Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

jamtat · 2015-12-19 20:52:48

I run Arch on a desktop that's been updated regularly for the last few years. Things have generally been working fine up until about a month ago. My WM is JWM, btw, in case that matters.

Some recent updates to this system have caused some problems. The most recent problem has to do with Firefox: the program starts, but the UI is all screwed up. It's not really usable in this form. I can't really type in the address blank, for example: what I type is actually being entered there, even though letters do not appear. Also, the whole menu system is essentially invisible. If I hover the cursor over the area where the drop down menus should be, a little square will appear where each menu should be, and a line drops down where there should be a drop-down menu with words in it (but no words appear). I have managed to bring up at least one site which, in the browser window itself, seems to render fine. But all the user interface stuff is wonky. What could be the issue here?

Another problem--one that may be unrelated to the Firefox issues--that cropped up after a recent update, concerns Audacity. The program will no longer start for me. If I try to run it from the command line, I get the message '(Audacity:1555): Gtk-WARNING **: Unable to locate theme engine in module_path: "hcengine",.' I've googled that warning but none of the information I've found thus far is very informative.

Input on these issues and possible resolutions will be much appreciated.

Last edited by jamtat (2015-12-21 18:49:58)

jasonwryan · 2015-12-19 21:13:35

Does Firefox work with a blank profile? What GTK theme are you using and have you tried changing it?

jamtat · 2015-12-19 23:04:46

Thanks for your response, jasonwryan. I'm not sure how to try a blank profile. But I can confirm that Firefox works fine if I start it as root. As to GTK themes I just now tried a few different ones. Firefox nonetheless continues to start, when invoked by my non-root user, in the strange state I described. It could well be that I've got something GTK-related misconfigured: I can't claim that I know much about configuring GTK stuff. Or perhaps a previous, no-longer supported Firefox UI theme is interfering? I've been using the Microfox theme. I'll see whether I can find a way to check further into that.

Scimmia · 2015-12-19 23:07:08

Note that this is GTK3 themes, not GTK2.

jasonwryan · 2015-12-19 23:16:06

jamtat wrote:

I'm not sure how to try a blank profile.

Re/move ~/.mozilla

jjacky · 2015-12-20 00:13:16

jasonwryan wrote:

jamtat wrote:
I'm not sure how to try a blank profile.
Re/move ~/.mozilla

No need to touch your own profile/homedir just for a test:

mkdir /tmp/ff && firefox -no-remote -profile /tmp/ff

jamtat · 2015-12-20 22:56:50

jjacky wrote:

No need to touch your own profile/homedir just for a test:
mkdir /tmp/ff && firefox -no-remote -profile /tmp/ff

Thanks for the further input and sorry for the delayed response. I tried jjacky's option with pretty much the same results as I'd initially described: the UI is all wacked out and the drop-down menu on the right side is only a line and no text or symbols are visible. But when I start firefox as root (sudo firefox), the interface is completely normal: the menus are all readable and contain the appropriate symbols. Still trying to puzzle out where the issue may lie here. Further input will be appreciated.

Last edited by jamtat (2015-12-20 22:58:01)

WorMzy · 2015-12-20 23:15:26

You are probably using a broken GTK3 theme.

w201 · 2015-12-20 23:59:12

Same problem here.... latest update really screwed up the UI... it looks hideous especially if you use the dark theme.

jamtat · 2015-12-21 17:07:38

WorMzy wrote:

You are probably using a broken GTK3 theme.

I suppose that's possible. But I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to diagnose the issue and how to proceed. I've taken a look at the wiki article on GTK, but I don't find anything there very directly related to the issue I'm seeing. As I test, I tried

GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark gnome-calculator

, which correctly applies the designated theme to gnome-calculator. When I try

GTK_THEME=Adwaita:dark firefox

I do get a firefox window with the same sort of dark look I got with gnome-calculator. But the UI is still all wonky, as described above: no menus or text appears and, though I can apparently type in the address, no text shows up there.

Can anyone offer further input on analyzing this issue and/or steps to take in addressing it? Thanks

Scimmia · 2015-12-21 17:16:08

Post your ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

jamtat · 2015-12-21 17:41:07

Scimmia wrote:

Post your ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

Thanks for your reply, Scimmia. Here's the content of that file:

[Settings]
gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme = false
gtk-theme-name = Zukitwo
gtk-fallback-icon-theme = gnome
gtk-icon-theme-name = [icon theme name]
gtk-font-name = [font name] [font size]

Incidentally, I have GTK 2 on this machine as well. Not sure whether I have GTK 1 or not, but that's a possibility. Just in case that will be relevant data.

Scimmia · 2015-12-21 17:52:29

[icon theme name], [font name], and [font size] are definitely wrong. It's no wonder you're running into issues.

jamtat · 2015-12-21 18:49:37

Scimmia wrote:

[icon theme name], [font name], and [font size] are definitely wrong. It's no wonder you're running into issues.

Thank you for the tip, Scimmia. I copied over some values from the wiki article and Firefox is now working. A lot of DE's/WM's have built-in tools for modifying these GTK settings, as I understand it. Being a JWM user, though, I have no such built-in tools. Are there any lightweight ones suitable for a JWM user such as myself? Or should I simply resign myself to manually editing that file on the rare occasions on which I might want to tweak GTK?

Last edited by jamtat (2015-12-21 18:50:51)

Arch Linux

#1 2015-12-19 20:52:48

Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#2 2015-12-19 21:13:35

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#3 2015-12-19 23:04:46

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#4 2015-12-19 23:07:08

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#5 2015-12-19 23:16:06

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#6 2015-12-20 00:13:16

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#7 2015-12-20 22:56:50

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#8 2015-12-20 23:15:26

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#9 2015-12-20 23:59:12

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#10 2015-12-21 17:07:38

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#11 2015-12-21 17:16:08

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#12 2015-12-21 17:41:07

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#13 2015-12-21 17:52:29

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

#14 2015-12-21 18:49:37

Re: Recent update borked Firefox [SOLVED]

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