Re: Firefox on -current dumps core.

Robert Watson wrote:
>
> 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

So I'll have to upgrade to -current, then rebuild all the ports against 
-current's libraries. Sounds simple enough. Tedious, but simple. When I 
went from 6.0 stable to -current I didn't have this problem. The 
libraries must have diverged significantly since then.

Even with the hassles, I prefer FreeBSD to anything else...

Thanks to everyone for all their help.

Patrick