Re: Firefox on -current dumps core.

On Tue, 18 Jul 2006, Patrick Bowen wrote:

>>>> I recently upgraded a Gateway MX6121 from 6.1 stable to -current, 
>>>> following the canonical procedure in /usr/src/UPDATING, and now whenever 
>>>> I try to start firefox, it dumps a core file (segmentation fault). 
>>>> Firefox was compiled from source under 6.1.
>>>> 
>>>> Should I have upgraded from 6.1 to -current, and /then/ start adding 
>>>> ports, or does that matter?
>>> 
>>> When I upgraded about two weeks ago, a lot of programs dumped core. 
>>> Rebuilding fixed that.  I didn't have these problems when I upgraded 
>>> before, not even from 6.0 to 7.0-current, just this last time.
>> 
>> Because there are libraries whose version have not been bumped yet in 7.0.
>> 
>
> Understood.
>
> Here's my situation. I drive a truck, and the truck stops have wireless, but 
> no wired, and there's a secure login. So I have to have a working browser to 
> get on the web to do updates/upgrades.
>
> What would be the best way to avoid the "library" problem that caused the 
> cores? Upgrade all the packages from source before I cvsup to -current, 
> or...?
>
> Thanks for any pointers.

In short, the only way to fix these problems is to rebuild all your ports in 
order that the installed ports match your library set and that all 
applications linked against old library versions are updated.  Eventually, 
there will be a compat6x port that installs compatibility versions of 
libraries, but there are a number of open questions about how we want to 
approach that (due to library version interdependence) so the short term 
solution of upgrading everything (and specifically, building them from 
scratch) is the way to go.

Robert N M Watson
Computer Laboratory
University of Cambridge