Userland: Firefox black screen issue

[saurabh6377]

Bug:
Firefox showing black screen on startup only the header provided by wm is visible everything else is black
Distribution installed: Ubuntu
Android version 7.1
Proot debug log: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16aMDGagVRTVBn_ubUysuPYfHzzSmR1lb/view?usp=drivesdk

This is some sort of graphics issue related to firefox.

[corbinlc]

What device do you have?

[corbinlc]

Did you click the firefox app? If so, that creates and uses a Debian filesystem.
OR
Did you install and then launch firefox from inside an Ubuntu filesystm? If so, did the screen go black after you ran firefox & or whatever?
I am not see the same issue, so please provide more info so I can replicate it. Maybe a screen shot could help too.

[robsmith11]

Likely caused by /dev/shm missing

[oscar-renteria]

I probably have the same issue.
I have installed and started (using bVNC and XSDL) the lxde desktop.
I think firefox, among other applications, will be installed during the installation of the lxde desktop.
When I start firefox, the window frame is Ok. But the content of the window is just Black.

I would like to take a screenshot but I do not have the device with me.

I am using a Nexus 7 LTE 2nd Gen.

[lewisdonofrio]

how do I get /dev/shm working?

[robsmith11]

Firefox just needs it to exist. You just need to create the directory. Ideally mount it as tmpfs as well.

[lewisdonofrio]

so you can mkdir /dev/shm (cause I thought the devtree was something the bootup/kernel manages - granted were usermode so no kernel 'persay' but....)

[robsmith11]

Yes, mkdir will work if you're root

[lewisdonofrio]

@robsmith11 directory/file already exists (do you run userland or just applying normal linux logic here?)

[robsmith11]

Hmm.. not sure. I haven't tried this in a while and it was on an old tablet.

I don't know what you mean by userland. Maybe check that /dev/shm is writable by the user who is running Firefox.

Using strace/ltrace may help identify the problem.

[lewisdonofrio]

UserLAnd is this exact project, how do you reply and not know userlan?

[robsmith11]

Haha opps. I think I tried this project a few months ago and that's how I ended up subscribed to this issue.

I had the same issue running Firefox in all environments, so I assumed the problem was the same. Could be something else going on specific to userland. IIRC, I ended up running Firefox in a standard chroot of Arch Arm Linux (on Android 8.1).

[lewisdonofrio]

So how would I fix this directory issue so firefox will run?

[lewisdonofrio]

I try this but it will not mount something about readonly: need this then I'll be good
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1450169

[lewisdonofrio]

moreover I try this:
sudo mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /dev/shm
and it returns
"mount: /dev/shm: cannot mount tmpfs read-only."

HELP ;)

[EnderNightLord-ChromeBook]

you need root access and userLAnd does not support it yet.

[lewisdonofrio]

can you add a distro/asset that would allow for chroot to change this or something else, cause I guess this is all that is needed to get FF to work.....

[EnderNightLord-ChromeBook]

You will have to talk to one of the devs. But I did hear it was on their agenda, but it wasn't their top priority. So using root may come in this year a bit later.

[corbinlc]

We should be able to get firefox working without real root access, as it already works in debian and some people have said it worked for them (I have not investigated). Support for shared memory, which is important for a lot of things is a little bit complicated (covered in a different issue).

[lewisdonofrio]

Firefox will work once this dev directory exists...at least that is what I
read.....not talking about any other distro other ubuntu fwiw.

On Fri, Feb 1, 2019, 4:15 PM corbinlc <[email protected] wrote:

We should be able to get firefox working without real root access, as it
already works in debian and some people have said it worked for them (I
have not investigated). Support for shared memory, which is important for a
lot of things is a little bit complicated (covered in a different issue).

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[daizu05]

My firefox too only show blackscreen
I tried to download chromium its not even work too, it doesnt show up even i clicked many times.
Do you know any alternative browser will work with this???

[Xnehaxixh]

I've figured out a solution, checkout this post
https://github.com/Hax4us/Nethunter-In-Termux/issues/112

wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/321038372/firefox_53.0.3+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.2_arm64.deb
dpkg -i firefox_53.0.3+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.2_arm64.deb

[TungstenCarbideProjectile]

I've figured out a solution, checkout this post
Hax4us/Nethunter-In-Termux#112

wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/321038372/firefox_53.0.3+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.2_arm64.deb
dpkg -i firefox_53.0.3+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.2_arm64.deb

We should be able to get firefox working without real root access, as it already works in debian and some people have said it worked for them (I have not investigated). Support for shared memory, which is important for a lot of things is a little bit complicated (covered in a different issue).

Has there been any improvement on getting firefox to run properly without /dev/shm ? i have found as far as userland goes, the debian chroot with lxde runs firefox fine. however running the ubuntu chroot the xfce4 doesnt allow firefox to display properly, black window with proper window frame. I have tried many of the solutions floating around many forums to no avail.

also downgrading to an older firefox is not a very good solution. i understand its the best we have right now but not recomended and also this did not work for me anyway.

[corbinlc]

Here are the instructions on how to make Firefox work on Ubuntu in UserLAnd....
https://github.com/CypherpunkArmory/UserLAnd/wiki/FAQ#installing-firefox-on-ubuntu

[TungstenCarbideProjectile]

Thank you that is very helpful

[nightshade427]

I am seeing this issue with latest userland. Install userland, select lxde, let it install and set everything up, launch firefox-esr, black screen. I'm using pixel 3 on Android 10 using userland 2.6.5. Says can't use/find/permission for /dev/shm.

[TungstenCarbideProjectile]

I am seeing this issue with latest userland. Install userland, select lxde, let it install and set everything up, launch firefox-esr, black screen. I'm using pixel 3 on Android 10 using userland 2.6.5. Says can't use/find/permission for /dev/shm.

Unfortunately i face the same issue. Debian with lxde was always fine but not anymore

[robsmith11]

Yep, me too. 60 ESR was working fine with Debian, but the upgrade to 68 ESR triggered the black screen again.

[CandleHater]

Same setup as @nightshade427, same result too.

[victorelloveth]

Same issue, is there a way we can reinsta Firefox from scratch

[rcragun]

This should not be closed. It is not Ubuntu-specific. I have the same problem on Debian on Android 7.1.1 on a Levovo Yoga Yab 3 Plus.

In UserLand, I selected Xfce and Lxde under Apps. I tried each with XSDL and bVNC. Firefox-esr loads but renders a window border filled in with black and throws an error that it cannot access /dev/shm.

I tried purging Firefox and installing an old version. I do not remember the process I used (the processes mentioned here for Ubuntu did not work, and old versions are not easy to find). I ended up being able to load Firefox without a black screen, but then the tabs crashed immediately every time, so I did not even find a good workaround by installing an old version.

[jbirbal-skydom]

midori works :)

sudo apt-get midori

[headbank]

I also have this issue since firefox-esr-68.2.0 (possibly before, but version initially installed in mid-October was OK, whatever that was) on Samsung Galaxy S10 5G / Android 9 and 10. Debian/vnc session, using fluxbox rather than one of the featured DEs.

On my system /dev/shm is a regular directory, files can be saved in it but the dir itself cannot be deleted: any command including sudo rm -rf responds "Directory not empty" (even after deleting all files in it). It's also not possible to mount a tmpfs there (although I don't think any mount command works anyway):

$ sudo mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /dev/shm
mount: /dev/shm: mount(2) system call failed: Function not implemented.

NB. @corbinlc has not joined in discussion of /dev/shm as a tmpfs mountpoint above so I don't know whether this is at all relevant, but I'm detailing it just in case.

I don't understand how the information in the FAQ link posted above the closure of this issue is supposed to help: it just describes how to install firefox-esr.

Clearly this issue is still unresolved - do I understand correctly that it depends on other work being done to support SHM? From #871 - "This has been a long running issue. We now support shared memory, so we need to investigate what is remaining to support new versions of firefox on ubuntu."

[japzone1]

Can you please revisit this issue? Firefox-ESR is no longer an option as it's been updated to v68 now, and I need a more recent version of Firefox anyway. I've tried messing with shm and finding ways to disable hardware acceleration, but Firefox still doesn't work.

[nakele]

 you got to force version firefox 59.0.2 in order to make FF work, I did in Synaptic and it works now. You also have to lock the version otherwise it will upgrade next time and stops working.

[headbank]

Pleased to note that this issue has gone away with current userLAnd and current firefox-esr on Debian, on my Galaxy S10 5G (which has itself had updates since last I looked at this, so maybe it's that). Firefox window renders normally under bVNC and XSDL.

[lewisdonofrio]

I agree I now have firefox with all my addon's synced up like a whole real desktop but in my pocket, well with my foldable Bluetooth keyboard makes up my whole "road warrior" setup.

[nakele]

@headbank @lewisdonofrio does synaptic work on the updated userland?

[headbank]

@nakele sorry can't say, I just use apt in the console.

Were you getting the same (black-window) bug with Synaptic? If so that might affect/have affected all GTK+ apps, I'd assume...(?) FWIW, I had no such bug with Thunar (only GTK+ app that comes to mind) previously or now.

[nakele]

@nakele sorry can't say, I just use apt in the console.

Were you getting the same (black-window) bug with Synaptic? If so that might affect/have affected all GTK+ apps, I'd assume...(?) FWIW, I had no such bug with Thunar (only GTK+ app that comes to mind) previously or now.

No, it's something with Userland version above 2.4