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Firefox "updated in background" forces restart that leaves new instance bricked, must reboot. ubuntu 16.04, firefox 68.0.1

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ubuntu 16.04, firefox 68.0.1. New instance started after "updated in background" restart just sits there. Add-ons are not started, tabs are not restored as promised. Typing in URL bar and hitting enter does nothing. No response to attempt to open a bookmark. Typing "about:support", no response. I tried removing and re-installing firefox with "sudo apt", no help. Starting firefox without addons, no help. The "about:firefox" display shows no change in version number. A reboot is the only thing that cures this. It has now happened 8 times (8/2, 8/5, 8/9. 8/16 and 4 times earlier). I have about-buildconfig, about-firefox and about-support from 8/2 and 8/5 if they would be helpful.

ubuntu 16.04, firefox 68.0.1. New instance started after "updated in background" restart just sits there. Add-ons are not started, tabs are not restored as promised. Typing in URL bar and hitting enter does nothing. No response to attempt to open a bookmark. Typing "about:support", no response. I tried removing and re-installing firefox with "sudo apt", no help. Starting firefox without addons, no help. The "about:firefox" display shows no change in version number. A reboot is the only thing that cures this. It has now happened 8 times (8/2, 8/5, 8/9. 8/16 and 4 times earlier). I have about-buildconfig, about-firefox and about-support from 8/2 and 8/5 if they would be helpful.

All Replies (5)

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Why don't you use Synoptic?

With Synoptic you will not have these problems.

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I don't know what Synoptic is. If you mean synaptic, this is just a layer over apt. The firefox update occurs without my knowledge or action, so how does synaptic help me?

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Updating without your knowledge is a very bad idea, because everybody can install software on your computer now. And you do not want that, do you?

By using synaptic you have to give consent for every update.

And Synaptic controls the dependencies for every install and update so it will work after installing the software.

Using synaptic is a very good idea.

Using Synaptic

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I see the problem as a defective update. It doesn't install the new Firefox properly like it promises, and forces a reboot to clean up. The ability to give consent to an update does not address the problem.

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This update problem just happened again. More severe this time - couldn't open any web page. Managed to bookmark some tabs but reboot still required.

Can anyone help with this?