Firefox ESR updates (91.4, Oct ESR 102.3)

[Member rek769]

A few days ago I did an apt-upgrade and got a new Firefox ESR version as noted in the title.
I am using the Fluxbox-ROX desktop with Tint2 (fluxbox toolbar disabled). When I launch Firefox now, there is no window decoration and the window is stuck in the upper left corner of my desktop. I am not able to move the window since there is no titlebar to grab and the usual fluxbox LeftALT-MouseButton (left or right) does not work either.

I was able to downgrade to 78.15.0 using apt and that version works as expected.

Looking for any ideas on how to correct the problem with the newer version as I am stumped…

Thanks in advance

System: Kernel: 5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp
root=UUID=ec11dfdf-5c0f-4cfb-8bc7-76fcd4915a46 ro quiet
Desktop: Fluxbox 1.3.7 info: tint2 vt: 7 dm: N/A
Distro: antiX-21_x64-full Grup Yorum 31 October 2021
base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)

[Moderator christophe]

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Hi rek769,

I can’t reproduce your issue. I’m fully upgraded. (SysVinit).

I’ve got:
firefox-esr:
Installed: 91.4.1esr-1~deb11u1
Candidate: 91.4.1esr-1~deb11u1

5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp

So I don’t know. Do you have strange repos (anything non-standard)?
Maybe attach your full inxi -zv8 output.

confirmed antiX frugaler, since 2019

[Member ModdIt]

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Sounds like cache and or config corruption.
Please delete the cache and config, both are hidden aka . files in your home directory. The browser will recreate what it needs.

If you care about your privacy disconnect internet before starting the browser for the first time, make your settings .
Once you are finished reconnect.

[Member Xecure]

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rek769 wrote:

Fluxbox-ROX desktop with Tint2

I had a similar experience with fluxbox + tint2. There is some king of option that you need to change for it to work properly. Randomly it crashes and the window borders no longer work (not only with firefox). I had to restart fluxbox to again have the window borders work.

Try updating firefox again and switch to a different Window Manager, or disable tint2 on fluxbox and try launching updated-firefox again.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member blur13]

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For those on antiX 19.x the upgrade to firefox-esr 91 is coming soon.

” Multiple security issues have been found in the Mozilla Firefox web browser, which could potentially result in the execution of arbitrary code, information disclosure or spoofing.

Debian follows the extended support releases (ESR) of Firefox. Support for the 78.x series has ended, so starting with this update we’re now following the 91.x releases.

Between 78.x and 91.x, Firefox has seen a number of feature updates. For more information please refer to https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/91.0esr/releasenotes/

For the oldstable distribution (buster) one more final toolchain update is needed, updated packages will shortly be available as 91.4.1esr-1~deb10u1

For the stable distribution (bullseye), these problem have been fixed in version 91.4.1esr-1~deb11u1.

We recommend that you upgrade your firefox-esr packages.

For the detailed security status of firefox-esr please refer to its security tracker page at: https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/firefox-esr
“

[Member Robin]

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Does this mean Support for SSE1-machines has ended now? Does 91.x-ESR actually need SSE2 ? What about Athlon XP processors? Any experiences? If so, this important change should be mentioned somewhere. I won’t be able to check this before evening.

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[Member Xecure]

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Robin wrote:

Does this mean Support for SSE1-machines has ended now?

Support for Non-SSE2 Processors was dropped by Firefox in 2016 (in version 49.0), if I am not mistaken. Only the old palemoon version in antix repo still has support for it.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member ModdIt]

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I guess this one in about:config

qt.workarounds.remove_service_workers

Fox, LibreWolf, Tor ungoogled Chromium all what looks like random crashes on ICEWM. Check your system Fox and Tor are respawned
headless. Looks more like attack than fault. Often preceded by a stream of CSS warnings.

Well worth reading on service workers storage. Next cesspit as only deleted by browser when system disk is 2/3 full of crap.
Looks like this may be one of the best kept super cooky secrets.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by ModdIt.

[Member Robin]

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Hello Xecure,

Xecure wrote:

Support for Non-SSE2 Processors was dropped by Firefox in 2016 (in version 49.0), if I am not mistaken.

Obviously you are mistaken. Right now I’m writing in firefox-esr from antiX 21 (“as is”, full DVD-ISO 32bit Live) on the Athlon XP, which is non-SSE2:

CPU:
  Info: Single Core model: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ socket: LIF Socket (A) 
  note: check bits: 32 type: UP arch: K7 Palomino+ family: 6 model-id: 8 
  stepping: 1 microcode: N/A cache: L1: 128 KiB L2: 256 KiB bogomips: 3319 
  Speed: 1660 MHz min/max: N/A base/boost: 1667/1200 volts: 3.3 V 
  ext-clock: 66 MHz Core speed (MHz): 1: 1660 
  Flags: 3dnow 3dnowext 3dnowprefetch cmov cx8 de fpu fxsr mca mce mmx 
  mmxext msr mtrr pae pat pge pse pse36 sep sse syscall tsc vme vmmcall 

$ apt-cache policy firefox-esr
firefox-esr:
  Installiert:           78.15.0esr-1~deb11u1
  Installationskandidat: 91.4.1esr-1~deb11u1
  Versionstabelle:
     91.4.1esr-1~deb11u1 500
        500 http://security.debian.org bullseye-security/main i386 Packages
 *** 78.15.0esr-1~deb11u1 500
        500 http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian bullseye/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Everything works fine. Now I will set up persistence and update the system to most recent state in order to find out whether firefox is still usable after this update. I have my doubts…

The problem is: Most webpages don’t accept anything besides mainstream and tell you simply “Please install a supported browser…”. So if it turns out firefox will not be usable any longer it means this update renders the PC useless for everyday usage, even if it has worked a minute before flawlessly.

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[Member ModdIt]

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xecure is right but it is not that simple.
Maybe the LTS version for antiX is compiled with SSE 2 Support. If I am not mistaken Stevo from MX does the builds.
Probably still a build flag available for older machines.

What Mozilla says.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/your-hardware-no-longer-supported

If Firefox is already installed on your computer, you can continue using it but you will not receive updates beyond version 52. If you download Firefox version 53 or above and try to run it, you will see the message in stderr, This browser version requires a processor with the SSE2 instruction set extension. You may be able to obtain a version that does not require SSE2 from your Linux distribution.

Like many programs, newer versions of Firefox require a processor that supports Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2) for better performance. We recommend a computer with a Pentium 4 or newer processor that supports SSE2 to use the latest version of Firefox, which has more features, stability and security.

Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) will continue to work with older processors but will not receive updates beyond ESR version 52. Firefox ESR version 60, released May 9, 2018, is not supported.

The processor requirements of Firefox as distributed by Linux distributions may differ from the processor requirements of Firefox as distributed by Mozilla, so you may be able to obtain an up-to-date version of Firefox that does not require SSE2 from your Linux distribution.

CPU support

SSE2 is an extension of the IA-32 architecture, based on the x86 instruction set. Therefore, only x86 processors can include SSE2. The AMD64 architecture supports the IA-32 as a compatibility mode and includes the SSE2 in its specification.[1][2] It also doubles the number of XMM registers allowing for better performance. SSE2 is also a requirement for installing Windows 8 (and later) or Microsoft Office 2013 (and later) “to enhance the reliability of third-party apps and drivers running in Windows 8”.[3]

The following IA-32 CPUs support SSE2:

Intel NetBurst-based CPUs (Pentium 4, Xeon, Celeron, Pentium D, Celeron D)
Intel Pentium M and Celeron M
Intel Atom
Transmeta Efficeon
VIA C7

The following IA-32 CPUs were released after SSE2 was developed, but did not implement it:

AMD CPUs prior to Athlon 64, such as Athlon XP
VIA C3
Transmeta Crusoe
Intel Quark

[Member Robin]

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Back on antiX 19 again for writing here. After the apt upgrade on antiX 21 yesterday evening I couldn’t any longer access the forum (and no other web page) with the internet browser (OK, I could have started dillo…).

From your answers above I’m more confused than before. The installed firefox esr version present in antiX 21 ISO seems to be the original debian version, at least it is located in the debian bullsey main repo, not in the antiX repo:

 *** 78.15.0esr-1~deb11u1 500
        500 http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian bullseye/main i386 Packages

And it was the true recent 78.15 esr , not a series 60 esr, also when looking into help→about menu. Following your quotes this shouldn’t have worked…

ModdIt wrote:

Maybe the LTS version for antiX is compiled with SSE 2 Support. If I am not mistaken Stevo from MX does the builds.
Probably still a build flag available for older machines.

Well, is the repository for firefox-esr set wrong in antiX 21 then so it upgrades to a wrong firefox version now? Should it point to antiX repos instead of debian? I’m lost in all these diverging pieces of information.

What are the symptoms?
Firefox starts up fine after the update to

     91.4.1esr-1~deb11u1 500
        500 http://security.debian.org bullseye-security/main i386 Packages

still, no errors visible at first glance. The complete GUI is fine and shows properly the updated version from help→about menu. But the moment you try to access any webpage literally nothing happens. The tab stays blank. You can repeat it as often you like, with all webpages you have in your history or any other site, all in vain. I tried to restart firefox in secured mode, and also with a blank new profile. Nothing changes things. Even the internal settings page can’t get displayed, and also “about:config” shows a blank page only. So no way to tinker with the settings. But firefox doesn’t crash and stays completely responsive. In contrast to the findings of the OP all windows and borders of GUI are present, no problem at all under this aspect. Maybe his finding was somehow tint-fluxbox related only.

Windows is like a submarine. Open a window and serious problems will start.

[Member Xecure]

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Confusion here by many, including me.

I didn’t know firefox-esr 78.15 (built by DEBIAN) still supported non-sse2 processors, so I am sorry for the confusion. Official support was dropped by Mozilla, but it seems Debian still built it with sse support.

Firefox built by MX is the NON-ESR version, which I doubt includes non-sse2 support, and is available in the antiX repos.
It seems that firefox-esr used a fallback for non-sse2 support

  * js/src/jit/BaselineJIT.h: Disable baseline JIT when SSE2 is not supported in firefox 62
    at runtime. bz#1492064. Closes: #908396, #908449.
  * gfx/2d/Swizzle.cpp: Use Swizzle fallback when SSE2 is not supported.
    bz#1492065. Closes: #877445.

But I cannot find if this was still used in newer firefox-esr 78.

Maybe you need to disable some flags in about:config. I will see if I can find any issue related to this, but initial search results aren’t very clear.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member ModdIt]

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I think we are all still confused by conflicting information. You may, in the end need to use an older fox.

Not sure if about:config will help, the older processor support was done by build flags. Whether below is still
possible I honestly do not know.
Part of a longer thread

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/browser-for-non-sse2-processor/#post-27309
mk_add_options MOZ_MAKE_FLAGS=”-s -j8″
ac_add_options –disable-crashreporter
ac_add_options –disable-tests
ac_add_options –disable-debug
ac_add_options –disable-updater
ac_add_options –disable-mozril-geoloc
ac_add_options –disable-webrtc
ac_add_options –disable-safe-browsing
ac_add_options –disable-parental-controls
ac_add_options –enable-release
ac_add_options –disable-necko-wifi
ac_add_options –disable-eme
ac_add_options –disable-gamepad
ac_add_options –enable-dbus
ac_add_options –disable-gio
ac_add_options –disable-pulseaudio
ac_add_options –enable-strip
ac_add_options –enable-install-strip
ac_add_options –enable-application=browser
ac_add_options –enable-optimize=”-O2 -march=pentium3 -mtune=pentium3 -msse -mno-sse2″

• This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by ModdIt.

[Member ModdIt]

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Just found below, hard to be sure how alive the project is, last contribution a couple of months back.
The main focus is or has been mac but reading in the docs it does say will build an updated version for linux.
Better for those more expert than me to assess if still useful.

https://github.com/roytam1/mozilla45esr

[Member greyowl]

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blur13 wrote:

For those on antiX 19.x the upgrade to firefox-esr 91 is coming soon.

“

I am just wondering when you think the firefox-esr 91 will be available for antiX 19.
Thanks

Dell Latitude D620 laptop with antiX 22 (64 bit)

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