#1 Tor browser tabs crash on 11.x branch

Hello,

Thank you for your ARM tor-browser ports.

I've tried it on a Pinebook Pro and a RaspberryPi 4 running Manjaro Linux, with both tor-browser versions 11.5.2 and 11.5.4, and even though the tor-browser starts, its tabs crashes immediately, so the browser is unusable.

I've also tried 11.5.4 on the Pinebook Pro runnning Armbian (which is an Ubuntu 22.04 LTS derivative), with the same results.

Per my tries, the 10.5.10 version and previous ones do work, but all the 11.x branch exhibit this browser tab crash issue.

I've recompiled the 11.5.4 version on a Raspberry Pi 4 runnning Manjaro with success, ending up with the exact same binaries that are available on the Sourceforge repository, thus with the exact same issue.

Would you have any clue about this issue, and how it could possibly be fixed ?

Many thanks in advance.

Several people have reported crashing on the combination of Pinephone and Manjaro. Apparently, it is an issue with Firefox 91 and, I assumed, something to do with Manjaro (older Manjaro versions did work). However, crashing on Armbian is new to me. Are you absolutely sure about that? I'm currently testing on Debian buster and stretch.

If you can find a Firefox 91 package that works on Manjaro or Armbian and point me to the sources, maybe the Tor Browser issue can also be fixed. If there's no such thing, as it looked like in the case Manjaro, it will likely take until Tor Browser 12, which upgrades Firefox to 102 esr, is released.

In the meantime, I'm also looking into /possibly/ releasing an alpha build of Tor Browser 12.

In any case, thank you for the report.

Hello,

Yes, I can definitely confirm tab crashes on Armbian on a Pinebook Pro exactly the same way they crash on Manjaro, I just tried again to be double-sure.

So it's not a Manjaro specific issue.

Furthermore, the x86_64 version of tor-browser 11.5.4 works just good on Manjaro x86_64 on an Intel platform configured exactly the same as my Pinebook Pro, and I assume Manjaro x86_64 and Manjaro ARM share about the same versions of everything except for the target architecture. Being a rolling release, every component is fresh on both machines.

So far I could get the tor-browser 11.5.4 ARM port to run without crashing only on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ running Raspbian 11 (bullseye, armv7l), but then it's the 32-bit armhf version of tor-browser 11.5.4 ARM port.

So I wonder if the issue could be specific not to Manjaro but to the arm64 port ?

Hi again,

I just tested tor-browser-linux-arm64-11.5.4_fr.tar.xz on a Raspberry Pi 4 with a fresh installation of Ubuntu 22.10 Kinetic, and its tabs crashes as well as they do on Manjaro or Armbian.

So that's definitely not a Manjaro issue, nor a Pinebook Pro issue.

I can also confirm that it works properly (no crashes) on Raspberry Pi OS (Debian 11 bullseye) either on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ or Raspberry Pi 4B.

The issue persists in 11.5.5

...and likely will with the soon-to-be-uploaded 11.5.6 also as the firefox component is not updated in that one. The Tor team appears to be on release spree.

After I get that built, I'll have a better look at this issue. My hunch is that it will be easier to provide 12.0 alpha build for those who need something working than fix the 11.5 series.

Thanks for reporting that bullseye works, I can skip that version then. Have you tested Debian bookworm by any chance?

No, I don't have bookworm at hand and will have very litle availability to play with this in the coming 2 weeks, I guess.

Ok, I verified the crash on Debian testing. Will need to investigate a bit further.

I am facing the same problem on 11.5.5 on debian, ubuntu and kali. in all the distros mentioned above error log is almost the same. after running the app you are greeted with a grey blank page. opening new tabs will result in gah, your tab crashed. how to bypass this error click new identity then restore my tab then after clicking on the "connecting" in the url you will get to about:tor expected behavior: to open about:tor page on start up.

error log

###!!! [Parent][MessageChannel] Error: (msgtype=0x230077,name=PBrowser::Msg_UpdateDimensions) Channel error: cannot send/recv

Could not load engine blockchair-onion@search.mozilla.org: Error: Extension is invalid SearchService.jsm:609:17 Error: _initWorker called too early! Please read the session file from disk first. SessionFile.jsm:375:15 [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x80520001 (NS_ERROR_FILE_UNRECOGNIZED_PATH) [nsIXPCComponents_Utils.readUTF8URI]" nsresult: "0x80520001 (NS_ERROR_FILE_UNRECOGNIZED_PATH)" location: "JS frame :: resource://gre/modules/L10nRegistry.jsm :: L10nRegistry.loadSync :: line 707" data: no] 2 L10nRegistry.jsm:707:19 Error: TorProtocolService.jsm:178:15

I believe the problem is related to extensions loaded in the browser however starting a troubleshooting mode didnt fix the issue. there may be a compatibility issues with geckoweb driver as well.

I just uploaded version 10.5.8a to sourceforge. Please check whether it helps with the problems you're seeing. I tested on devuan's testing/unstable and it worked fine there. I'm not yet providing a full upload because I'm not entirely happy with the solution as it limits compatibility with older systems.

I can't test this myself right now, but I'm also wondering whether the 32-bit (armhf) version has the same issue, i.e. crashing on newer distros? The reports I've gotten so far are all from 64-bit users.

Hello, Yes, it works on my Pinebook Pro with Manjaro : tabs don't crash anymore. That's great, many thanks :)

Would you be so kind to upload the _fr version, as it's the one I would prefer to use ?

Thanks again !

I don't have an armhf system with a usable GUI at hand, so I won't be able to test this one...

French version works good too, thanks :)

Uploaded 11.5.8b which is basically the same but compiled against Debian buster. Could you check whether that works for you? I may have to change minimum OS req to buster for version 12.

Hello, Version 11.5.8b works for me (quickly tested, at least the tabs don't crash and I can browse some sites).

Sorry for the delay, I've been travelling.

Afaict, these problems are now resolved in the newer versions.