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Accepted
rmmariano
Asked: 2019-11-02 17:45:27 +0800 CST

Firefox 71.0 is not working on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

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For some reason, Firefox 71.0 is not working on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

I updated my Firefox through apt get upgrade to 71.0 version and Firefox does not open anymore. When I try to open the browser, just a crash message appears:

enter image description here

I tried to downgrade to 70.0 version, but another message appears, related to my bookmarks can corrupt with the downgrade.

enter image description here

I would like to know if there is an option either to upgrade my Firefox and it starts to work, or downgrade to 70.0 version again and my bookmarks do not corrupt.

Thank you in advance.

EDIT 1:

Firefox 71.0 version appears when I use apt-cache show firefox | grep Version:

Version: 71.0~b6+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
Version: 70.0+build2-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
Version: 45.0.2+build1-0ubuntu1

As @guiverc explained, according to here, 70 is the latest version. I don't know how I have 71 version available.

When I use apt-cache show firefox, the following message appears:

Package: firefox
Priority: optional
Section: web
Installed-Size: 191346
Maintainer: Ubuntu Mozilla Team <[email protected]>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 71.0~b6+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
Recommends: xul-ext-ubufox, libcanberra0, libdbusmenu-glib4, libdbusmenu-gtk3-4
Replaces: kubuntu-firefox-installer
Suggests: fonts-lyx
Provides: gnome-www-browser, iceweasel, www-browser
Depends: lsb-release, libatk1.0-0 (>= 1.12.4), libc6 (>= 2.18), libcairo-gobject2 (>= 1.10.0), libcairo2 (>= 1.10.0), libdbus-1-3 (>= 1.9.14), libdbus-glib-1-2 (>= 0.78), libfontconfig1 (>= 2.11.94), libfreetype6 (>= 2.3.5), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.0), libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0 (>= 2.22.0), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.31.8), libgtk-3-0 (>= 3.4), libpango-1.0-0 (>= 1.22.0), libpangocairo-1.0-0 (>= 1.14.0), libpangoft2-1.0-0 (>= 1.14.0), libstartup-notification0 (>= 0.8), libstdc++6 (>= 4.6), libx11-6, libx11-xcb1, libxcb-shm0, libxcb1, libxcomposite1 (>= 1:0.3-1), libxcursor1 (>> 1.1.2), libxdamage1 (>= 1:1.1), libxext6, libxfixes3, libxi6, libxrender1, libxt6
Filename: pool/main/f/firefox/firefox_71.0~b6+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1_amd64.deb
Size: 49533706
MD5sum: 16688026d1c819e5ddaba10c510a36f5
SHA1: a251347a565472afa8b3220566be322a39feae9e
SHA256: 7a6445463e427e1f414c7494af75920a405caf790c210da4ecc62e29c16db5db
Description-en: Safe and easy web browser from Mozilla
 Firefox delivers safe, easy web browsing. A familiar user interface,
 enhanced security features including protection from online identity theft,
 and integrated search let you get the most out of the web.
Description-md5: 46b619f510631c4693dc09c1a3778a55
Xul-Appid: {ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}

EDIT 2:

@organic-marble asked me to use apt policy firefox to show the software source is giving me 71 version. The result is as follow:

firefox:
  Installed: 71.0~b6+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
  Candidate: 71.0~b6+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 71.0~b6+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 500
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/firefox-next/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     70.0+build2-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial-security/main amd64 Packages
     45.0.2+build1-0ubuntu1 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages

EDIT 3:

According to here and here, I believe Firefox 71 version is a beta version. I don't know why my Ubuntu is upgrading to a beta version.

Would someone know how could I do to stop my Ubuntu of installing beta versions?

upgrade firefox mozilla

2 Answers

  1. Looks like you've added a PPA that's meant for the team that's working to integrate Firefox, Thunderbird etc. into Ubuntu

    71.0~b6+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 500
    500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/firefox-next/ubuntu xenial/main amd64 Packages

    That PPA seems to contain preliminary, "work in progress" versions. You might want to remove the PPA from your list.

    Command to remove this PPA:

    sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next
    • 6
  2. Best Answer

    To force the older Firefox to use your profile, invoke it with:

    $ firefox --allow-downgrade

    You might also want -P in there, to pick which profile is used.

    (Source: Mozilla Support)

    I had the same experience as you with the Firefox Beta PPA: after upgrading to 71.0b8, it refuses to run. I then downloaded Firefox Beta directly from Mozilla. That was also 71.0b8, but it still claimed my profile was from a newer version, and required --allow-downgrade to use it.

    • 2