workaround for no firefox?

T

Todd McComb

So I was doing my monthly update for my desktop, and ended up with no browser. I see the thread here about dependency issues, but that seems now to be discussing procedures and such.

In the meantime, how can I get back my previous version of firefox? This is obviously a very important application for my desktop computer.

Thank you.
 
Can I simply revert the pkgs to the previous versions?

I was no experiencing any problems, but try to do monthly updates as a matter of maintenance....
 
Downloaded packages are cached in /var/cache/pkg.
Click to expand...

There's a big downside to keeping old packages around though, those packages are going to have old dependencies too. So you're going to have lots of dependency chain issues.
Click to expand...

forums.freebsd.org

Properly update packages or rollback

Hello friends, I am using pkg to install my software. From time to time $app gets an update and something breaks. What are your ways to rollback to the $old_app_version ? In my setup nearly everything is isolated in a jail . One approach for me is snapshot the jail run pkg upgrade if the...
forums.freebsd.org forums.freebsd.org

i guess the issue is the previous pkg was built with the previous release of freebsd
so you may run into problems with mismatched libraries versions and dependencies
 
So if I had done the `freebsd-update install` (to 13.3-p5) but not the `pkg upgrade` would my Firefox install (127.mumble) have broken?
 
You could revert to a previous backup or snapshot before upgrade was done. ZFS makes this simpler with boot environments. We don't know any details of your OS configuration though.
 
I know this is too late now, but in the future make sure to check the output of pkg before committing to it.
When running pkg upgrade it will tell you at the top which ports will be removed and at the bottom there's an aggregation statistic. Of course a mandatory pkg upgrade after a major version increase makes this safeguard still useless.

Just checked and if I were to upgrade from the FreeBSD repository right now, a lot of stuff would be removed (including firefox & kde). In my specific case it's not much of an issue since I build my own ports and will only update my system if there are no relevant poudriere build errors anyway.

# pkg upgrade
Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue...
Fetching data.pkg: 100% 7 MiB 7.0MB/s 00:01
Processing entries: 100%
FreeBSD repository update completed. 33387 packages processed.
All repositories are up to date.
Checking for upgrades (318 candidates): 100%
Processing candidates (318 candidates): 100%
The following 447 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked):

Installed packages to be REMOVED:
akonadi: 23.08.5_1
akonadi-calendar: 23.08.5
akonadi-contacts: 23.08.5
akonadi-import-wizard: 23.08.5
akonadi-mime: 23.08.5
akonadi-notes: 23.08.5
akonadi-search: 23.08.5
akonadiconsole: 23.08.5
akregator: 23.08.5
audacity: 3.5.1
baloo-widgets: 23.08.5
calendarsupport: 23.08.5
cantor: 23.08.5_4
chromaprint: 1.5.1.20221217_1
dolphin: 23.08.5
dooble: 2024.01.25
eventviews: 23.08.5
falkon: 23.08.5
ffmpeg: 6.1.1_5,1
firefox: 127.0_1,2
freerdp: 2.11.7
ghostwriter: 24.02.2
gimp: 2.10.38,2
gimp-app: 2.10.38,1
gimp-gutenprint: 5.3.4
grantlee-editor: 23.08.5
gwenview: 23.08.5_3
incidenceeditor: 23.08.5
kaccounts-integration: 23.08.5_5
kaddressbook: 23.08.5
kalarm: 23.08.5
kalgebra: 23.08.5
kde-baseapps: 23.08.5_2
kde5: 5.27.11.23.08.5_2
kdeedu: 23.08.5_1
kdegraphics: 23.08.5_1
kdemultimedia: 23.08.5_3
kdemultimedia-ffmpegthumbs: 23.08.5_1
kdenetwork: 23.08.5_1
kdenlive: 23.08.5_1
kdepim: 23.08.5_2
kdepim-addons: 23.08.5
kdepim-runtime: 23.08.5_1
kdeutils: 23.08.5_2
kf5-baloo: 5.115.0
kf5-kfilemetadata: 5.115.0_2
kf5-kimageformats: 5.115.0_2
kf5-purpose: 5.115.0_1
kgpg: 23.08.5
kid3-qt5: 3.9.4_2
kmail: 23.08.5
kmail-account-wizard: 23.08.5
kmailtransport: 23.08.5
kontact: 23.08.5
korganizer: 23.08.5
krdc: 23.08.5
krfb: 23.08.5
libgravatar: 23.08.5
libheif: 1.17.6_2
libkdepim: 23.08.5
libkgapi: 23.08.5
libksieve: 23.08.5
libxine: 1.2.13_9
mailcommon: 23.08.5
mailimporter: 23.08.5
marble: 23.08.5_1
mbox-importer: 23.08.5
messagelib: 23.08.5
mkvtoolnix: 84.0
mlt7: 7.24.0_1
mlt7-glaxnimate-qt5: 7.24.0
mlt7-qt5: 7.24.0
mpv: 0.38.0,1
okular: 23.08.5_4
parley: 23.08.5
phonon-vlc-qt5: 0.12.0_1
pim-data-exporter: 23.08.5
pim-sieve-editor: 23.08.5
pimcommon: 23.08.5
plasma5-discover: 5.27.11_1
plasma5-kde-cli-tools: 5.27.11
plasma5-kdeplasma-addons: 5.27.11
plasma5-khotkeys: 5.27.11
plasma5-kinfocenter: 5.27.11
plasma5-kpipewire: 5.27.11
plasma5-plasma: 5.27.11
plasma5-plasma-browser-integration: 5.27.11
plasma5-plasma-desktop: 5.27.11
plasma5-plasma-workspace: 5.27.11_2
plasma5-powerdevil: 5.27.11
plasma5-systemsettings: 5.27.11
qt5-webengine: 5.15.17.p2
qt5-webview: 5.15.14p0
qt6-multimedia: 6.7.1
qt6-webengine: 6.7.1
qtcreator: 13.0.1
signon-ui: 0.17.355_4
spectacle: 23.08.5_2
telegram-desktop: 5.1.5_3
thunderbird: 115.12.0
vlc: 3.0.20_9,4
xine: 0.99.14_5
<snipped>
Number of packages to be removed: 102
Number of packages to be installed: 27
Number of packages to be upgraded: 186
Number of packages to be reinstalled: 132

In your case, do you still have an old version of firefox in /var/cache/pkg? Probably not since pkg cleans it up, but who knows. Or maybe possibly on another system?
 
Todd McComb said:
I have nothing fancy, ufs file system.... This hardware began with 13.0 and now it is on 13.3-RELEASE-p5.
Click to expand...

If you don't have a backup at least; you're pretty much SOL. What you could do though; is spin up a separate poudriere VM and build that specific version of Firefox from ports. Then point pkg to that custom repository. It's a little more work but at least you'll have something tangible should things fail again.
 
I do have a whole series of .pkg files for firefox in /var/cache/pkg.... Will the last one still work after the system patch?

Regarding your comment on checking the output of pkg, of course you (& others) are correct, and I did see it. So scold me of course, but to tell you my point of view, I thought "Well, it will get reinstalled in another pass..." and I have been telling myself to be less suspicious and keep up better with updates to reduce my stress! Sometimes this backfires....
 
Beastie7 said:
What you could do though; is spin up a separate poudriere VM and build that specific version of Firefox from ports.
Click to expand...
If this is an option then using poudriere to build your own packages is the cleanest way for sure (by reverting the ports tree used to a pre-breakage commit). Technically I don't think there's many benefits to running it inside a jail though, although I might be mistaken. Poudriere is pretty well self-contained.
Todd McComb said:
So scold me of course, but to tell you my point of view <...>
Click to expand...
I didn't mean to scold you for sure, much rather give a gentle pointer on what may prevent this in the past and possibly prevent other readers falling in the same trap (as we all have before).
Todd McComb said:
I do have a whole series of .pkg files for firefox in /var/cache/pkg.... Will the last one still work after the system patch?
Click to expand...
If it's a 13.3-RELEASE-px to 13.3-RELEASE-py it definitely should work. And if it doesn't there's no loss anyway, it's just a non-working firefox which can be removed again.
See what a pkg add /var/cache/pkg/firefox-xxx.pkg says. It is possible that you should be in the /var/cache/pkg directory for dependencies to be picked up.
 
malavon said:
Technically I don't think there's many benefits to running it inside a jail though, although I might be mistaken. Poudriere is pretty well self-contained.
Click to expand...

Right, poudriere already runs in a jail for clean builds. But having a custom repo in a bhyve VM will ease a lot of maintenance. Especially if OP decides to build different repositories. If you have a secondary drive in your system (ie. say a fast SSD) you can mount your virtual disk to it for better performance too. Poudriere by itself works though. OP didn't really say much about their hardware.

OP, it's time to fix up a cocktail and get ya hands dirty. Too bad you're not using ZFS; it'll save you from a lot of heartbreak.
 
I'm just giving thanks to the OP, because I'm an oblivious sort and no doubt would have deleted firefox and wondered where it went. For what it's worth though, a package upgrade yesterday didn't remove it. (I use latest rather than quarterly).
 
And I didn't get around to trying the alternatives here, since luckily the patch issue with x265 was fixed....

But just as a remark/anecdote, I eventually switched to pkgs from ports specifically because I didn't want to be compiling the browser anymore! I'd been doing it since the 90s... & the lovely builds of modula-5 & motif that everyone from the era "loved" so much.... I stuck with it a long time. IIRC I switched to pkgs in 2018. So maybe it's less of a problem now? Kinda funny I guess.
 
Todd McComb said:
So if I had done the `freebsd-update install` (to 13.3-p5) but not the `pkg upgrade` would my Firefox install (127.mumble) have broken?
Click to expand...

freebsd-update alone (for the base operating system, FreeBSD) would have not affected the installation of Firefox.

bsduck said:
… should just be a matter of hours before it is back for 14.x too.
Click to expand...

From discussion elsewhere, for 140amd64-quarterly:

  • 119 remaining
  • Thunderbird, Firefox, GIMP and Blender succeeded.
Click to expand...

mer said:
It may be redundant, but I always run "pkg upgrade -n" first and actually look at the output.
Click to expand...

It's not redundant, however a dry run like that sometimes can not tell what will be deinstalled. Maybe more reliable if preceded by a fetch.
 
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