[TriLUG] Big Problem with Firefox after Upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04

[Scott Chilcote via TriLUG]

   Hi Derek,

   I tried that, but it caused the snap executable of Firefox to stop
   running.  It reported that there was another instance of firefox
   running and quit.  There wasn't another instance though, and I had
   already removed the lock file and .parentLock file from the profile
   directory.

   Part of the problem appears to be that the snap uses a different
   directory path under $HOME for its profile directory than the binary
   release.

   I have temporarily addressed the problem by adding the ppa repository
   and getting the binary release of firefox from there.  I would really
   like to know how to get the snap operational though, it's a chore to
   have to keep bypassing the firefox snap issues in Ubuntu releases.

   Thanks,   Scott

   Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2022 at 9:10 PM
   From: "derek at derekparr.com" <derek at derekparr.com>
   To: "Scott Chilcote" <scottchi at rocketship.com>
   Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Big Problem with Firefox after Upgrade to Ubuntu
   22.04
   You can run "firefox --ProfileManager" from a terminal and it will pop
   up a gui to choose your profile (settings).
   On 8/13/22 9:00 PM, Scott Chilcote via TriLUG wrote:
   > Hi TriLUGgers,
   >
   > This is probably a snap related problem, but my just-upgraded Ubuntu
   > system has a completely empty configuration when I start firefox on
   my
   > existing account. I have not had to use Firefox as a snap on this
   > system before. The previous 20.04 install used Firefox as a debian
   > binary package. Unfortunately, 22.04 will only install Firefox as a
   > snap. It says this in a notification window during the upgrade
   > process.
   >
   > I still have the old firefox configuration (bookmarks, logins,
   > extensions, etc.) in my $HOME/.ubuntu directory path, but this is
   being
   > ignored.
   >
   > The bookmarks import wizard displays a window that says that there is
   > no browser install that it can import on the system.
   >
   > It does not appear to be an access permissions problem,
   > /usr/bin/firefox is owned by root/root and my .mozilla path and files
   > belong to my personal user and group. But I don't know how relevant
   > that is to a snap. Perhaps it can't reach outside of its own sandbox?
   >
   > Does anyone know what I need to do to get the firefox snap to use my
   > existing $HOME/.mozilla configuration files? Do they need to be
   > relocated?
   >
   > I can't imagine why the snap install didn't take care of this, but
   > perhaps there was a problem that kept it from working. I spent half
   an
   > hour searching for how to correct this problem, but it must be rather
   > unique. I found a total of zero matching problem reports. Perhaps I
   > just didn't use the right descriptive terms...
   >
   > Thanks muchly for any clues!
   >
   > Scott C. - scottchi at rocketship.com