Other Firefox Dynasty - Firefox for OS X 10.8+ (Also, Web App Templates!)

[maverick28]

I'm encountering a problem running Firefox Dynasty.

My 2007 MBP 3,1 used to run it well with v. 137.02, but since downloading v. 138.01 the application won't launch. And, now I can't roll back to 137.02. Even deleting everything - and I mean everything I could find, including app caches and the app support folder from Library - makes no difference. Any version I download, whether using @Wowfunhappy's pref pane or straight from Github, hangs on launch now.

I've tried watching in Console while attempting to launch the app, and I've looked at crash reports, but I've found nothing to enlighten me as to the cause. Which may be because I'm not understanding what I'm seeing, but I did try.

It's not a hardware problem. I'm running Pale Moon, Sea Lion, and Chromium Legacy without issue.

It shouldn't be an OS-level software problem. For unrelated reasons, I recently wiped this MBP and reinstalled Mavericks fresh. But I'm still having the same problem with Firefox Dynasty. It worked great for me when it worked, but now I'm at a loss. Any ideas?

You haven't disclosed the operating system you're running. If it's older than Mavericks, then the 2007 MBP isn't supported unless you've installed DosDude1's patch. Skimming through the issues on the project's GitHub page reveals reports of it crashing on Lion and Snow Leopard. I cannot claim this since it's a speculation on my part; however, if the ported Firefox installs modified system-level components on these two systems, just like Chromium Legacy Downloader does by putting a custom-developed kext, even completely wiping off Firefox may retain these components. To make sure you're reinstalling Firefox from scratch, you should reinstall the OS or figure out whether these leftovers are an actual thing.

If launching Firefox fails, you probably haven't removed everything. You may want to run the command below in the Terminal. It will attempt to output every relevant path. You can then issue another command to delete these objects.

List Firefox paths:

echo your_admin_password | sudo -S find -Ex / -iregex '.*(org\.mozilla\.firefox.*|firefox(.*|.*\.app))' ! -iregex '.*(contents|resources|frameworks|develop|mail|documents|pictures|movies|music|downloads|guest|shared|safari|tor.?browser|chrom(e|ium)|pale.?moon|sea.?lion|\.trash|\.[jp][en]?g|\.[gt]if{1,2}|\.pdf).*' -prune

Remove Firefox paths (moves them to the Trash):

echo your_admin_password | sudo -S find -Ex / -iregex '.*(org\.mozilla\firefox.*|firefox(.*|.*\.app))' ! -iregex '.*(contents|resources|frameworks|develop|mail|documents|pictures|movies|music|downloads|guest|shared|safari|tor.?browser|chrom(e|ium)|pale.?moon|sea.?lion|\.trash|\.[jp][en]?g|\.[gt]if{1,2}|\.pdf).*' -prune -exec cp -R {} .Trash/ \; -exec rm -R {} \;

Before running these commands, you can check Firefox for broken dependency (dylb) links:

app=$(mdfind -onlyin /Applications/  "kMDItemFSName == 'Firefox' || kMDItemFSName == 'Firefox.app' || kMDItemDisplayName == 'Firefox' || kMDItemDisplayName == 'Firefox.app'") ; find "$app"/ -type f -perm +111 -exec otool -L {} \; | grep 'not found'

NOTE. otool requires Xcode to be installed.

 

[Grumpus]

My 2007 MBP 3,1 used to run it well with v. 137.02, but since downloading v. 138.01 the application won't launch.

FIREFOX_138_0_1_RELEASE is really 138.0.2, according to Firefox->About Firefox. I installed it on a 2008 MacBook running Mavericks, after dragging 137.0.3 to the Trash, and it seems to be working fine.

In addition to everything under /Applications/Firefox, Sun Knudsen's app-cleaner.sh script offers to delete the following files. Maybe you could try moving them aside to see if that helps.

~/Library/Application Support/Firefox
~/Library/Caches/Firefox
~/Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist
~/Library/Saved Application State/org.mozilla.firefox.savedState

 

[Raging Dufus]

You haven't disclosed the operating system you're running. If it's older than Mavericks, then the 2007 MBP isn't supported unless you've installed DosDude1's patch. Skimming through the issues on the project's GitHub page reveals reports of it crashing on Lion and Snow Leopard. I cannot claim this since it's a speculation on my part; however, if the ported Firefox installs modified system-level components on these two systems, just like Chromium Legacy Downloader does by putting a custom-developed kext, even completely wiping off Firefox may retain these components. To make sure you're reinstalling Firefox from scratch, you should reinstall the OS or figure out whether these leftovers are an actual thing.

If launching Firefox fails, you probably haven't removed everything. You may want to run the command below in the Terminal. It will attempt to output every relevant path. You can then issue another command to delete these objects.

List Firefox paths:

echo your_admin_password | sudo -S find -Ex / -iregex '.*(org\.mozilla\.firefox.*|firefox(.*|.*\.app))' ! -iregex '.*(contents|resources|frameworks|develop|mail|documents|pictures|movies|music|downloads|guest|shared|safari|tor.?browser|chrom(e|ium)|pale.?moon|sea.?lion|\.trash|\.[jp][en]?g|\.[gt]if{1,2}|\.pdf).*' -prune

Remove Firefox paths (moves them to the Trash):

echo your_admin_password | sudo -S find -Ex / -iregex '.*(org\.mozilla\firefox.*|firefox(.*|.*\.app))' ! -iregex '.*(contents|resources|frameworks|develop|mail|documents|pictures|movies|music|downloads|guest|shared|safari|tor.?browser|chrom(e|ium)|pale.?moon|sea.?lion|\.trash|\.[jp][en]?g|\.[gt]if{1,2}|\.pdf).*' -prune -exec cp -R {} .Trash/ \; -exec rm -R {} \;

Before running these commands, you can check Firefox for broken dependency (dylb) links:

app=$(mdfind -onlyin /Applications/  "kMDItemFSName == 'Firefox' || kMDItemFSName == 'Firefox.app' || kMDItemDisplayName == 'Firefox' || kMDItemDisplayName == 'Firefox.app'") ; find "$app"/ -type f -perm +111 -exec otool -L {} \; | grep 'not found'

NOTE. otool requires Xcode to be installed.

Thanks, I appreciate your suggestion. I did mention in my initial post that I'm running Mavericks, and also that I'd re-installed it:

For unrelated reasons, I recently wiped this MBP and reinstalled Mavericks fresh.

But I'm having the same problems after the fresh install that I had before. So I'm guessing leftover components aren't the problem, since the fresh install of Mavericks would have wiped all that out.

 

[Raging Dufus]

FIREFOX_138_0_1_RELEASE is really 138.0.2, according to Firefox->About Firefox. I installed it on a 2008 MacBook running Mavericks, after dragging 137.0.3 to the Trash, and it seems to be working fine.

In addition to everything under /Applications/Firefox, Sun Knudsen's app-cleaner.sh script offers to delete the following files. Maybe you could try moving them aside to see if that helps.

~/Library/Application Support/Firefox
~/Library/Caches/Firefox
~/Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox.plist
~/Library/Saved Application State/org.mozilla.firefox.savedState

Thanks for your suggestion. I did delete those folders before, except for the Saved Application State. It made no difference. The reason I didn't delete that last one is, as you can see in the attached image, no firefox subfolder appeared in the Saved Application State folder. I can only assume it's not there because I haven't been able to successfully launch Firefox Dynasty since the fresh install of Mavericks.

 

[Raging Dufus]

For anyone interested, I've attached to this post the System Diagnostic Report from my most recent attempt to launch Firefox Dynasty. I obtained this from the Console app. I can't say I recommend reading it, because it's miles and miles of mostly gibberish, at least to me. I can't make heads or tails of much past the first page. But if you can understand it, there it is. Thanks everyone again for trying to help!

 

[Grumpus]

Thanks for your suggestion. I did delete those folders before, except for the Saved Application State. It made no difference.

Could it be a certificate problem? I ask, because it's working for me on Mavericks and I had updated the root certs some time ago:

#!/bin/bash -e

curl 'http://x1.i.lencr.org' > /tmp/ISRGRootX1.pem && sudo security -v\
    add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain\
    /tmp/ISRGRootX1.pem

curl 'http://x2.i.lencr.org' > /tmp/ISRGRootX2.pem && sudo security -v\
    add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain\
    /tmp/ISRGRootX2.pem

Aside from that, I don't have much else to offer at the moment.

 

[Raging Dufus]

Could it be a certificate problem? I ask, because it's working for me on Mavericks and I had updated the root certs some time ago

I can't imagine it would be, since every other browser works fine with the certs I have from the fresh install of Mavericks. Besides, a certificate problem shouldn't prevent the browser from launching.

Thanks again!

 

[wicknix]

Have you tried rolling back to even older versions, like maybe 135 or older? I’d try a few of those and see if any launch. If successful, then something may have changed that b0rks newer releases from running on certain hardware/installs. If the older versions run maybe they will work some sort of “behind the scenes” magic that will allow newer versions to run. Worth a shot anyway.

If it's older than Mavericks, then the 2007 MBP isn't supported unless you've installed DosDude1's patch.

Works fine on a 2007 mac mini running 10.7 without any dosdude patches. Just requires a simple symlink of a framework that got moved to a different location in 10.8 and up. Screenshot of it here. Symlink found here.

 

[Grumpus]

Besides, a certificate problem shouldn't prevent the browser from launching.

Yes, you're right, and also Firefox appears to keep its own certificate store including root certificates.

 

[Xde]

I use Dynasty from 135 onwards on Mavericks (what is and remains my main system).
I never had problems with Dynasty. I have exported the bookmarks before, then uninstalled/deleted all old Mozilla components before installing Dynasty. With every update I copy the new app and overwrite the old one.
I have 2 profiles in the profiles folder, one at the first start it seems, and another while using it. This remains like it is.

 

[Raging Dufus]

Success! I took @Grumpus's suggestion of deleting the Firefox-related folders from Library. Then I used @maverick28's suggested Terminal commands to thoroughly broom any remnants. Then I took @wicknix's suggestion to try even earlier versions, and - - I'm pleased to report that I'm posting this from a newly installed Firefox Dynasty v. 135.01. Thanks everyone for your help!

Of note: when first launching my new Firefox installation, I got the following warning:

Using an older version of Firefox can corrupt bookmarks and browsing history already saved to an existing Firefox profile. To protect your information, create a new profile for this installation of Firefox.​

​

The above message window gave me two options: "Create New Profile" or "Quit" - obviously I chose the former, and was then greeted with my finely functioning Firefox.

[Aside: Can we not post images here anymore? I saved an image of the above with Grab, then tried uploading it into this post, but all MR would allow me to do is attach it - meaning anyone viewing the post could only view the image if they downloaded it. Did something change, or is my head further up my rear than I thought?]

 

[Raging Dufus]

UPDATE: Well, crap. I'm right back where I started

I didn't mention above that I downloaded v. 135.01 directly from Github, which is what I did. I just now used @Wowfunhappy's pref pane - which I did not remove prior to installing 135.01 - to try upgrading to v. 137.02. And now, it's right back to hanging on launch.

I don't believe the pref pane could be the problem, because I've used that before without issues. However, I suppose it's possible it got corrupted somehow by whatever is preventing 137.02 from launching.

Here's what I'm going to do: Repeat the steps I tried above, which resulted in a working 135.01. This time I will also delete the pref pane. Then I'm going to get 135.01 directly from Github again, and if that works, I will try updating incrementally to 138.01 also via Github downloads. Then I'm going to wipe all that, reinstall the pref pane, and try the same process except downloading everything using the pref pane. That should isolate the problem enough to determine whether it's something my machine isn't liking about Firefox itself, or about the way the pref pane installs it.

Thanks everyone for sticking with me on this, I have a busy weekend ahead and it will take me a few days to try all these steps. I'll report back on my progress as soon as possible.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

if the ported Firefox installs modified system-level components on these two systems, just like Chromium Legacy Downloader does by putting a custom-developed kext

There's nothing like that for Firefox Dynasty. At one point Dynasty did require a kext to be installed on Lion (only) but that requirement was removed, and nothing has ever installed it automatically.

 

[maverick28]

UPDATE: Well, crap. I'm right back where I started

I didn't mention above that I downloaded v. 135.01 directly from Github, which is what I did. I just now used @Wowfunhappy's pref pane - which I did not remove prior to installing 135.01 - to try upgrading to v. 137.02. And now, it's right back to hanging on launch.

Have you run the last command I suggested in my reply?

P.S. Check the "Insert" option in the message editor to embed images in the post's body..

 

[Raging Dufus]

Have you run the last command I suggested in my reply?

No, because I didn't have Xcode. But I will install Xcode and give that a shot, thanks.

P.S. Check the "Insert" option in the message editor to embed images in the post's body..

Thanks, don't know how I missed that! Seems my head is further ensconced in my rear than I supposed. Which may be the root of my problems... my username is unfortunately my username for a reason 😵‍💫