How can I make Firefox allow new tabs with an update pending?

Question

I am using Ubuntu 20.04 and have the same problem as Seph Reed, where every few days to few weeks Firefox stops allowing me to open new tabs or windows because it has an update it needs to install.

The prior question focused on disabling updates to prevent the problem, but I take security seriously and really do want to get automatic updates and I want to be notified that they're available. I just can't tolerate the current behavior of crippling Firefox until I complete the update. I'm not just browsing the web with Firefox; I'm using web apps and coding in jupyter notebooks. I usually get into projects that last several days to a week, result in multiple Firefox windows with dozens of tabs each open simultaneously, and as I finish the project, I close the related tabs and often manually update software and reboot between these projects. Even if I thought it was appropriate to stop what I'm in the middle of to update software on someone else's schedule (I don't), I often need to open new stackoverflow tabs to reference the code I need to get my notebooks into states where I am comfortable saving them so I can restart Firefox!

I use both Chrome and Firefox anyway, for different tasks, but I would prefer to "fix" Firefox than simply switch to Chrome for everything. I like a lot about Firefox. But this behavior is truly a firing offense that makes Firefox not worth the hassle.

Does anyone know a way to keep Firefox up to date, and allow me to still use it while I get around to restarting on my own schedule?

Answer 1

Stop automatic updates in Ubuntu, and use a script to update at your convenience. That said, Snap applications update on their own schedule, so remove Snap applications and install through sudo apt install [package].

To run a manual update, try the following script:

sudo apt -y update && sudo apt -y full-upgrade
sudo apt -y autoremove --purge

[BTW, the Snap packages may be very much out of date, and sometimes do not work as well as the same application directly installed or under wine. For example, p7zip in Snap is at version 16, and 7-Zip is at v. 21.07. Run the 7-Zip installation under wine, and then set shortcuts to run 7-Zip File Manager under wine.]

Answer 2

It's important to realize that when you get this warning, the update has already happened. The program on disk no longer matches what's running. You get the warning because opening another tab (which requires launching a fresh process) would just crash as you'd have 2 incompatible versions of Firefox trying to talk to each other.

There's a few reasons why you can get into this state, but the main one that most people run into is that the Ubuntu package updater updated the program while it was running. Some of the other answers to this question tell you to disable Firefox updates with Firefox about:config switches. This does not work because the Ubuntu updater is the one who swapped the files underneath the running program. Firefox's own updater handles this case correctly, as do newer packagers like Snap and Flatpak.

The simplest solution is to install the builds from Mozilla itself, and let the Firefox updater handle Firefox updates. It does not have this bug.