[P] [SolydX] Cannot start Firefox, Thunderbird

[c.monty]

Hello!

I have successfully installed SolydX and can use/operate it without issues.
This installation is a multiuser-environment and therefore I have created additional user accounts.
However, I cannot run Firefox, Thunderbird and some other applications with the newly created user accounts.

These new user account have (very) restricted authorizations by means of no administrative rights (don't belong to group sudo, adm.

The root cause for the failure when starting Firefox, Thunderbird is clear: missing authorization

Code: Select all

user2@pc1:~$ firefox
bash: firefox: Kommando nicht gefunden.
user2@pc1:~$ /usr/bin/firefox
bash: /usr/bin/firefox: Keine Berechtigung
user2@pc1:~$ /opt/firefox/firefox
bash: /opt/firefox/firefox: Keine Berechtigung

I have never faced this issue in any other multiuser-environment that I have installed before.
Therefore I'm opening this ticket asking you for support on this issue.

THX

[zerozero]

[moved here]
i don't have idea at the moment why that happens but at least the topic is in a more appropriate place.

[Deleted User 1322]

Hello c.monty

I think you should install the software in your "home". At this place you should be able to start it wihtout "root".

Your topic was a theme in the firefox forum too many years ago. The authors had suggested the same way. Maybe it can be helpful for you:
http://www.camp-firefox.de/forum/viewto ... 46#p211172

[c.monty]

Well, there's one major difference though.
Firefox and Thunderbird are installed automatically with Update Pack 2014.01.15.
This means, this is not a manual installation of any of these applications.

If that is true, I would expect that these applications run for any user operating the system.

And, apart of that, I don't run these applications as root when I'm logged on as initial user created during installation with administrative rights.

Update:
I fixed the issue by reinstalling Firefox and Thunderbird from PPA ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa.

[Arjen Balfoort]

I'm unable to reproduce this issue.
On my main machine I have 5 users, 4 of them belong to only their own group, and all can use FF/TB.

Did you check if you had a symlink /usr/bin/firefox pointing to /opt/firefox/firefox (and the same for thunderbird)?
Have you tried to purge, and then reinstall FF/TB?

You are also taking quite a risk by installing packages from PPA: Ubuntu and Debian do not mix well and it might pose problems later on.

[Deleted User 2763]

Yep... I've borked many a Debian distro just because I saw something shiny in a ppa.
-Hinto

[c.monty]

I'm unable to reproduce this issue.
On my main machine I have 5 users, 4 of them belong to only their own group, and all can use FF/TB.

Did you check if you had a symlink /usr/bin/firefox pointing to /opt/firefox/firefox (and the same for thunderbird)?
Have you tried to purge, and then reinstall FF/TB?

You are also taking quite a risk by installing packages from PPA: Ubuntu and Debian do not mix well and it might pose problems later on.

Hi!

I have tried to reinstall FF / TB by purging existing installation. But this fails with another error.
In the first lines you can see the installed packages from different PPA.

Code: Select all

user@pc1:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$ apt-cache policy firefox-locale-de
firefox-locale-de:
  Installiert:           27.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
  Installationskandidat: 27.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
  Versionstabelle:
 *** 27.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
user@pc1:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$ apt-cache policy firefox-l10n-de
firefox-l10n-de:
  Installiert:           27.0
  Installationskandidat: 27.0
  Versionstabelle:
 *** 27.0 0
        700 http://solydxk.ogun.org/packages/production/ solydxk/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
user@pc1:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$ apt-cache policy firefox
firefox:
  Installiert:           27.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
  Installationskandidat: 27.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
  Versionstabelle:
 *** 27.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     27.0 0
        700 http://solydxk.ogun.org/packages/production/ solydxk/main i386 Packages


user@pc1:/etc/apt/sources.list.d$ sudo apt-get remove --purge firefox firefox-locale-de firefox-l10n-de 
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
Abhängigkeitsbaum wird aufgebaut.       
Statusinformationen werden eingelesen.... Fertig
Die folgenden Pakete werden ENTFERNT:
  firefox* firefox-l10n-de* firefox-locale-de*
0 aktualisiert, 0 neu installiert, 3 zu entfernen und 0 nicht aktualisiert.
Nach dieser Operation werden 77,6 MB Plattenplatz freigegeben.
Möchten Sie fortfahren? [J/n] j
(Lese Datenbank ... 183886 Dateien und Verzeichnisse sind derzeit installiert.)
Entfernen von firefox (27.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
Löschen der Konfigurationsdateien von firefox (27.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
Entfernen von firefox-l10n-de (27.0) ...
Entfernen von firefox-locale-de (27.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
Trigger für solydxk-system (1.1.5) werden verarbeitet ...
Trigger für man-db (2.6.5-2) werden verarbeitet ...
Trigger für desktop-file-utils (0.22-1) werden verarbeitet ...
Trigger für mime-support (3.54) werden verarbeitet ...

user@pc1:/opt/storeBackup$ sudo apt-get install firefox firefox-l10n-de
Paketlisten werden gelesen... Fertig
Abhängigkeitsbaum wird aufgebaut.       
Statusinformationen werden eingelesen.... Fertig
Die folgenden NEUEN Pakete werden installiert:
  firefox firefox-l10n-de
0 aktualisiert, 2 neu installiert, 0 zu entfernen und 0 nicht aktualisiert.
Es müssen 31,7 MB an Archiven heruntergeladen werden.
Nach dieser Operation werden 60,2 MB Plattenplatz zusätzlich benutzt.
Holen: 1 http://solydxk.ogun.org/packages/production/ solydxk/main firefox-l10n-de i386 27.0 [12,0 MB]
Holen: 2 http://solydxk.ogun.org/packages/production/ solydxk/main firefox i386 27.0 [19,7 MB]
Es wurden 31,7 MB in 25 s geholt (1.238 kB/s).                                 
Vormals nicht ausgewähltes Paket firefox-l10n-de wird gewählt.
(Lese Datenbank ... 183759 Dateien und Verzeichnisse sind derzeit installiert.)
Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von .../firefox-l10n-de_27.0_i386.deb ...
Entpacken von firefox-l10n-de (27.0) ...
Vorbereitung zum Entpacken von .../archives/firefox_27.0_i386.deb ...
ls: Zugriff auf /opt/firefox/dictionaries nicht möglich: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
rm: das Entfernen von „/opt/firefox/dictionaries“ ist nicht möglich: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
dpkg: Fehler beim Bearbeiten des Archivs /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_27.0_i386.deb (--unpack):
 Unterprozess neues pre-installation-Skript gab den Fehlerwert 1 zurück
Fehler traten auf beim Bearbeiten von:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_27.0_i386.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

user@pc1:/opt/storeBackup$ ls -l /opt/
insgesamt 24
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mär  9 11:23 daily_backup
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Mär  9 16:17 firefox
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mär  3 07:12 solydxk-flashplugin
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Mär  9 14:01 storeBackup
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mär  8 20:50 thunderbird
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Mär  9 14:46 tor-browser
user@pc1:/opt/storeBackup$ ls -l /opt/firefox/
insgesamt 7872
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    4096 Mär  9 16:17 browser
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8055825 Jan 28 08:43 omni.ja

For me this is very confusing, too. Because I never made such an experience with any other distro.

THX

Update:
I fixed the installation error by creating directory /opt/firefox/dictionaries.
After that, FF and TB are working again.

[Arjen Balfoort]

I'm glad you fixed it, but as Hinto says above: you'll bork your system by using PPA in Debian based distributions like SolydXK. You don't throw diesel in a gasoline driven car, or visa versa. Sooner or later the engine will come to a grinding halt.

[zerozero]

well, topic moved again;
not a bug.

[zerozero]

a couple observations

1- the usage of PPA's in debian-based is risky at best and entails serious compatibility problems; usually it's the best way to destroy an install;
not wanting to discuss the reasoning behind the usage of this particular PPA, i have to, however, consider it odd.

2- i see that you are using a preferences file that gives the solydxk repos preference over the other repos

700 http://solydxk.ogun.org/packages/production/ solydxk/main i386 Packages

this is not our default, was deprecated some time ago and is prone to cause you serious issues in the short term.

[Arjen Balfoort]

Didn't even see the preferences thingy

[sumitb]

I also second that, there is no problem with Firefox and Thunderbird for normal as well as admin users on my 2 months old, moderately tweaked SolydK install. I use kuser tool to create users and all of them work just fine out of the box.

There seem to be some permission related issue with the machine.

[c.monty]

I will undo any changes in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and reset file /etc/apt/preferences to avoid any mixture of Debian and Ubuntu software packages.

THX