Firefox the flatpak version crashed and decided to remove itself from the system, is this common on Linux??

I checked thru Discover and terminal using whereis firefox and all I got is user/lib64/firefox

I should be mad, but I find this too hilarious to be mad… lol… files disappear not entire apps

  • asudox@lemmy.asudox.dev
    40·
    14 hours ago

    Did it really uninstall itself? Run this command and check whether you can see Firefox’s ID or not:

    flatpak list
    • N.E.P.T.R@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      61·
      11 hours ago

      OP mentioned that it was the Flatpak version, which doesnt add anything to root owned parts of the filesystem.

  • just_another_person@lemmy.world
    15·
    14 hours ago

    More than likely it was a failed package transition that failed. You were running one version, an update triggered, something went wrong, and your data folders got orphaned. You can try running a repair on the package, but they usually fail the same way.

      • just_another_person@lemmy.world
        15·
        13 hours ago

        No. Sometimes package managers run into issues though. It’s rare, but it’s possible. If you had been updating on the CLI you would have seen the problem.

      • irotsoma@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        91·
        12 hours ago

        Anytime there is an update, files are often deleted during that process so they can be replaced with new files or because those files are no longer part of the new version being installed. If an error occurs during this process, it is possible that an application will appear not to be installed because it’s broken.

        Anyway, most software does at least partially “uninstall” when it is updating, so if the install fails, then it’s always possible that an update will have uninstalled something. That’s just updates regardless of operating systems, package managers, etc.

  • corsicanguppy@lemmy.caEnglish
    12·
    6 hours ago

    As someone formerly involved in security at the enterprise OS development scope, I consider one less Flatpak to be an improvement in security and consistency.

    Well done!

  • Broadfern@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    8 hours ago

    I don’t have any advice for this exact problem but if it’s any consolation Firefox has randomly gotten offended at my video drivers and bricked my build. Multiple times. I use Librewolf when I can now.

    That is hilarious though, sending frustrated IT vibes your way in both empathy and hopes it’ll help you reach the critical mass of superstition for the problem to fix itself before you have to threaten to take a hammer to it.

  • Artopal@lemmy.ml
    33·
    6 hours ago

    And that’s why I don’t use flatpaks. Nothing like that has ever happened to me.

    • ᥫ᭡ 𐑖ミꪜᴵ𝔦 ᥫ᭡@feddit.orgOPEnglish
      2·
      5 hours ago

      I use Flatpaks because they’re supposedly more sandboxed thus more secure, especially in something that is exposed to the Internet like a web browser, I need all the sandboxing I can get…

      I wish it doesn’t happen again, because I spent 2 hours tweaking Firefox, importing data to my extensions and some of them I have to configure manually…

      • N.E.P.T.R@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        4 hours ago

        Actually, in the case of a web browser, Flatpak weakens both Firefox’s and Chromium’s internal sandboxing, possibly allowing for breaking of cross-site or site-host boundaries. Firefox is even weaker then Chromium as a Flatpak because it can’t use the zypak fork server. Both are weakened, best to avoid.

        For basically any other app, Flatpak can be beneficial as a sandbox.

        Basically, don’t sandbox browsers because its like wearing 2 condoms. The only sandboxing tool I know that doesn’t interfere with the browser’s sandbox (and also doesnt allow for the possibility of privilege escalation, like Firejail) is Bubblejail

        PS: Since you mentioned you are on Fedora, Bubblejail is offered through this COPR repo from the Secureblue team. It provides a sandbox without interfering with the browser’s sandbox. It comes with profiles for Firefox and Chromium. Only issue ive experienced is that the sandbox works, aka it means I can’t access files from my home directory unless explicitly given permission to a folder.

      • FischEnglish
        33·
        14 hours ago

        What this person told you was wrong, you need to use flatpak run [package id] to run flatpak apps. You can do flatpak list to see all installed flatpaks with their ids. An id looks something like org.example.app and you’d run it with flatpak run org.example.app.

        Also, is it shown as being installed in Discover? If it’s not you could try just installing it again and if it is, you can try uninstalling it first. The user data for Firefox should stay intact.

        • BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org
          2·
          7 hours ago

          And if ever unsure, look up Firefox on flathub; every app page shows the command line instructions for installing and for running it.

      • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        13 hours ago

        Bash will cache command locations so it doesn’t need to scan your path too frequently. You can clear it with “hash -r”.

        See the other comment about running flatpaks - it’s their fatal flaw imho.