[GLLUG] mozilla weirdness

[C. Ulrich]

Dylan M. wrote:
> wondering if anyone has seen this before....  it seems the mozilla
> (v1.2) browser (not mail client) will lock up my entire box (not even
> pingable).  first started happening when i was running v1.3a, figured it
> was just alpha, and installed 1.2.  seems to happen more w/root than
> other users.  tried ripping and reinstalling the program w/no luck.
> haven't really found a pattern other than when i change pages, and while
> thats loading, hit a dropdown menu or move the window.  tho thats not
> always the case.  sometimes its just open (or shaded).

[snip]

Did you notice any odd messages on stdout/stderr?

The number one thing to try is nuking your ~/.mozilla directory. *Especially*
when you're going between different versions. (Be aware that you will of
course lose your information if you haven't backed it up.)

Java and/or javascript can sometimes be the culprits of a lockup. This is
still usually a Mozilla bug, but it narrows things down quite a bit if you can
tie the problem to Java, CSS, a certain page, etc.

> i have installed quite a few different programs/libraries right around
> when this started happening (QT, GTK, linuxconf) tho i'm not sure that
> they could be effecting them.

This seems like the most likely cause, since you mentioned that the freezes
seem related to UI activity. On X, Mozilla relies on the GTK libraries for UI
stuff and it's entirely likely that your specific GTK release contains a bug
that breaks Mozilla or that it wasn't installed properly. You don't mention
which version of GTK you're using, but bear in mind that Mozilla only
"officially" supports GTK 1.2. GTK 1.4 usually works well also.

If you have GTK 2.x, there are three options: 1) Somehow install a copy of GTK
1.x on your system such that it doesn't conflict with 2.x, 2) Find a copy of
Mozilla that is built to use GTK 2 (such as the one in Dropline GNOME,
http://www.dropline.net/gnome/), or 3) build your own version of Mozilla using
the option --enable-default-toolkit=gtk2.

Hope this helps. :)

--Charles Ulrich
-- 
http://www.bityard.net