I’m going to use this guide to downgrade Firefox to something around version 127 or below because I did not have this issue with earlier versions of FF.
Btw where does Firefox store crash logs? I typed “about:crashes” in the URL bar but it says that “No crash reports have been submitted”. I have also used journalctl to find these errors but I’m not sure how relevant they are:
org.mozilla.firefox.desktop[15004]: Exiting due to channel error.
org.mozilla.firefox.desktop[49355]: [Parent 2, Main Thread] WARNING: g_strv_length: assertion ‘str_array != NULL’ failed: ‘glib warning’, file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:187
firefox-bin[49355]: g_strv_length: assertion ‘str_array != NULL’ failed
An aside to the technical question of how to migrate profiles to older versions:
DO NOT DOWNGRADE FIREFOX BELOW 131.0.2 OR ESR 128.3.1, 115.16.1
I feel that given this recent vulnerability, it is important to make this notice.
Otherwise:
For migrating profiles between the same major version, Mozilla provides a guide for full profile migration. This also works with forwards compatibility. I generally wouldn’t try to go backwards however as many new major versions change the data format and contents of your profiles, which older versions have no idea how to interpret.
For downgrading, it’s best to export bookmarks, go through your important addons and backup the settings for each one that needs configuration, and take note of anything you’re previously modified in about:config to your preference. Perhaps take screenshots of your tab bar and overflow menu as well so you can recustomize them to your liking easily on the downgraded version.
in firefox you could export bookmarks and passwords but be aware that passwords will be exported in plain text.
because its running as flatpak, the exported files should be somewhere in $HOME/.var/app/
Thanks
@sun_is_ra @KickassWomen You can run Firefox as flatpak, snap, or you can use the Mozilla repository and install as .deb package. However no matter which way you use it, the video is broken on some Youtube videos, Bitchute has no audio, and Netflix won’t play at all, which is why I switched to Thorium.
Am using latest version of firefox but I am running it directly (no snap, flatpak, …). I have zero problem with youtube videos
@sun_is_ra Great, what OS are you running, what release? I’m on Ubuntu-Mate 24.04, did not have issues with 22.04, but Thorium is working fine on 24.04.
I am running Gentoo. Could be something Ubuntu related? Also is it possible that your Firefox profile was corrupted somehow and when you installed Thorium you got a fresh profile and that’s why it worked well?
@sun_is_ra Oh definitely related, it was working ok under 22.04 not 24.04, but I suspect it has something to do with decoder ffmpeg, as other applications using it also have issues with H.264 v10 video. However Thorium does not. Perhaps it has it’s own decoder rather than using ffmpeg.
For me sites like YouTube, Rumble, Odysee, and Bitchute work but unfortunately this version of flatpak Firefox is giving me problems.
Have you tried a fresh profile? I used a years old profile over multiple systems and it caused similar hangs that I could not figure out, until I created a fresh one.
Interesting, I have never tried this before.
I’ll try out your solution and get back to you.
If you want a more stable version firefox-esr could be helpful
@299792458ms @KickassWomen Problem with downgrading Firefux is that an older release won’t read a newer releases profile.
I’ve been having issues with Firefox since v128, and I’ve tried snap, flatpak, and straight from the Mozilla repository. I ended up switching to Thorium which works with all the same plugins I was using for Firefox, has the same general layout, AND can import my bookmarks and passwords from Firefox so it was a pretty seamless transition.
I appreciate your recommendation but I’m boycotting Google and as much of its tech as possible—that’s why I was using Firefox.
@KickassWomen Alexander Frick is the lead developer of the Thorium browser. Thorium is a cross-platform, open-source web browser based on Chromium. That’s Chromium as in the open source browser, not Chrome as in the Google browser, and it still has the old API that works with ad-blockers. I am using ublock origin with it and it works great.
It uses Google’s Chromium engine, that’s the problem.
@KickassWomen It is primarily maintained by them but it is an open sourced project and there are other contributors. But whatever, if you find something that doesn’t involve Google and still properly functions and doesn’t do slimy tactics like replace a vendors ads with it’s own, AKA Brave, I’m interested, in the meantime I need something that at least functions which Firefux ceased to do.
It is primarily maintained by them but it is an open sourced project and there are other contributors.
Chromium may be technically open-source, but Google still controls it and has been caught abusing that power before. People concerned about privacy have good reason avoid it.
I’m using FF always the latest version in a .deb format, native, never had a problem, in YT or others videos site
@Magister @KickassWomen What OS and release? As I mentioned, I didn’t have issue with 22.04 Ubuntu but do with 24.04 Ubuntu-Mate.
I’m using MX Linux Xfce (Debian based), whenever a new FF is released, it takes a few hours or the next day to have it appears in my update
