[BUG] Firefox-Bin 89 fails with xrandr. [Solved]

CrankyPenguin · Apprentice Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 283

So I recently updated firefox-bin from 78.11 to 89.0. In most respects the browser operated fine but when I switch to an external monitor via xrandr the window border and decorators (close, maximize, and iconify buttons) do not show. Moreover the screen cannot be drug around via mouse movements and if I switch workspaces at least once it stops responding to input of any sort. Reverting to 78.11 removes the issue. Based upon some online search I was able to determine that the internal window decorators can be added via customization, but the window still remains immobile and unresponsive.

Emerge info is below.:

ijr22 · n00b Joined: 16 Jun 2021 Posts: 5

Does Firefox output any errors or warnings if you run it via command line and then run xrandr?

ALF__ · Apprentice Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 246

I have the same issue, but probably unrelated because i do not use xrandr.

Newly installed system, besides system applications, i only installed X, Fluxbox and firefox.
Firefox have no decorations and is behaving just as you describe.

Any clue what is going on?

I have no errors if i run firefox from the command line.

CrankyPenguin · Apprentice Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 283

@ijr22. No I get no errors that I can see. it seems to be something that goes unnoticed by firefox.

@ALF_ I too am running fluxbox, perhaps that is part of the issue. I plan to try compiling firefox from source and I will see if that works. If it does then it is something in the way bin is made. If not then they did something with the new layout that may break fluxbox compatability.
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ALF__ · Apprentice Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 246

Thats pretty interesting!

Will also try to compile it from source then.

I did compile chromium, though it took forever.
Chromium works in flux box as expected

CrankyPenguin · Apprentice Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 283

On one of 2 systems I have updated to firefox-bin-90.0.2 and it is showing the window decorations again. I am still not sure what the problem was but the new one seems to work.
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ALF__ · Apprentice Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 246

Just tried re-emerged the latest version of firefox-bin. Still the same issue.

However, I did stumble on a thread on reddit (of all places) That several users were reporting the same issue with Fluxbox + firefox on Fedora.

One had a workaround to use the "restart" command for fluxbox after firefox is started, and indeed that works.

So there is something strange going on.

Wonder were we should report this, and what may be causing it?
Not sure we would get any traction by mentioning it in a bug for firefox? Maybe fluxbox?

Hu · Moderator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 21607

That suggests fluxbox classifies the window in one way when Firefox first appears, but classifies it differently if the Firefox window already exists when fluxbox starts and enumerates all windows. It's possible that Firefox initially creates a no-decorations window, then fixes its type later to request decorations, and Fluxbox sticks with the original type until forced to rediscover it. That's all speculation though.

ALF__ · Apprentice Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 246

Hu · Moderator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 21607

That is not consistent with how I expected this to work. I don't know enough about how Fluxbox decides when to decorate or not decorate to tell you what to check. I suggest you start with learning how Fluxbox makes this decision.

CrankyPenguin · Apprentice Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 283

@ALF_ I just found an interesting corollary to that reddit post. On updating firefox-bin on another system I encountered the same problem. What I determined was that if I ran it once with "firefox-bin --safe-mode" then closed it, it would work after that point. I am not sure why but that appears to be the "fix"

@Hu, I am not sure about how that decision is made either. It appears that there is some form of indexing done since the safe-mode execution is necessary. I am still working on how and why that occurs.
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ALF__ · Apprentice Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 246

Hello!

Thanks for the update.

I have noticed that after update to 92.0 and latest gentoo kernel 5.10.61 all seems to be back to normal?

I really dont think the kernel would do anything with this. But I did run my system several days after last world update (Where the new firefox went in) and still having the issue.
Then yesterday I got around to install the new kernel, and noticed that after reboot everything is back to normal working order.

Not sure if this is just a co-incidence or if there were a fix implemented somewhere.

I did find this bug post on bugzilla: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1714353 If that could be of any interest.

Again, thanks for looking in to this.

Br,
Daniel

CrankyPenguin · Apprentice Joined: 19 Jun 2003 Posts: 283

The problem reappeared on more recent versions and the safe fix no longer works. However I found this post on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/ns3qrb/is_anyone_using_fluxbox_on_linux_the_new_updates/. Changing the rendering appears to fix it. Will update as needed.
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