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My biggest gripe with firefox is how it tries to hold your session hostage to force you to update. This is absolutely a no-go in a professional context, in my o

My biggest gripe with firefox is how it tries to hold your session hostage to force you to update. This is absolutely a no-go in a professional context, in my opinion. One of the first things I do when setting up firefox on a personal machine is disable this forced update so I can actually control my computer and its applications, not have them control me.

ceejayoz 6y ago
Can you elaborate? I've never been forced to update mid-session.
- psychoslave 6y ago
  When Firefox autoupdate, it won’t let you open a new tab to browse elsewhere. You have to relaunch the application to find back a normal use case. Power users can disable it. For the less advanced users, impose that as default behavior as its pros and cons.
  - zinekeller 6y ago
    Are you on a Linux distro? The reason that this happens is because Firefox in Linux uses many internal libraries, some that are incompatible from one (even minor) version to the next due to the tight coupling of some of the libraries. Combine that with distro-managed updates, and the result is the restart dialog. Updates on Windows and macOS are different though, they are controlled by Firefox and you can delay updates even when the update is downloaded (Windows users might even see the loading bar associated with the update).
    - inetknght 6y ago
      > Are you on a Linux distro? The reason that this happens is because Firefox in Linux uses many internal libraries It happens because Firefox closes and re-opens libraries and permits an in-place update (and thus, breaking itself).
  - 0xffff2 6y ago
    >When Firefox autoupdate, it won’t let you open a new tab to browse elsewhere. There must be some additional context here. I've never observed this behavior on Windows or on Linux (although on Linux I'm using an LTS release, which could be a confounding factor).
    - psychoslave 6y ago
      I use both systems. I can’t remember on which system I saw it happen. Personally I’m fine with relaunching immediately the browser. I just replied to give the information asked, but it seemed that somehow it made some people upset. I really don’t understand how and why, tough.
      - 0xffff2 6y ago
        I for one am not upset, just confused because your information doesn't match my information.
        richard_todd 6y ago
        I have seen it happen also, but it’s rare and I can’t recall if it was on Linux or windows. I tried to open a new tab and it said “no more tabs until you restart Firefox”.
        Liquid_Fire 6y ago
        I always assumed this was related to the multiprocess architecture. If you've updated Firefox in the background (e.g. via your package manager), and the new version is not API-compatible, it will not be able to create a content process for the new tab, hence the message. Obviously this is only a problem on Linux, because on other platforms Firefox's own autoupdater will only apply the update when Firefox is restarting.
        thallian 6y ago
        For what it's worth, that behaviour happens to me too (on a linux system), doesn't seem consistent though (but I never really took too much note).
zinekeller 6y ago
Are you on a Linux distro? The reason that this happens is because Firefox in Linux uses many internal libraries, some that are incompatible from one (even minor) version to the next due to the tight coupling of some of the libraries. Combine that with distro-managed updates, and the result is the restart dialog. Updates on Windows and macOS are different though, they are controlled by Firefox and you can delay updates even when the update is downloaded (Windows users might even see the loading bar associated with the update).
- silicon2401 6y ago
  This has happened to me on Linux, Windows, and MacOS. This thread has a screenshot and description of what I mean: This thread has a screenshot and description of exactly what I mean. It's happened to me pretty regularly. This is default FF behavior. https://superuser.com/questions/1451210/how-can-i-make-firefox-stop-forcing-me-to-restart-my-browser/1451217 https://superuser.com/questions/1451210/how-can-i-make-firef...
  - kbrosnan 6y ago
    On Windows and MacOS this happens to users who launch multiple profiles from the same version at the same time via --no-remote and -P/--profile-manager or in multi user systems where one user updates Firefox and the other person is logged in and running the older version of Firefox. As Jamie mentioned above Firefox is trying to launch a new process and is unable to find a matching binary. Before Mozilla detected the in-between update state there it was common to see spikes of crashes that were related to process spawning. The choice Mozilla has is to allow the user randomly crash with a chance of profile corruption or alerting the user about the state and asking the user to trigger an orderly shutdown.
    - silicon2401 6y ago
      Neither of those use cases apply to me. I haven't even heard of those features before as I don't launch via CLI or use multiple user accounts on my machines.
kevingadd 6y ago
I've never had this problem over the course of like a decade using FF, I suspect it might be due to your configuration. What kind of message do you get when it happens?
- silicon2401 6y ago
  This thread has a screenshot and description of exactly what I mean. It's happened to me pretty regularly. This is default FF behavior. https://superuser.com/questions/1451210/how-can-i-make-firefox-stop-forcing-me-to-restart-my-browser/1451217 https://superuser.com/questions/1451210/how-can-i-make-firef...
elcapitan 6y ago
What happens to my Firefox (on Mac) very often is that it does an auto update and then just becomes completely unstable (things just suddenly stop working, like audio in a Google Meet call). Then I restart, and get some happy "Hooray you have the new Firefox" window, which makes me angry, because I was in the middle of something important usually. I then procede by clicking away the tab with the "features" and restore my session.
mccr8 6y ago
This happens if another instance of Firefox or an external package manager updates Firefox while you are running Firefox. This can happen if you have installed Firefox via a Linux package manager, or if you are running Firefox with multiple profiles. While I understand that it is very annoying if you hit this issue, it is not done as some kind of trick to try to get you to update. The issue is that Firefox is trying to start a new content process to load your page, but the old executable no longer exists so it is impossible.
franga2000 6y ago
I was under the impression Firefox on Windows only updated before starting (and maybe after stopping) and on Linux, the updates are managed by the system. I don't use Windows much these days, but I'd love to know which setting it is that turns this off as I tend to hoard tabs and this sounds extremely annoying.

ceejayoz 6y ago

Can you elaborate? I've never been forced to update mid-session.

psychoslave 6y ago
When Firefox autoupdate, it won’t let you open a new tab to browse elsewhere. You have to relaunch the application to find back a normal use case. Power users can disable it. For the less advanced users, impose that as default behavior as its pros and cons.
- zinekeller 6y ago
  Are you on a Linux distro? The reason that this happens is because Firefox in Linux uses many internal libraries, some that are incompatible from one (even minor) version to the next due to the tight coupling of some of the libraries. Combine that with distro-managed updates, and the result is the restart dialog. Updates on Windows and macOS are different though, they are controlled by Firefox and you can delay updates even when the update is downloaded (Windows users might even see the loading bar associated with the update).
  - inetknght 6y ago
    > Are you on a Linux distro? The reason that this happens is because Firefox in Linux uses many internal libraries It happens because Firefox closes and re-opens libraries and permits an in-place update (and thus, breaking itself).
- 0xffff2 6y ago
  >When Firefox autoupdate, it won’t let you open a new tab to browse elsewhere. There must be some additional context here. I've never observed this behavior on Windows or on Linux (although on Linux I'm using an LTS release, which could be a confounding factor).
  - psychoslave 6y ago
    I use both systems. I can’t remember on which system I saw it happen. Personally I’m fine with relaunching immediately the browser. I just replied to give the information asked, but it seemed that somehow it made some people upset. I really don’t understand how and why, tough.
    - 0xffff2 6y ago
      I for one am not upset, just confused because your information doesn't match my information.
      - richard_todd 6y ago
        I have seen it happen also, but it’s rare and I can’t recall if it was on Linux or windows. I tried to open a new tab and it said “no more tabs until you restart Firefox”.
        Liquid_Fire 6y ago
        I always assumed this was related to the multiprocess architecture. If you've updated Firefox in the background (e.g. via your package manager), and the new version is not API-compatible, it will not be able to create a content process for the new tab, hence the message. Obviously this is only a problem on Linux, because on other platforms Firefox's own autoupdater will only apply the update when Firefox is restarting.
      - thallian 6y ago
        For what it's worth, that behaviour happens to me too (on a linux system), doesn't seem consistent though (but I never really took too much note).

zinekeller 6y ago

Are you on a Linux distro? The reason that this happens is because Firefox in Linux uses many internal libraries, some that are incompatible from one (even minor) version to the next due to the tight coupling of some of the libraries. Combine that with distro-managed updates, and the result is the restart dialog. Updates on Windows and macOS are different though, they are controlled by Firefox and you can delay updates even when the update is downloaded (Windows users might even see the loading bar associated with the update).

silicon2401 6y ago
This has happened to me on Linux, Windows, and MacOS. This thread has a screenshot and description of what I mean: This thread has a screenshot and description of exactly what I mean. It's happened to me pretty regularly. This is default FF behavior. https://superuser.com/questions/1451210/how-can-i-make-firefox-stop-forcing-me-to-restart-my-browser/1451217 https://superuser.com/questions/1451210/how-can-i-make-firef...
- kbrosnan 6y ago
  On Windows and MacOS this happens to users who launch multiple profiles from the same version at the same time via --no-remote and -P/--profile-manager or in multi user systems where one user updates Firefox and the other person is logged in and running the older version of Firefox. As Jamie mentioned above Firefox is trying to launch a new process and is unable to find a matching binary. Before Mozilla detected the in-between update state there it was common to see spikes of crashes that were related to process spawning. The choice Mozilla has is to allow the user randomly crash with a chance of profile corruption or alerting the user about the state and asking the user to trigger an orderly shutdown.
  - silicon2401 6y ago
    Neither of those use cases apply to me. I haven't even heard of those features before as I don't launch via CLI or use multiple user accounts on my machines.

kevingadd 6y ago

I've never had this problem over the course of like a decade using FF, I suspect it might be due to your configuration. What kind of message do you get when it happens?

silicon2401 6y ago
This thread has a screenshot and description of exactly what I mean. It's happened to me pretty regularly. This is default FF behavior. https://superuser.com/questions/1451210/how-can-i-make-firefox-stop-forcing-me-to-restart-my-browser/1451217 https://superuser.com/questions/1451210/how-can-i-make-firef...

elcapitan 6y ago

What happens to my Firefox (on Mac) very often is that it does an auto update and then just becomes completely unstable (things just suddenly stop working, like audio in a Google Meet call). Then I restart, and get some happy "Hooray you have the new Firefox" window, which makes me angry, because I was in the middle of something important usually. I then procede by clicking away the tab with the "features" and restore my session.

mccr8 6y ago

This happens if another instance of Firefox or an external package manager updates Firefox while you are running Firefox. This can happen if you have installed Firefox via a Linux package manager, or if you are running Firefox with multiple profiles. While I understand that it is very annoying if you hit this issue, it is not done as some kind of trick to try to get you to update. The issue is that Firefox is trying to start a new content process to load your page, but the old executable no longer exists so it is impossible.

franga2000 6y ago

I was under the impression Firefox on Windows only updated before starting (and maybe after stopping) and on Linux, the updates are managed by the system. I don't use Windows much these days, but I'd love to know which setting it is that turns this off as I tend to hoard tabs and this sounds extremely annoying.