[Bug 1914147] [NEW] Firefox hangs after upgrade to version 85

[Sergio Callegari]

Public bug reported:

Today I have received a security upgrade for kubuntu 20.04 including
firefox 85. Unfortunately, this version of firefox appears to hang at
start unless it is started passing an url. Namely:

firefox

hangs, while

firefox lwn.net

does not hang.

I have quickly tried working with a clean profile and firefox 85 seems
to start fine with that. Yet, the profile is not broken: if I downgrade
to firefox 84 and restore my profile from a backup, then firefox 84
works just fine.

So the issue seems to be that firefox 85 has issues in working with
profiles that are totally fine with firefox 84. This breaks migration
from firefox 84 to firefox 85.

Issue is totally reproducible:

downgrade to firefox 84
restore profile from firefox 84 from backup
work with firefox 84 (OK)
upgrade to firefox 85
try to work with firefox 85 (KO)

Please consider that having to reset a profile is a form of data loss.
In a modern browser, the profile includes extensions, passwords, data
from web apps and more.

Because this bug makes it impossible to apply a security update (firefox
85 is marked as such and shipped via the security channel), this bug is
particularly serious.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: firefox 84.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-41.46~20.04.1-generic 5.8.18
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-41-generic x86_64
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.14
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  callegar   1454 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20210105180113
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
Channel: Unavailable
CurrentDesktop: KDE
Date: Tue Feb  2 00:52:23 2021
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
Extensions: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IncompatibleExtensions: Unavailable (corrupt or non-existant compatibility.ini or extensions.sqlite)
InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-02-16 (351 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 19.10 "Eoan Ermine" - Release amd64 (20191017)
IpRoute:
 default via 192.168.10.1 dev wlan0 proto dhcp metric 600 
 169.254.0.0/16 dev wlan0 scope link metric 1000 
 192.168.10.0/24 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.10.116 metric 600
Locales: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
PrefErrors: Unexpected character ',' before close parenthesis @ /usr/lib/firefox/omni.ja:greprefs.js:354
PrefSources: prefs.js
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=84.0.2/20210105180113
RunningIncompatibleAddons: False
SourcePackage: firefox
Themes: extensions.sqlite corrupt or missing
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2020-05-23 (254 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 10/02/2019
dmi.bios.release: 7.4
dmi.bios.vendor: INSYDE Corp.
dmi.bios.version: 1.07.04RTR1
dmi.board.asset.tag: Tag 12345
dmi.board.name: N141CU
dmi.board.vendor: SCHENKER
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Notebook
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.ec.firmware.release: 7.2
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnINSYDECorp.:bvr1.07.04RTR1:bd10/02/2019:br7.4:efr7.2:svnSCHENKER:pnSCHENKER_SLIM14_SSL14L19:pvrNotApplicable:rvnSCHENKER:rnN141CU:rvrNotApplicable:cvnNotebook:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.family: Not Applicable
dmi.product.name: SCHENKER_SLIM14_SSL14L19
dmi.product.sku: Not Applicable
dmi.product.version: Not Applicable
dmi.sys.vendor: SCHENKER

** Affects: firefox (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug focal

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Title:
  Firefox hangs after upgrade to version 85

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