[Pkg-mozext-maintainers] Bug#571596: Iceweasel do not start after removal of xul-ext-torbutton

[Mike Hommey]

On Fri, Oct 08, 2010 at 10:23:19AM +0200, Mike Hommey wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 07, 2010 at 10:21:19PM +0200, Jérémy Bobbio wrote:
> > On Thu, Oct 07, 2010 at 09:47:15PM +0200, Mike Hommey wrote:
> > > > The xul-ext-torbutton package in Debian displays a quite annoying
> > > > behaviour. It can be reproduced by the following steps:
> > > > 
> > > >  1. Install Torbutton system-wide by installing xul-ext-torbutton.
> > > >  2. Start Iceweasel for any existing profile or create a new one.
> > > >  3. Quit Iceweasel.
> > > >  4. Remove Torbutton by removing xul-ext-torbutton.
> > > >  5. Trying to start any profile that has been opened while Torbutton was
> > > >     installed, now results in Iceweasel silently failing to start.
> > > > 
> > > > As pointed by Ruud van Melick in #571596, this can be worked around by
> > > > manually disabling the extension through the Add-ons panel before
> > > > removing the package. After a succesful start using "-safe-mode", next
> > > > start is fine as well. [...]
> > > 
> > > Does one need to actually use torbutton to trigger the problem or
> > > installing/uninstalling is enough?
> > 
> > Starting Iceweasel with an existing profile or creating a new one while
> > xul-ext-torbutton is installed is enough. If a profile has not been
> > started between installation/uninstallation, it is not affected.
> 
> So, I was able to reproduce the issue, and the blame is shared between both
> iceweasel and torbutton. The problem here is that torbutton overrides
> one of the core components of iceweasel (exthandler), and as such
> iceweasel uses torbutton's. After torbutton removal, iceweasel fails to
> initialize the exthandler component because it disappeared, and thus
> can't start.
> 
> I think this is a core problem in iceweasel/gecko (which also applies to
> other gecko-based applications), and I think the best we can do in a
> timely manner, without waiting for an absolute right fix is to use
> dpkg triggers.

For the record, I filed https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=602811

Mike