Ubuntu snap packaged Firefox not starting with web-ext run

[GrayedFox]

Is this a feature request or a bug?

Bug

The error is identical to #1607 however the cause is quite likely due to the app being installed via snap.

What is the current behavior?

Running web-ext run fails due to missing/inaccessible Firefox profile error.

web-ext run -p ~/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/firefox/lis9gi8g.addons/ -v
[program.js][info] Version: 3.1.1
[program.js][debug] Discovering config files. Set --no-config-discovery to disable
[config.js][debug] Discovered config "/home/grayedfox/.web-ext-config.js" does not exist or is not readable
[config.js][debug] Discovered config "/home/grayedfox/github/multi-dict/web-ext-config.js" does not exist or is not readable
[program.js][info] Applying config file: ./package.json
[config.js][debug] Loading JS config file: "/home/grayedfox/github/multi-dict/package.json" (resolved to "/home/grayedfox/github/multi-dict/package.json")
[config.js][debug] Looking for webExt key inside package.json file
[config.js][debug] Config file /home/grayedfox/github/multi-dict/package.json did not define any options. Did you set module.exports = {...}?
[cmd/run.js][info] Running web extension from /home/grayedfox/github/multi-dict
[util/manifest.js][debug] Validating manifest at /home/grayedfox/github/multi-dict/manifest.json
[extension-runners/firefox-desktop.js][debug] Copying Firefox profile from /home/grayedfox/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/firefox/lis9gi8g.addons/
[firefox/index.js][debug] Copying profile directory from "/home/grayedfox/snap/firefox/common/.mozilla/firefox/lis9gi8g.addons/"
[firefox/index.js][debug] Running Firefox with profile at /tmp/890adb6d-e660-4dbe-a2d2-d23a5a2237a5
[firefox/index.js][debug] Checking if remote Firefox port 6005 is available
[firefox/remote.js][debug] Connecting to Firefox on port 6005
[firefox/index.js][debug] Executing Firefox binary: /snap/bin/firefox
[firefox/index.js][debug] Firefox args: -start-debugger-server 6005 -foreground -no-remote -profile /tmp/890adb6d-e660-4dbe-a2d2-d23a5a2237a5
[firefox/index.js][info] Use --verbose or open Tools > Web Developer > Browser Console to see logging
[firefox/remote.js][debug] Connecting to the remote Firefox debugger
[firefox/remote.js][debug] Connecting to Firefox on port 6005
[firefox/index.js][debug] Firefox stderr: /snap/firefox/253/bin/desktop-launch: line 174: /home/grayedfox/snap/firefox/common/.config/user-dirs.dirs: No such file or directory
[firefox/index.js][debug] Firefox stderr: cp: cannot create regular file '/home/grayedfox/snap/firefox/common/.config/': Not a directory
[firefox/index.js][debug] Firefox stderr: /snap/firefox/253/bin/desktop-launch: line 177: /home/grayedfox/snap/firefox/common/.config/user-dirs.dirs.md5sum: No such file or directory
[firefox/index.js][debug] Firefox stderr: /snap/firefox/253/bin/desktop-launch: line 177: /home/grayedfox/snap/firefox/common/.config/user-dirs.locale.md5sum: No such file or directory
[firefox/index.js][debug] Firefox stderr: Gtk-Message: Failed to load module "canberra-gtk-module"
...
[firefox/remote.js][debug] Retrying Firefox (250); connection error: Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:6005
[firefox/remote.js][debug] Connect to Firefox debugger: too many retries
[program.js][error] 
Error: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:6005
    at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (net.js:1106:14)

[program.js][error] Error code: ECONNREFUSED

[program.js][debug] Command executed: run

What is the expected or desired behavior?

Firefox should open with copy of desired or default profile.

Version information (for bug reports)

• Firefox version:

• 68.0.2 (64-bit)
• Mozilla Firefox Snap for Ubuntu
• canonical-002 - 1.0

node --version && npm --version && web-ext --version
v10.16.3
6.11.2
3.1.1

[GrayedFox]

I can confirm the uninstalling the snap package and installing via aptitude solved the problem. I debugged it a little bit - the location that web-ext is searching for profiles in is in fact correct. I also tried using the Profile Manager to create a new addons profile and specified that one using the -p switch and got the same error (demonstrated in the log).

For whatever reason, web-ext seems unable to copy profiles created using a snap installed Firefox (it can still see them). Running with sudo had the same effect.

[Junkern]

I can confirm this, I get the exact same error. I am kinda hesistant to uninstall firefox as it is my main browser (e.g. stored passwords). Would be great to find a workaround or bugfix for this.

Versions:

Firefox 82.0.2 (Mozilla Firefox Snap for Ubuntu, canonical-002 - 1.0)

node --version && npm --version && web-ext --version
10.20.1
6.14.4
5.3.0

[rpl]

I should come back to this and dig a bit more to plan a proper fix, but from what I recall the underlying issue is related to the access to the fact that the snap packaged firefox is confined and can only access what it has explicit permissions for.

By default the snap packaged firefox binary does seem to have access to the home directory but not to the system /tmp directory (and I recall that the flatpack package does also have a pretty similar issue), which is clearly on purpose and there is no permission to grant access to /tmp.

As an additional confirmation that this is the actual underlying issue, I tried to explicitly point the temporary directory used by web-ext to a directory inside the user home does fix the issue for me locally by setting the TMPDIR environment var on the web-ext command, e.g.:

$ mkdir ~/tmp-dir
$ TMPDIR=~/tmp-dir/ web-ext run ... 

[joelpurra]

Ubuntu 21.10, released about a week ago, automatically replaces apt Firefox with snap Firefox. This is the official Mozilla+Canonical way to use Firefox on Ubuntu.

which firefox 

/snap/bin/firefox

firefox --version

Mozilla Firefox 93.0

web-ext --version

6.5.0

Using web-ext run on Ubuntu 21.10:

Profile missing

Your Firefox profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible.

Using web-ext run with $TMPDIR in $HOME:

Close Firefox

Firefox is already running, but is not responding. To use Firefox, you must first close the existing Firefox process, restart your device, or use a different profile.

The message is the same even if Firefox was not running. Setting web-ext run --firefox-profile does not seem to help; perhaps Firefox doesn't get that far.

Is there another combination of environment variables and arguments which works?

---

Regarding picking a snap-accessible temporary directory on Ubuntu, I would suggest ${XDG_CACHE_HOME}/web-ext from the XDG Base Directory Specification. See libraries such as xdg-basedir or cross-platform env-paths.

[fadyanwar]

Hi, just encountered same issue and found this thread via search. Any updates on this issue? Thanks!

[pablooliva]

As an alternative, if your main browser is the Snap version of Firefox, you can install Firefox Developer Edition (https://dev.to/harrsh2124/how-to-setup-firefox-developer-edition-on-ubuntu-4inp) and then run web-ext by pointing it to this new install, such as web-ext run --firefox=/opt/firefox/firefox

[minfrin]

I'm in dependency hell on a Raspberry Pi due to web-ext breakage with snap. Does anyone know of a combination of web-ext and firefox (not firefox-esr) that works?

[sealor]

@rpl Thanks!

Additionally, I have to run Firefox on Wayland with Ubuntu 22.04:
MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 TMPDIR=~/tmp web-ext run