[SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-25 18:13:32

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-14900K
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-F GAMING WIFI II
Desktop SW environment: sway, waybar, wayland

Rigth after power on in the morning, and right before power off before I go to sleep I do

/usr/bin/pacman --sync --sysupgrade --refresh

So, I think that all SW should be reasonable up to date.
I reboot an extra time in the morning, if the boot image is updated by pacman.

This issue started to occur some day this week, I think.
But for shure, issue was not there for 2 weeks ago.
Steps to get this issue for me (100% reproducible):

Login from /usr/bin/agetty on "Arch Linux 6.19.14-arch1-1 (tty1)" with user "userxxxx".
start sway desktop env on this tty1 by runing this command:
```
clear; /usr/bin/sway & { exit 0; }
```

starting 2 firefox processes by using configured key binding for this from the sway desktop:

[userxxxx@archlinux sway]$ grep --ignore-case "browser" /home/userxxxx/.config/sway/config
set $browser /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
    # start a browser
    bindsym $mod+Prior  exec $browser
[userxxxx@archlinux sway]$ /usr/lib/firefox/firefox --version
Mozilla Firefox 150.0
[userxxxx@archlinux sway]$

please note: leave both firefox processes runing until and including step 7 below.

goto this URL as an example: https://bbs.archlinux.org/ from one of the firefox processes.
from here verify that all submenu views are displayed when they should be:
1. by cliking with left mouse button at the top right of the firefox window: the "application menu" opens up, with all expected entries, and all seems clickable.
2. simmilar when clicking with left mouse button on the other firefox menus on the toolbar, and they all seems to work as expected: "Extensions", "Account", "bookmark this page", "reset zoom level", "Veryfied by: Let's Encrypt".
3. I can also right click on these same menus to get a chose of "removing from toolbar" option, and some others. exception for "bookmark this page", which does not have a right click option.
4. if one right click on a HREF tag from the page: one gets a new sub-menu, where one can choose "Open link in New Tab" and some 7-10 more expected entries.
5. if I place the mouse pointer (howering) on these entries in the toolbar or the HREF tag, I do also get a litle black text box window, with the name of the menu or URL.
Conclusion: all seems normal for me.
Then do the triggering steps: By first using the Linux key combination: "Ctrl+Alt+F2". Then after you see the "Arch Linux 6.19.14-arch1-1 (tty2)" login line/promt, use this key combination to get back to the firefox processes again: "Ctrl+Alt+F1"
Notice the following when back on the firefox process again, and ref step 5 above:
1. not possible to get the "application menu" to open up by left cliking.
2. simmilar for all others of the "menu windows": when clicking with left mouse button for the firefox menus on the toolbar: no response at all.
3. simmilar no response by right cliking as well for the menus in the toolbar.
4. simmilar no response if one right click on a HREF tag from the page! I can left click and the browser still go to the expected link.
5. if I place the mouse pointer (howering) on a HREF tag, I still see the URL. But I do not see the names of the menu's from the toolbar, if I try to do howering.
6. if I goto the same URL from the other firefox browser, same issue happens for this new window also.
Conclusion: firefox now works kind of, but it is somewhat annoying that I cannot any longer open an URL in a new tab by right clicking, which I use a lot.
How to reeset this firefox behaviour: I have to kill all open firefox processes for the current user, and then start a fresh new firefox process, to get firefox to work as normal again. But then, as soon as I then again do step 6 above, the same firefox issues is back.

Since I like to be able to fast switch to different linux login users on my PC, I therefore do step 6 many times during the day, and then get affected by this firefox issue.

I am not sure or having any clue if this is a firefox, wayland, sway, seat or a agetty issue, so I am only providing output of this command during step 6 above:

[root@archlinux ~]# /usr/bin/journalctl --lines 10 --boot --follow
april 25 17:18:50 archlinux su[1804]: pam_unix(su:session): session opened for user root(uid=0) by userxxxx(uid=1000)
april 25 17:18:51 archlinux systemd[1]: getty@tty1.service: Deactivated successfully.
april 25 17:18:51 archlinux systemd[1]: getty@tty1.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 2.
april 25 17:18:51 archlinux systemd[1]: Started Getty on tty1.
april 25 17:18:52 archlinux login[1809]: pam_faillock(login:auth): User unknown
april 25 17:19:03 archlinux login[1809]: pam_unix(login:auth): check pass; user unknown
april 25 17:19:03 archlinux login[1809]: pam_unix(login:auth): authentication failure; logname=LOGIN uid=0 euid=0 tty=/dev/tty1 ruser= rhost=
april 25 17:19:03 archlinux login[1809]: pam_faillock(login:auth): User unknown
april 25 17:19:05 archlinux login[1809]: FAILED LOGIN 1 FROM tty1 FOR (unknown), User not known to the underlying authentication module
april 25 17:19:23 archlinux login[1809]: pam_faillock(login:auth): User unknown
april 25 17:19:51 archlinux systemd[1]: getty@tty1.service: Deactivated successfully.
april 25 17:19:51 archlinux systemd[1]: getty@tty1.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 3.
april 25 17:19:51 archlinux systemd[1]: Started Getty on tty1.
april 25 17:20:19 archlinux systemd[1502]: Starting Virtual filesystem metadata service...
april 25 17:20:19 archlinux systemd[1502]: Started Virtual filesystem metadata service.
april 25 17:20:19 archlinux systemd[1]: Starting Time & Date Service...
april 25 17:20:20 archlinux systemd[1]: Started Time & Date Service.
april 25 17:20:20 archlinux rtkit-daemon[1536]: Successfully made thread 2021 of process 1820 owned by '1000' RT at priority 10.
april 25 17:20:25 archlinux agetty[1815]: tty1: invalid character 0x1b in login name
april 25 17:20:35 archlinux systemd[1]: getty@tty1.service: Deactivated successfully.
april 25 17:20:35 archlinux systemd[1]: getty@tty1.service: Scheduled restart job, restart counter is at 4.
april 25 17:20:35 archlinux systemd[1]: Started Getty on tty1.
april 25 17:20:50 archlinux systemd[1]: systemd-timedated.service: Deactivated successfully.
april 25 17:21:30 archlinux seatd[1269]: 00:09:43.352 [INFO] [seatd/seat.c:621] Disabling client 1 on seat0
april 25 17:21:30 archlinux systemd[1502]: Reached target Sound Card.
april 25 17:21:30 archlinux seatd[1269]: 00:09:43.422 [ERROR] [seatd/seat.c:664] Could not set next session: client is not active
april 25 17:21:30 archlinux systemd[1]: Started Getty on tty2.
april 25 17:21:30 archlinux seatd[1269]: 00:09:43.599 [INFO] [seatd/seat.c:640] Disabled client 1 on seat0
april 25 17:21:59 archlinux seatd[1269]: 00:10:12.048 [INFO] [seatd/seat.c:584] Opened client 1 on seat0
april 25 17:22:10 archlinux rtkit-daemon[1536]: Successfully made thread 2552 of process 1820 owned by '1000' RT at priority 10.
[root@archlinux ~]#

[userxxxx@archlinux ~]$ ps -efl --pid 1820,1588,1
F S UID          PID    PPID  C PRI  NI ADDR SZ WCHAN  STIME TTY          TIME CMD
0 S userxxxx      1820    1588  2  80   0 - 909913 poll_s 17:20 ?       00:00:07 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
4 S userxxxx      1588       1  0  58   - - 619345 -     17:12 ?        00:00:02 /usr/bin/sway
4 S root           1       0  0  80   0 -  6565 -      17:11 ?        00:00:01 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --switched-root --system --deserialize=41
[userxxxx@archlinux ~]$ id -a
uid=1000(userxxxx) gid=1000(userxxxx) groups=1000(userxxxx),972(seat),991(lp),996(audio)
[userxxxx@archlinux ~]$

Switched to tty2 at 17:21:30 and back to tty1 again at 17:21:59. This was after a fresh reboot, and first time I did a Ctrl+Alt+F2 from a sway env for this fresh reboot. Please ask, and I will try to provide possible more logs or more info.

From reading output of

grep --extended-regexp --ignore-case "installed|upgraded" /var/log/pacman.log | tail -100

I see that both wayland and firefox was upgraded on Wednesday this week for me.

[2026-04-22T09:01:03+0200] [ALPM] upgraded wayland (1.24.0-1 -> 1.25.0-1)
[2026-04-22T09:01:03+0200] [ALPM] upgraded firefox (149.0.2-1 -> 150.0-1)

PS! This is my first post on Arch Linux Forum, so sorry for any beginner mistakes I have made. I have tried to read some "first time" rules and tips, but I might have missed sometihng.

PPS! I have query-replaced my real username to "userxxxx" for privacy reasons.

Last edited by 2kibeq2048 (2026-05-22 16:29:03)

seth · 2026-04-25 20:54:50

* Why is seatd enabled?

* Is FF v149 affected?

* Is FF an xwayland client?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Waylan … plications
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefox#Xwayland

* recent versions of systemd/udev seem to trigger some undue HW polling which in case of (typically keychron keyboards) spurious joydev devices tends to completely knock out Xorg, but I'm not sure whether there aren't other, more hidden, effects.

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-25 23:50:12

answer to user seth for question: Why is seatd enabled?
My PC was new March 2024, when I installed Arch Linux on it. I did not use an archinstall script/program when installing Arch Linux. Instead I installed and configured things as needed, and fixed issues as they where seen. Also by reading some docs! I do not remember all details from that time, but I think it was something to do to get my mouse and keybord to work. Or something.
From your question it seems maybe that seatd is not the best choise? From https://tanjilbhuiyan.medium.com/a-mode … ab6d5371dc, and the fact that I would like to be able to switch fast to a different user, seatd seems like a good choise.
But, please be honest and tell me if I instead should be shifting to polkit, since that is the more modern way in the long run?
But I would still like to be able to use the key kombination Ctrl+Alt+F1 to Ctrl+Alt+F12, to have a fast way to switch to several users logged in to my PC. They are all "me", but with different roles and functions. Some of the reasons is for privacy.

answer to user seth for question: Is FF v149 affected?

Downgraded firefox by running the following pacman command

[root@archlinux ~]# /usr/bin/pacman --upgrade /var/cache/pacman/pkg/firefox-149.0.2-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst
loading packages...
warning: downgrading package firefox (150.0-1 => 149.0.2-1)
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (1) firefox-149.0.2-1

Total Installed Size:  281,65 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:       -1,06 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
(1/1) checking keys in keyring                                        [#######################################] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                      [#######################################] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                           [#######################################] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                     [#######################################] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space                                   [#######################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) downgrading firefox                                             [#######################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/3) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/3) Updating icon theme caches...
(3/3) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
[root@archlinux ~]#

So, after downgrading only firefox, I can herby confirm that firefox-149.0.2-1 seems not have this issue. At least on my PC!

Tested this by running the firefox process for a different Linux user, such that I do not get any warning regarding profile downgrade issue, and have a risk of destroing some firefox profile files.

answer to user seth for question: Is FF an xwayland client?
I first installed https://archlinux.org/packages/?name=xorg-xeyes to be able to run the "xeyes test" for this question. I was not able to get xeyes to run since it complained about that it could not open the display:
```
[userxxxx@archlinux ~]$ /usr/bin/xeyes -display :0
Error: Can't open display: :0
[userxxxx@archlinux ~]$ /usr/bin/xeyes -display wayland-1
Error: Can't open display: wayland-1
[userxxxx@archlinux ~]$ DISPLAY=:0 /usr/bin/xeyes
Error: Can't open display: :0
[userxxxx@archlinux ~]$ DISPLAY=wayland-1 /usr/bin/xeyes
Error: Can't open display: wayland-1
```
From your provided URL = https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefox#Xwayland, that gave me some results which indeed says that "Window Protocol" = "wayland". I have included the more full "User Agent" string as well from the large and detail "about:support" page:
```
Window Protocol: wayland
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:150.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/150.0
```
Conclusion: FF seems to be using native wayland, as far as I can tell. I have also tried to avoid installing anything X11 related. Might have missied something, but that would be a mistake from my side if I accidently installed something X11 packages.

Ref the fact from above, that firefox version 149.0.2-1 seems not to have this issue on my PC, where as version 150.0-1 seems to have this issue: If someone thinks it would be nice that I would try to git bisect to the offending git patch, which first causes this to happen, please let me know. If so, please give me some instruction on how to be able to run "configure && make" with the correct options. And possible the exact clone URL's to get the correct git versions for these 2 mentioned firefox versions. Or some simmilar hints. I have contributed some 20++ git commits to git it self, so I should be able to run git bisect, I guess :-)

Last edited by 2kibeq2048 (2026-04-26 09:47:17)

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-26 09:35:57

Some more details to user seth for question: Is FF v149 affected?

Just to make sure that there was nothing special about this Linux user where I tested and ran the downgraded firefox version 149.0.2-1: for my system I just upgraded back to current most recent firefox version 150.0-1, and I can confirm that the "cannot open menu window's after switch by Ctrl+Alt+FN" issue, mainifested it self on that Linux user as well, when runing FF version 150.0-1!

Last edited by 2kibeq2048 (2026-04-26 09:38:42)

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-26 13:06:39

Below is just some more details about behavior when this problem occurs.

First: when I left click on the small icon in the upper right corner of firefox to open the "application menu", the small icon would still be somewhat darker grey colored, but as mentioned before, the application menu does not pop up. That darker grey color for the small icon, disapears when I left click with the mouse pointer somewhere.

Second: when I right click on a blank part of the loaded webpage, and expect to see the submenu for which I can use "Save Page As ..", that submenu does not apear at all. But, afterwards I cannot scroll the webpage up or down by the mouse wheel. And as soon as I left click with the mouse somewhere, I can again scroll the webpage up and down. This is the same "mouse-scroll-behavior" as for when my firefox browser works correctly.

seth · 2026-04-26 13:22:47

Does it help to run FF50 as xwayland client?

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-26 16:27:35

answer to user seth for question: Does it help to run FF50 as xwayland client?

I have tried the following commands:

[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ /usr/bin/env GDK_BACKEND=x11 DISPLAY=:0 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
Error: we don't have any display, WAYLAND_DISPLAY='wayland-1' DISPLAY=':0'
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ /usr/bin/env GDK_BACKEND=wayland WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-1  /usr/lib/firefox/firefox

but the X11 version fails, and I would guess that the main reason is that I have not installed xorg-serv, xorg-init or xorg-xwayland, ref:

[root@archlinux home]# /usr/bin/pacman --sync --sysupgrade --refresh xorg-server
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (9) libfontenc-1.1.9-1  libxcvt-0.1.3-1  libxfont2-2.0.7-1  xf86-input-libinput-1.5.0-1  xorg-fonts-encodings-1.1.0-2  xorg-server-common-21.1.22-1
             xorg-setxkbmap-1.3.5-1  xorg-xkbcomp-1.5.0-1  xorg-server-21.1.22-1

Total Download Size:   2,34 MiB
Total Installed Size:  5,12 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n
[root@archlinux home]# /usr/bin/pacman --sync --sysupgrade --refresh xorg-xinit 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (4) xorg-xauth-1.1.5-1  xorg-xmodmap-1.0.11-2  xorg-xrdb-1.2.2-2  xorg-xinit-1.4.4-1

Total Download Size:   0,08 MiB
Total Installed Size:  0,17 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n
[root@archlinux home]# /usr/bin/pacman --sync --sysupgrade --refresh xorg-xwayland 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (8) libfontenc-1.1.9-1  libxcvt-0.1.3-1  libxfont2-2.0.7-1  xorg-fonts-encodings-1.1.0-2  xorg-server-common-21.1.22-1  xorg-setxkbmap-1.3.5-1  xorg-xkbcomp-1.5.0-1
             xorg-xwayland-24.1.10-1

Total Download Size:   1,76 MiB
Total Installed Size:  3,53 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] n
[root@archlinux home]#

I would like to to try keep my installation without any X11 related.

I would try to compile firefox on my own PC. Then, if I manage to recreate this issue on my fresh compiled firefox, I would then proceed to do git bisect. But, this would be work for next weekend. Have some other work to be done in the mean time!

Seems like this URL is the more offical git clone URL for firefox: https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox.git

seth · 2026-04-26 16:42:14

I have tried the following commands:

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefox#Xwayland again

I would like to to try keep my installation without any X11 related … I would guess that the main reason is that I have not installed xorg-serv, xorg-init or xorg-xwayland

You'll only need https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … -xwayland/ and it would seem you had that anyway and please don't turn your system into some para-religious purity-test.
You want to figure where this is coming from, so we'll pull some strings and see where it falls apart (or not)

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-26 17:37:30

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefox#Xwayland again

I have run the following commands:

[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 firefox
[WARN  glean_core] Shutdown called before Glean is initialized. Waiting.
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
[WARN  glean_core] Shutdown called before Glean is initialized. Waiting.
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=0 firefox
[WARN  glean_core] Shutdown called before Glean is initialized. Waiting.
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=0 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
[WARN  glean_core] Shutdown called before Glean is initialized. Waiting.
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ type firefox
firefox is hashed (/usr/bin/firefox)
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ cat /usr/bin/firefox 
#!/bin/sh
exec /usr/lib/firefox/firefox "$@"
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$

Each of these 4 tests did have the same issue. I noticed that the about:support still says "Window Protocol" = "wayland" for all 4 tests.

You'll only need https://archlinux.org/packages/extra/x8 … -xwayland/ and it would seem you had that anyway and please don't turn your system into some para-religious purity-test.
You want to figure where this is coming from, so we'll pull some strings and see where it falls apart (or not)

I have installed xwayland:

[root@archlinux home]# /usr/bin/pacman --sync --sysupgrade --refresh xorg-xwayland 
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra                                                                         8,2 MiB  81,0 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
:: Starting full system upgrade...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Packages (9) lcms2-2.19-1  libfontenc-1.1.9-1  libxcvt-0.1.3-1  libxfont2-2.0.7-1  xorg-fonts-encodings-1.1.0-2  xorg-server-common-21.1.22-1  xorg-setxkbmap-1.3.5-1
             xorg-xkbcomp-1.5.0-1  xorg-xwayland-24.1.10-1

Total Download Size:   1,98 MiB
Total Installed Size:  4,21 MiB
Net Upgrade Size:      3,53 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] Y
:: Retrieving packages...
 xorg-xkbcomp-1.5.0-1-x86_64                                                  91,3 KiB  2,88 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
 libxfont2-2.0.7-1-x86_64                                                    113,2 KiB  3,45 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
 lcms2-2.19-1-x86_64                                                         223,0 KiB  6,05 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
 libfontenc-1.1.9-1-x86_64                                                    15,4 KiB  5,01 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
 xorg-server-common-21.1.22-1-x86_64                                          27,6 KiB  3,37 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
 xorg-xwayland-24.1.10-1-x86_64                                              963,2 KiB  20,9 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
 libxcvt-0.1.3-1-x86_64                                                       10,8 KiB  2,63 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
 xorg-setxkbmap-1.3.5-1-x86_64                                                13,8 KiB  2,25 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
 xorg-fonts-encodings-1.1.0-2-any                                            568,8 KiB  8,29 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
 Total (9/9)                                                                2027,0 KiB  25,1 MiB/s 00:00 [##############################################################] 100%
(9/9) checking keys in keyring                                                                           [##############################################################] 100%
(9/9) checking package integrity                                                                         [##############################################################] 100%
(9/9) loading package files                                                                              [##############################################################] 100%
(9/9) checking for file conflicts                                                                        [##############################################################] 100%
(9/9) checking available disk space                                                                      [##############################################################] 100%
:: Processing package changes...
(1/9) installing xorg-fonts-encodings                                                                    [##############################################################] 100%
(2/9) installing libfontenc                                                                              [##############################################################] 100%
(3/9) installing libxfont2                                                                               [##############################################################] 100%
(4/9) installing xorg-xkbcomp                                                                            [##############################################################] 100%
(5/9) installing xorg-setxkbmap                                                                          [##############################################################] 100%
(6/9) installing xorg-server-common                                                                      [##############################################################] 100%
(7/9) installing libxcvt                                                                                 [##############################################################] 100%
(8/9) installing xorg-xwayland                                                                           [##############################################################] 100%
(9/9) upgrading lcms2                                                                                    [##############################################################] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/3) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/3) Updating fontconfig cache...
(3/3) Updating the desktop file MIME type cache...
[root@archlinux home]#

Then I repeated the above 4 firefox test's with same results/no change in behaviour.

[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 firefox
[WARN  glean_core] Shutdown called before Glean is initialized. Waiting.
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
[WARN  glean_core] Shutdown called before Glean is initialized. Waiting.
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=0 firefox
[WARN  glean_core] Shutdown called before Glean is initialized. Waiting.
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$ MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=0 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
[WARN  glean_core] Shutdown called before Glean is initialized. Waiting.
[userxxxx@archlinux 1000]$

I have no clue why those warning message lines started to apear.

Sorry for beeing negative in my previous post!

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-26 18:02:26

Got following lines some few minutes ago:

userxxxx@archlinux ~]$ /usr/bin/env GDK_BACKEND=wayland WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-1  /usr/lib/firefox/firefox^C
[userxxxx@archlinux ~]$ /usr/bin/env GDK_BACKEND=wayland MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1  WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-1  /usr/lib/firefox/firefox
[Parent 81503, Main Thread] WARNING: Couldn't map window 0x7fa0b7f66e20 as subsurface because its parent is not mapped.: 'glib warning', file /usr/src/debug/firefox/firefox-150.0/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201

(firefox:81503): Gdk-WARNING **: 19:42:33.048: Couldn't map window 0x7fa0b7f66e20 as subsurface because its parent is not mapped.
[Parent 81503, Main Thread] WARNING: Couldn't map window 0x7fa0b7f66e20 as subsurface because its parent is not mapped.: 'glib warning', file /usr/src/debug/firefox/firefox-150.0/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201

(firefox:81503): Gdk-WARNING **: 19:42:34.344: Couldn't map window 0x7fa0b7f66e20 as subsurface because its parent is not mapped.
[Parent 81503, Main Thread] WARNING: Couldn't map window 0x7fa0b7f66e20 as subsurface because its parent is not mapped.: 'glib warning', file /usr/src/debug/firefox/firefox-150.0/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201

(firefox:81503): Gdk-WARNING **: 19:42:34.344: Couldn't map window 0x7fa0b7f66e20 as subsurface because its parent is not mapped.
[WARN  glean_core] Shutdown called before Glean is initialized. Waiting.
[GFX1-]: Invalid aSize in ResizeInt Size(200,-15) size state 0
[userxxxx@archlinux ~]$

This was not repeatable, so not sure if this is related.

Earlier today I have done some google to enable trace//log from about:logging in firefox, to no success. But maybe maybe, some of the extra lines above, have something to do with log/trace?

seth · 2026-04-26 18:11:51

I noticed that the about:support still says "Window Protocol" = "wayland" for all 4 tests.

What does xorg-xeyes say?
nb. that FF will by default NOT start a new main process but just spawn a new window if an instance is already running, you'll have to kill existing processes first or use "--new-instance"

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-26 18:43:58

Some progress !!!!

What does xorg-xeyes say?

xeyes still failed to restart related to failed to open :0 display. So I did a reboot just in case, and now xeyes did start as it should!

Now while running

MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=0 firefox

about:support from firefox says "Window Protocol" = "xwayland", and since xeyes did start and doing it's thing: mouse pointer over my firefox window was followed by the eyes.

And now, there was no issue when left or right clicking after switching by Ctrl+Alt+F12 and back again by Ctrl+Alt+F1.

What will be the next steps?

seth · 2026-04-26 19:37:59

Do you encounter this w/ weston (reference) or labwc (some other wlr compositor) instead of sway (ie. is the problem w/ FF implementation of the popup layer shell at large or sway's interpretation thereof)?

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-26 21:17:05

/usr/bin/weston

firefox issue not present for "Window Protocol" = "wayland"!

I did not manage to test with xwayland. I did not reboot after installing weston, maybe that would have fixed xwayland support?

But, I have to say that the URL input field in the firefox toolbar was very slow to react on key press for me. Yes, I assume this is some other issue, but I had to strugle for some minutes to be able to write "about:support" correctly.

/usr/bin/labwc

Same firefox behaviour and issue's as for /usr/bin/sway it seems:

Running

/usr/bin/env MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox

recreates this problem with no menu windows poping up after switching with Ctrl+Alt+F12 and back again.

Running

/usr/bin/env MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=0 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox

has no issues, same as /usr/bin/sway: so I can switch with Ctrl+Alt+F12 and back without any issues for firefox.

Have not tested /usr/bin/labwc with firefox version 149.0.2-1. Is that wanted?

Last edited by 2kibeq2048 (2026-04-26 21:27:24)

seth · 2026-04-27 08:26:25

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 1#p2296011
https://www.reddit.com/r/archlinux/comm … c_wayland/

==> https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2026258#c2

So it's probably a problem between firefox' and wlr's (labwc and sway use that) interpretation of the popup layershell, possibly as a result for https://gist.github.com/probonopd/9feb7 … nt-4473365

2kibeq2048 · 2026-04-27 09:52:36

Latest message on that thread https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.c … 215_263117 seems to indicate that progress has been stalled for more than 3 weeks with "Flags: needinfo?(stransky)". I also see that the original reporter alanhdu, uses FF v151.

Question: since my FF issue seems to affect v150 (but not v149), and it may seems to have a "simpler" trigger, should I add a new bugzilla for my case, or maybe add an entry to the existing id=2026258 and add a ref to this Arch Linux thread for reference?

seth · 2026-04-27 15:56:49

Not sure what info is expected, the OP responded w/ the inquired output.
It however doesn't have your message

(firefox:81503): Gdk-WARNING **: 19:42:34.344: Couldn't map window 0x7fa0b7f66e20 as subsurface because its parent is not mapped.
[Parent 81503, Main Thread] WARNING: Couldn't map window 0x7fa0b7f66e20 as subsurface because its parent is not mapped.: 'glib warning', file /usr/src/debug/firefox/firefox-150.0/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:201

Probably open a new bug w/ the error, explain the condition (likely adding/removing outputs, seems wlr specific) and reference this thread and the other bug for context.

2kibeq2048 · 2026-05-11 17:45:15

I see there is some updates on the bugzilla case: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2026258 . Best news seems to be that FF v151 will also contain the fix published for that bugzilla case.

This bugzilla case with id = 2026258, also has this bugzilla case as a dublicate: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2032822 . This duplicate case (with id = 2032822) has exactly my "Gdk-WARNING" message as above. So it seems reasonable to hope that this will also fix my issue.

Release date for FF v151 seems to be 19 May, so I will wait until that version shows up through pacman, then do some tests to see if the issue is fixed for me as well. If it is fixed, I will change this thread to "SOLVED".

Last edited by 2kibeq2048 (2026-05-22 16:26:45)

thesupertechie · 2026-05-14 05:25:04

This seems like a strange ask, but I had a similar issue on Librewolf (Firefox fork), v150. When you right click a tab, is "Add Split View", next to a green "New"? Try opening a Split View, then immediately closing it, then trying again. I had a similar-sounding issue lately. Whenever I slept, I couldn't access certain right click menus after waking up in the browser. Nor would clicking extension icons in the toolbar work. Then, out of curiosity, I clicked the "Split View" button, then closed a split view. What do you know, after all of that, the browser doesn't do this anymore. I wonder if it's a bug in the Split View.

I realize this only sounds tangentially related, but OP appears to have a similar issue to what I did, the major difference being that their issue begins after switching to a TTY, when mine started after sleeping.

thisJade · 2026-05-21 13:44:20

Well with Version 151 from testing the bug is still not fixed.

2kibeq2048 · 2026-05-21 17:52:43

I have at 18:37:37+02:00 today beeen able to download FireFox version 151 through pacman (extra repo). And I can hereby confirm that my FireFox issue from my original post #1 above have been fixed with this new version 151! At least for all the tests I have been able to perform for now.

If I do not get some protests, I will change this thread to "SOLVED" shortly after 18:00+02:00 Friday 22'th May.

Thank you to user seth for feedback and help during this issue!!!!

To user thesupertechie and your message #19 above:
I am not familiar with the Librewolf browser. But have you looked at my mesage #14 above, and tried to set the environment variable MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND to 0 (zero) or 1 (one), and see if you see some difference? I then assume that Librewolf has the same support as FireFox regarding the environment variable MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND.

If you are able to have the same tests results as I had above, maybe check if Librewolf have the same bugfix planned for version 151 of Librewolf, ref message #18 above.

To user thisJade and your message #20 above:
Have you tried FireFox version 151 from the extra repo? If you still have issues, it seems they are different than my issue from above.

Last edited by 2kibeq2048 (2026-05-22 16:26:15)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-04-25 18:13:32

[SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#2 2026-04-25 20:54:50

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#3 2026-04-25 23:50:12

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#4 2026-04-26 09:35:57

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#5 2026-04-26 13:06:39

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#6 2026-04-26 13:22:47

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#7 2026-04-26 16:27:35

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#8 2026-04-26 16:42:14

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#9 2026-04-26 17:37:30

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#10 2026-04-26 18:02:26

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#11 2026-04-26 18:11:51

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#12 2026-04-26 18:43:58

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#13 2026-04-26 19:37:59

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#14 2026-04-26 21:17:05

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#15 2026-04-27 08:26:25

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#16 2026-04-27 09:52:36

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#17 2026-04-27 15:56:49

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#18 2026-05-11 17:45:15

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#19 2026-05-14 05:25:04

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#20 2026-05-21 13:44:20

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

#21 2026-05-21 17:52:43

Re: [SOLVED] Firefox: switch Ctrl+Alt+FN and back: cannot open menu window

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