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Kirkstone: Want self-updateable Firefox running as user "firefox" and inside sandbox

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2024 8:27 pm
by Stogie

I dislike the standard Linux thing where you install Firefox from the repos and it has updates disabled; I prefer to have Firefox able to update itself.

Under Easy Buster (2.4) this was easy. Go to Firefox website, download Linux 64-bit .tar.bz2 file, extract to /root/spot/firefox, make tiny shell script that does "su" to user "spot" then runs Firefox. Works perfectly.

Now I'm trying the latest Easy (Kirkstone 5.7) and it's not so simple. When I use the Easy menu's item that says download Firefox, it installs Firefox and it runs as limited user "firefox" and in a sandbox... great, but updates are disabled, which I hate.

So I installed it like that, then emptied /home/firefox and extracted the official Firefox website's .tar.bz2 into it, wrote the tiny shell script that does "su" to user "firefox" then runs Firefox.

This gives me a self-updateable Firefox running as user "firefox", and doing "ps | grep firefox" I see the sandbox processes start automatically (fusermount3 and the "portal" processes for data sharing, etc.) Good!

But when I shut down Firefox, those sandbox processes remain running. This makes me think Firefox may not actually be running in the sandbox, or something with the sandbox shutdown is broken.

Is my Firefox REALLY running IN the sandbox? I have no way to tell for sure. As expected, it won't save files successfully anywhere except "/home/firefox" and "/files", but that could JUST be because it's running as limited user "firefox", that may not indicate it's actually running in the sandbox.

Does anyone know how I can verify Firefox is really running IN the sandbox, and how to make the Firefox-related sandbox processes auto-exit when Firefox exits? Alternately, is there some simpler way to achieve my goal (self-updateable Firefox, running as "firefox" user and in the sandbox)?

BONUS QUESTION: If I were to use the Firefox that EasyOS provides (when you select the "download Firefox" option in the EasyOS menus), self-updates are disabled, so WHEN and HOW exactly does it receive Firefox updates? AFAIK EasyOS doesn't have something like "apt update" as other Linuxes do, and while I understand AppImages (Appi) and Flatpaks (Flappi) can perform updates, Firefox is not installed through either of those package managers, rather just through an EasyOS menu item. How does it get updates, and how promptly after Mozilla issues them? If it gets no updates, or long-delayed updates, this is why I prefer a self-updating Firefox not reliant on Linux/package/repo updates.


Re: Kirkstone: Want self-updateable Firefox running as user "firefox" and inside sandbox

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 12:26 am
by BarryK

Huh? Where is the problem?

I'm running Kirkstone right now, it has FF 121.0 installed.

I clicked on "Download latest Firefox" in the menu, it reported that 125.0.1 is available and offered to update.
I accepted, now have 125.0.1.

OK, it's not "automatic", you have to choose when you want to update.


Re: Kirkstone: Want self-updateable Firefox running as user "firefox" and inside sandbox

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2024 1:39 am
by Stogie

Okay, I misunderstood how it works, then! I thought the "download latest" was only for the INITIAL install! I didn't realize there's still a "download latest" menu entry AFTER installation that works for updating! Cool!

I just clicked it, and the update worked but it blew away my custom profile (with my extensions, theme, settings, etc.), but that's almost certainly because of the improvised, messed-up Franken-installation I did!

I was smart enough to make a rollback point before I started this Firefox mess, so I'll just roll back to that, then install firefox the right way, copy my custom profile over and switch to that, then I assume I can just update with the menu item from there and it won't blow my profile away.

If so I should be all set! Thanks!