1-1.fc8.remi

I am pretty sure that I removed firefox2 before upgrading. I keep the xpi files on disk for most of
my addons so I guess the missing plugins was not noticed. But I can confirm that firefox3 can
completely lock up my fc8 system, it happened again just this morning.
[pstan@juglans cdiso]$ uname -r
2.6.24.4-64.fc8

It seems that to happen if I am moving the mouse cursor on a terminal window while firefox is trying to start up.
firefox does start up and the mouse cursor is able to move but the keyboard is completely locked up and
I have to reset the computer. I haven't tried to ssh in to see if that works. This time around I didn't
touch the mouse until firefox was up and running.