3 ms·

On Arch Linux, the browser would often crash after the system upgrade installed a newer version of Firefox. I read on their bug tracker that the upgrade prompt

by QasimK 8y ago

On Arch Linux, the browser would often crash after the system upgrade installed a newer version of Firefox. I read on their bug tracker that the upgrade prompt was a workaround for this (or at least one reason for it).

toyg 8y ago
They should just do it when you close the last window, if the OS is not shutting down.
- majewsky 8y ago
  On Linux, Firefox does not really have a choice. When the system rips out some vital libraries from under you because of an update, you can continue to use the old libraries in processes where they are already loaded. But new processes (i.e. new tabs) will not be able to load the old libraries. It's similar to how, when you install a kernel update, new devices are not recognized anymore because the loadable kernel modules on disk are for the new kernel version, but you're still running the old kernel version. (There is the workaround employed e.g. by Debian where old kernel modules are left on the disk until they're cleaned up manually, but that opens the "manual cleanup" can of worms.)
  - leni536 8y ago
    > But new processes (i.e. new tabs) will not be able to load the old libraries. I think it should be possible under Linux. Firefox could pass the old libraries as file descriptors to its child process and and the child could dlopen those through /proc/self/fd/... . Or a more robust mechanism along these lines. But I wouldn't seriously suggest that Firefox should do something like this, restarting Firefox every once in a while is fine.
MawKKe 8y ago
Was it due to the upgrade removing files the current version expected to be there? Similar to how pacman (by default) removes all modules for the current running kernel, during an upgrade? ..which then breaks pretty much everything that relies on dynamic module loading, such as USB.

3 ms·

On Arch Linux, the browser would often crash after the system upgrade installed a newer version of Firefox. I read on their bug tracker that the upgrade prompt

by QasimK 8y ago

toyg 8y ago
They should just do it when you close the last window, if the OS is not shutting down.
- majewsky 8y ago
  On Linux, Firefox does not really have a choice. When the system rips out some vital libraries from under you because of an update, you can continue to use the old libraries in processes where they are already loaded. But new processes (i.e. new tabs) will not be able to load the old libraries. It's similar to how, when you install a kernel update, new devices are not recognized anymore because the loadable kernel modules on disk are for the new kernel version, but you're still running the old kernel version. (There is the workaround employed e.g. by Debian where old kernel modules are left on the disk until they're cleaned up manually, but that opens the "manual cleanup" can of worms.)
  - leni536 8y ago
    > But new processes (i.e. new tabs) will not be able to load the old libraries. I think it should be possible under Linux. Firefox could pass the old libraries as file descriptors to its child process and and the child could dlopen those through /proc/self/fd/... . Or a more robust mechanism along these lines. But I wouldn't seriously suggest that Firefox should do something like this, restarting Firefox every once in a while is fine.
MawKKe 8y ago
Was it due to the upgrade removing files the current version expected to be there? Similar to how pacman (by default) removes all modules for the current running kernel, during an upgrade? ..which then breaks pretty much everything that relies on dynamic module loading, such as USB.