firefox crashes at startup if user is not root

jmccaskey · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 19

This is what I get:

johnm@dev01 ~ $ firefox
No running windows found
/usr/bin/firefox: line 87: 32208 Segmentation fault $mozbin "$@"
johnm@dev01 ~ $ su
Password:
dev01 johnm # firefox
No running windows found

As soon as I do the su it executes and runs fine, but doesn't work as a regular user. This is with 0.9.3-r1 installed, but it started when I had 0.9.1 I believe. I updated this morning in an attempt to fix it, and I continue to get the same failure.

I also noticed that my X process (which is x.org) is running as root. Should it be running as root or as the user I started it as?

Anyone had this same issue and know how to solve it... I'm getting very fustrated! I've deleted my .phoenix and .mozilla directories several times to attempt to get a clean config and its been no help.

inode77 · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:52 pm Post subject:

jmccaskey · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 19

Previously I had compiled from source when I first got the problem.

Due to not wanting to wait long for a compile this morning I emerged firefox-bin (0.9.3). Didn't make a difference.

My use flags are as follows:
USE="mysql dba gd freetype ttf gtk gnome -qt -kde dvd alsa cdr ssl"

I'm using Gnome.

jmccaskey · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 19

Oh, btw, this crash also applies to standard mozilla (which I also have installed). I get the same thing:
ohnm@dev01 ~ $ mozilla
No running windows found
/usr/bin/mozilla: line 87: 12137 Segmentation fault $mozbin "$@"
johnm@dev01 ~ $

jmccaskey · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 19

Ok, so I loaded up epiphany and noticed I was getting warnigns about "Cannot read a font file", and that then depending on the page I viewed it would crash, but it did not crash initially.

I looked into this and found some of my TTF fonts had read permissions only for root.

I fixed the permissions and now firefox and regular moz run fine again.

Should I consider this a bug in mozilla though and report it to them? Seems like on failing to read a font file there should be some fallback to another font rather than a hard crash doesn't it? Or would that be Gnome bug not a mozilla bug?

inode77 · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:30 am Post subject:

I agree there should be some fallback but it's definitifly a thing that should be tested in mozilla before using the font.

What's strange how come that your fonts had the wrong permissions?

jmccaskey · n00b Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 19

I manually copied some ttf fonts that my company licenses (which we use in our marketing materials) from my email. So I screwed up the permissions myself, these were not fonts that had been emerged. As such the issue probably only applies to me, although I still think that this shouldn't be able to cause moz to segfault.

inode77 · Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2004 7:25 am Post subject:

Yeah that can happen, especally since the font handling/management is IMHO not one of the shineing parts of XFree86.