search engine plugins missing in firefox-3.5 packages

Thank you for reporting this to Ubuntu. Can you click on the search engine icon and select 'Manage Search Engines'. There should be a Restore Defaults button. Let us know if that helps.

The button is grayed out.

Ok. Try making a simple change like moving one of the options up or down.

Kevin Dorne wrote:
> The button is grayed out.
>
>

There are no search engines in the list.

Could you please start firefox 3.5 in safe mode? One of the options is to restore the default search engines.
firefox-3.5 -safe-mode

Thanks.

I restarted in safe mode. The option was there, I chose it, but the list is still empty, with the same behavior as before.

I have also completely moved my profile out of the way, creating a new one, but still no search engines.

when i try to reset the search engines to the default via the safe-mode I get a segmentation fault...

Thank you, could either or both of you try Firefox 3.5 RC2 from the mozilla daily ppa?
https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mozilla-daily/+archive/ppa

Running Gecko/20090622, same problem.

already installed RC2. problem remains.

Same problem here. (RC2)
Creating a new profile did not resolve the problem.
Strange thing though: Two out of three Ubuntu PC's seem to have the problem.
Also tried removing search.sqlite, no help...
Any suggestions anyone?

could someone start with a fresh .mozilla dir, reproduce this problem and then attach the complete .mozilla directory ?

Got something new: The problem occurs when FF3.0 is removed. The problem disappeared when ff3.0 (with gnome-support and branding) was reinstalled.

So the problem is now easily to reproduce.

By the way, a FF3.5 with the issues doesn't produce any warnings when started from a console session.

Found the problem. Search Providers missing.

Path: "/usr/lib/firefox-addons/searchplugins/" contains no files, in contrast to the 3.0 version.
Placed the files form a 3.0 version and it works perfectly.

Attached are the files needed. Do the following to make it work (after downloading it):
  cd /
  sudo tar xzvf /path/to/saved/file/ff-search.tar.gz

Restart your browser and you're done.

See my last post, resolved the issue. Cause: Packaging problem.

Fix Committed is only used when a new version has been posted to the official repositories. Please see:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status

Since we now know the cause of this, I am marking Triaged and High as in Karmic, it will be the default and will impair basic functionality if not repaired. The search plugins appear to be missing in the Firefox 3.5 packages.

This is partially a bug in firefox-3.0 also: it puts files directly in common directories (/usr/lib/firefox-addons) and symlinks in the version-specific directories (/usr/lib/firefox-3.*). So if the firefox-3.5 were to provide those files also, they would conflict with firefox-3.0 files.

To make the two packages peacefully coexist without being mutually dependent, the situation should be reversed: install the search plugins in the version-specific directories, and if necessary, use the alternatives mechanism to manage a symlink from the common directory.

The same situation applies for the /usr/bin/firefox (no version) symlink.

(I've also resolved the issue on my system using an approach like comment #15 (by Bubbels).)

I made an approximate list of files in firefox-3.0 not present in firefox-3.5, using:
diff <(< firefox-3.0.filelist sed 's/-3[a-z0-9.]*/-3.*/g') <(< firefox-3.5.filelist sed 's/-3[a-z0-9.]*/-3.*/g') |
perl -nwe 'chomp; print qx(grep -x $1 firefox-3.0.filelist) if /^< (.*)$/' | sort -u >| delta-3.0-3.5
(attached)

Most files are in /usr/lib/firefox-addons/searchplugins/ (NOTE: no need to restart after restoring these files). Next, some nsSearch{Service,Suggestions}.js that seem to have been dropped in 3.5.

Only one file intrigues me: /usr/share/apport/package-hooks/firefox-3.0.py. From the script description:
Appends to apport's firefox default report: the files pluginreg.dat and
profiles.ini, and also a summary of all the extensions loaded on each firefox
profile (the summary is the extension's name, it's version, and the id)
obtained by parsing each extension's install.rdf file.

Should I this file be included in 3.5, for bug the reporting functionality?

This bug was fixed in the package firefox-3.5 - 3.5.2+nobinonly-0ubuntu2

---------------
firefox-3.5 (3.5.2+nobinonly-0ubuntu2) karmic; urgency=low

  Firefox 3.5 by default upload
  + see: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-karmic-firefox-3.5

  [ Fabien Tassin <email address hidden> ]
  * Make firefox-3.5 the default firefox. Use the official branding only
    for releases (the -daily PPA remains branded as Shiretoko, like the
    upstream nightlies). Activate the profile migrator and the apport hooks.
    Add the meta packages to make the transition smoother.
    - update debian/control
    - drop debian/patches/firefox-fsh
    - drop debian/patches/firefox-profilename
    - update debian/patches/series
    - update debian/firefox-3.5.install
    - update debian/firefox.sh.in
    - update debian/migrator/main.c
    - update debian/mozclient/firefox-3.5.mk
    - update debian/rules
    - update debian/firefox-3.5-final.desktop
    - update debian/firefox-3.5-shiretoko.desktop
    - update debian/abrowser-3.5.desktop
    - update debian/apport/firefox-3.5.py

  [ Alexander Sack <email address hidden> ]
  * make -final and -shiretoko .desktop file refer to unversioned "firefox"
    Binary and Icon
    - update debian/firefox-3.5-shiretoko.desktop
    - update debian/firefox-3.5-final.desktop
    - update debian/firefox-3.5-minefield.desktop
    - update debian/abrowser-3.5.desktop
  * add translations for .desktop file from firefox-3.0.head branch
    - update debian/firefox-3.5-final.desktop
    - update debian/abrowser-3.5.desktop
  * set BUILD_OFFICIAL = 1 to enable all official build features
    - update debian/rules
  * fix LP: #404827 - Firefox doesn't warn about Attack Sites!?; add
    --enable-safe-browsing to configure flags
    - update debian/rules
  * fix LP: #383484 - search engine plugins missing in firefox-3.5 packages;
    installing searchplugins and default theme as now firefox-3.5
    Replaces: firefox-3.0
    - update debian/firefox-3.5.install
  * fix restart issues by installing proper versioned binary (without a
    firefox-fsh patch); in turn drop unversioned firefox link from .install
   - update debian/rules
   - update debian/firefox-3.0.install

 -- Alexander Sack <email address hidden> Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:05:37 +0200

The bug was reported in jaunty. Any way this can also be released in the jaunty packages?

Thanks to Bubbels for uploading the files, it helped.

Can the karmic package be backported to jaunty?

Thanks to Bubbels for the how to and the file update.

I have installed Firefox-3.5.3 today and the search engine plug-in was missing after removing FF3.

Linked used: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FirefoxNewVersion > first download link (apt:firefox)

Noob question: Status: fix released - does it mean the rep will be updated or do I have to install it?

@nomnex

This is fixed in karmic. In Jaunty, 3.5 is meant to be installed alongside 3.0

@Thanks Micah

Anyone has a quick fix for this, 3.0 + 3.5 installed (Jaunty). When I follow a link in Evolution, FF 3.0 opens.

Expected result FF 3.5 opens

@nomnex
update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

There are 2 alternatives which provide `x-www-browser'.

  Selection Alternative
-----------------------------------------------
 + 1 /usr/bin/firefox-3.0
* 2 /usr/bin/firefox-3.5

Press enter to keep the default[*], or type selection number: 2
Using '/usr/bin/firefox-3.5' to provide 'x-www-browser'.

--------------------

@ariel: Checked the config, that was good. When I follow a link in Evolution 2.26, it opens in Firefox 3.0. Any other suggestions?

EDIT:
update-alternatives --config x-www-browser: the output was correct BUT Evolution was keeping opening the links in firefox 3

Firefox 3.5
Preferences > General > System default: Always check if Shiretoko is the default browser on startup (ON), check now (Shiretoko is not your default browser)

enabling these settings solved the problem (Evo opens links in FF 3.5)

Question: why update-alternatives --config x-www-browser did not solve the problem, and what's the command to achieve the same settings as "Preferences > General > System defalut: etc.

Gnome keeps its URL handlers in gconf (desktop>gnome>url-handlers>http); you may run gconf-editor to check it out. The value for [command] should be "x-www-browser %s" so it uses /usr/bin/x-www-browser, which is a symbolic link to /etc/alternatives/x-www-browser (another symlink). "update-alternatives --config" changes only that last symlink in /etc/alternatives/.

Apparently you made it point straight to "firefox-3.5 %s". That's okay, but other applications may call "x-www-browser".

Hmm. Running Jaunty, I recently let it auto-update and now all the default search engines have disappeared, leading my to this bug. I have both the firefox-3.0 and firefox-3.5 packages installed:

$ dpkg -l | grep firefox
ii firefox 3.5.3+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu3
ii firefox-3.0 3.0.15+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.04.1
ii firefox-3.0-branding 3.0.15+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.04.1
ii firefox-3.0-gnome-support 3.0.15+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.04.1
ii firefox-3.5 3.5.5+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.04.1
ii firefox-3.5-branding 3.5.5+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.04.1
ii firefox-gnome-support 3.0.15+nobinonly-0ubuntu0.9.04.1

None of these packages contains the search engine files:

$ dpkg -l | grep firefox | awk '{print $2}' | while read pkg; do dpkg -L $pkg | grep google.xml; done
$

So perhaps this is not fixed for jaunty?