Cannot install firefox

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1

Ubuntu Support Template

Ubuntu Version:
Example: 22.04 LTS, 24.04, 25.10

Desktop Environment (if applicable):
Xubuntu

Problem Description

Firefox stopped working. I did sudo apt-get purge firefox then the following commands:

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:\~$ sudo apt-get install firefox
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree… Done
Reading state information… Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
firefox
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/77.3 kB of archives.
After this operation, 124 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Preconfiguring packages …
Selecting previously unselected package firefox.
(Reading database … 236921 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack …/firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb …
=> Installing the firefox snap
==> Checking connectivity with the snap store
==> Installing the firefox snap
error: cannot perform the following tasks:

* Run install hook of “firefox” snap if present (run hook “install”:

---

update.go:85: cannot change mount namespace according to change mount (/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/local/share/doc /usr/local/share/doc none bind,ro 0 0): cannot write to “/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/local/share/doc” because it would affect the host in “/var/lib/snapd”
update.go:85: cannot change mount namespace according to change mount (/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/share/sphinx_rtd_theme /usr/share/sphinx_rtd_theme none bind,ro 0 0): cannot write to “/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/share/sphinx_rtd_theme” because it would affect the host in “/var/lib/snapd”
cannot create user data directory: /root/snap/firefox/8054: Permission denied
-----)
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb (–unpack):
new firefox package pre-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
/var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:\~$ sudo snap install firefox
error: cannot perform the following tasks:

* Run install hook of “firefox” snap if present (run hook “install”:

---

update.go:85: cannot change mount namespace according to change mount (/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/local/share/doc /usr/local/share/doc none bind,ro 0 0): cannot write to “/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/local/share/doc” because it would affect the host in “/var/lib/snapd”
update.go:85: cannot change mount namespace according to change mount (/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/share/sphinx_rtd_theme /usr/share/sphinx_rtd_theme none bind,ro 0 0): cannot write to “/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/share/sphinx_rtd_theme” because it would affect the host in “/var/lib/snapd”
cannot create user data directory: /root/snap/firefox/8054: Permission denied
-----)
testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:\~$ hook
Command ‘hook’ not found, did you mean:
command ‘look’ from deb bsdextrautils (2.39.3-9ubuntu6.5)
Try: sudo apt install 
testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:\~$

Relevant System Information:
Include any details that might help (e.g., hardware, drivers, or special configurations).

Screenshots or Error Messages:
If applicable, paste error messages or screenshots.
We prefer copy-pasted text and screenshots instead of photos of screens.

For multi-line text or logs, wrap them in triple backticks like this or highlight the text and use </> in the composer:

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What I’ve Tried:
List the solutions or workarounds you’ve already attempted.

Before Posting:
:mag: Please check if similar issues have already been reported and resolved.

2

Which is it? What release?

What have you tried so far?

Why are you needing to install firefox? Firefox has been the default installed web browser for several releases now, including for Xubuntu. I can’t think of reason why you would need to do this, unless you previously removed it. In which case, it looks like your snap installation was broken in the process.

2 Likes
3

Firefox on your system is a Snap package, not a deb package.
You used the wrong command (apt), which cannot affect a Snap package. Use the snap command for Snap packages.

It’s unclear what you mean by “stopped working.” A reinstall might be effective, or might not. Depends what is wrong.
Since you are using a Snap package, typical troubleshooting would be revering to a previous (working) version instead of installing a deb version instead. That gets confusing.
We might be able to help you more if you show us the complete output of snap info firefox

2 Likes
4

Also helpful would be to show us the output from

which firefox

When posting terminal or script output, please highlight the pasted content and then click on </> in the composer to wrap with code tags. It makes life much easier for the volunteer helpers here to read and analyze.

2 Likes
5

Here is a quotation from OMG! Ubuntu

You may be thinking: “I can just run sudo apt install firefox, right?”.

No; you cannot. The Firefox DEB package in the Ubuntu repos is not the browser but a ‘transition package’ – a small hook that reinstalls the Firefox Snap (this allows users on pre-snap Ubuntu releases upgrade, this ensures they get the snap).

How to install Firefox deb - OMG! Ubuntu

I wonder what would happen if the transition package tried to install Firefox snap into the folders that Firefox snap was already installed into?

I seem to remember that we can have more than one snap packaged application installed at the same time. It may be that this transition package is not designed to take into account the already existence of a Firefox snap package.

Regards

6

post here the output from: apt list firefox and snap list firefox –alland also snap list snapd –all

1 Like
7

IF you are interested in not having the Firefox snap installed and want to use the traditional .deb package without turning it into a large multi-step process I’m going to offer an alternative,the Ubuntuzilla APT repository.Disclaimer:this is not an officially maintained repository.

Do this:

sudo snap remove --purge firefox

then:

echo -e "\ndeb http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list > /dev/null

then:

sudo apt update

and finally:

sudo apt-get install firefox-mozilla-build

All done.No Snap and no conflict.

Here’s the site so you can take a look.The maintainer (nanotube) has been maintaining this repo for over 20 years.I’ve been installing FF (and Thunderbird) this way since 2007.

8

Easy enough to find out:

$ snap list firefox
Name     Version  Rev   Tracking       Publisher  Notes
firefox  149.0-1  8054  latest/stable  mozilla✓   -

$ apt list ~i~nfirefox
Listing... Done

$ sudo apt -qq install firefox -y
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  firefox
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 77.3 kB of archives.
After this operation, 124 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package firefox.
(Reading database ... 235416 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb ...
=> Installing the firefox snap
==> Checking connectivity with the snap store
==> Installing the firefox snap
snap "firefox" is already installed, see 'snap help refresh'
=> Snap installation complete
Unpacking firefox (1:1snap1-0ubuntu5) ...
Setting up firefox (1:1snap1-0ubuntu5) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox to provide /usr/bin/gnome-www-browser (gnome-www-browser
) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in aut
o mode
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...

The called snap program sees that the firefox snap is already installed and exits. The firefox apt package then finishes setting up and completes the installation.

9

At this point, Reuven, the most important question is

  • Do you care as to whether Firefox is installed as a Debian package or a SNAP package.

Be aware that going forward, Ubuntu is leaning toward giving primacy to SNAP-based packages, rather than Debian, for a number of packages that it deems “critical” to its new paradigm for overall OS architecture, which is based on “sandboxing” (fencing-in the reach of applications for security reasons, specifically limiting the risk of exposure to, and extent of damages wreaked by, bad actors ).

If you accept the SNAP-based approach going forward, please state that clearly, and those who are “expert” for that approach will assist in your reclaiming your Firefox Profile from your backup into the new snap-based file structure.

On the other hand, if you feel strongly about maintaining a Debian-based packaging approach for all Firefox releases and updates, you again need to state so clearly, because there are special steps that need to be taken and, again, “experts” for that approach can assist you in ensuring that remains the case.

1 Like
10

I have been using firefox since installing Xubuntu a couple of years ago. This week when i tried to run firefox, nothing happened–firefox did not start, and I got no message.

I have received several replies–thank you to everybody who replied. I have tried some of the suggestions I got and here are the results: Firefox is still not on my system.

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
Release: 24.04
Codename: noble

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ which firefox

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ apt list firefox

Listing... Done firefox/noble 1:1snap1-0ubuntu5 amd64

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS Release: 24.04 Codename: noble

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ snap list firefox --all error: no matching snaps installed

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ snap list snapd

Name Version Rev Tracking Publisher Notes

snapd 2.74.1 26382 latest/stable canonical✓ snapd

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ sudo snap remove --purge firefox 

[sudo] password for testuser:  snap "firefox" is not installed

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ echo -e "\ndeb http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list > /dev/null

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ sudo apt update
Get:1 https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu noble InRelease [8,909 B]
Err:1 https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu noble InRelease The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 76F1A20FF987672F
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease [126 kB] Hit:4 https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease Get:3 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all InRelease [3,390 B] Ign:5 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu noble InRelease Err:3 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all InRelease
The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY B7B9C16F2667CA5C NO_PUBKEY CCC158AFC1289A29
Hit:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble InRelease Get:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates InRelease [126 kB] Err:8 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu noble Release 404 Not Found [IP: 2620:2d:4000:1::81 443]
Get:9 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports InRelease [126 kB] Get:10 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security/main amd64 Components [21.5 kB]
Get:11 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates/main amd64 Components [177 kB]
Get:12 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates/restricted amd64 Components [212 B]
Get:13 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates/universe amd64 Components [386 kB]
Get:14 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security/restricted amd64 Components [208 B]
Get:15 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security/universe amd64 Components [74.3 kB]
Get:16 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates/multiverse amd64 Components [940 B]
Get:17 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports/main amd64 Components [7,352 B]
Get:18 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports/restricted amd64 Components [216 B]
Get:19 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports/universe amd64 Components [13.2 kB]
Get:20 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports/multiverse amd64 Components [212 B]
Get:21 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security/multiverse amd64 Components [212 B]
Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu noble InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 76F1A20FF987672F
E: The repository 'https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu noble InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: GPG error: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY B7B9C16F2667CA5C NO_PUBKEY CCC158AFC1289A29
E: The repository '``http://downloads.sourc

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440``:~$ sudo snap remove --purge firefox
[sudo] password for testuser:
snap “firefox” is not installed

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ echo -e “\ndeb ``http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt`` all main” | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list > /dev/null

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ sudo apt update
Get:1 ``https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu`` noble InRelease [8,909 B]
Err:1 ``https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu`` noble InRelease The following signatures couldn’t be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 76F1A20FF987672F
Get:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu` noble-security InRelease [126 kB] Hit:4 https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease Get:3 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all InRelease [3,390 B] Ign:5 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu noble InRelease Err:3eforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all InRelease’ is not signed. N: Updating from such a repository can’t be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default. N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details. E: The repository ‘ Index of /canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu noble Release’ does not have a Release file. N: Updating from such a repository can’t be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default. N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.`

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ sudo apt update
Get:2 https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu noble InRelease [8,909 B] Hit:3 https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease Err:2 https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu noble InRelease The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 76F1A20FF987672F
Get:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all InRelease [3,390 B] Hit:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble InRelease Hit:5 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-security InRelease Err:1 http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all InRelease The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY B7B9C16F2667CA5C NO_PUBKEY CCC158AFC1289A29
Hit:6 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-updates InRelease
Ign:7 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu noble InRelease
Hit:8 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu noble-backports InRelease
Err:9 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu noble Release 404 Not Found [IP: 2620:2d:4000:1::81 443] Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu noble InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 76F1A20FF987672F
E: The repository 'https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu noble InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
W: GPG error: http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY B7B9C16F2667CA5C NO_PUBKEY CCC158AFC1289A29
E: The repository 'http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all InRelease' is not signed.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
E: The repository 'https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/canonical-chromium-builds/stage/ubuntu noble Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Updating from such a repository can't be done securely, and is therefore disabled by default.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ sudo apt-get install firefox-mozilla-build Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package firefox-mozilla-build

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ snap list firefox
error: no matching snaps installed

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ apt list ~i~nfirefox
Listing... Done

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ sudo apt -qq install firefox -y
The following NEW packages will be installed:
firefox
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/77.3 kB of archives.
After this operation, 124 kB of additional disk space will be used. Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 236921 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb ...
=> Installing the firefox snap
==> Checking connectivity with the snap store
==> Installing the firefox snap
error: cannot perform the following tasks:
- Run install hook of "firefox" snap if present (run hook "install": ----- update.go:85: cannot change mount namespace according to change mount (/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/local/share/doc /usr/local/share/doc none bind,ro 0 0): cannot write to "/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/local/share/doc" because it would affect the host in "/var/lib/snapd" update.go:85: cannot change mount namespace according to change mount (/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/share/sphinx_rtd_theme /usr/share/sphinx_rtd_theme none bind,ro 0 0): c annot write to "/var/lib/snapd/hostfs/usr/share/sphinx_rtd_theme" because it would affect the host in "/var/lib/snapd" cannot create user data directory: /root/snap/firefox/8054: Permission denied
-----)
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb (--unpack):
new firefox package pre-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

testuser@reuven-Latitude-E6440:~$ snap info firefox
name: firefox
summary: Mozilla Firefox web browser
publisher: Mozilla✓
store-url: https://snapcraft.io/firefox
contact: https://support.mozilla.org/kb/file-bug-report-or-feature-request-mozilla
license: MPL-2.0
description: |
Firefox is a powerful, extensible web browser with support for modern web application technologies.
snap-id: 3wdHCAVyZEmYsCMFDE9qt92UV8rC8Wdk channels:
latest/stable: 149.0-1 2026-03-26 (8054) 286MB -
latest/candidate: 149.0.2-1 2026-04-04 (8107) 286MB - snap info firefox
latest/beta: 150.0b5-1 2026-04-03 (8103) 289MB -
latest/edge: 151.0a1 2026-04-05 (8115) 309MB -
esr/stable: 140.9.0esr-1 2026-03-24 (8016) 258MB -
esr/candidate: 140.9.1esr-1 2026-04-04 (8106) 258MB -
esr/beta: ↑
esr/edge: ↑

11

Reuven, could I ask that you go back to your previous post and place the triple-backquote on a line by itself, before and after all that console session text? It will make it much more legible for everyone.


I noticed that you added Ubuntuzilla to the packagelist files.

That may be confusing the situation to the point that the system doesn’t know what to do, if the configurations are not done right!


So because the last thing you checked was for SNAP-based Firefox … that tells me that you are opting to stay with SNAP-based.

May I ask if you have Synaptic installed, or if you prefer to stick with command-line apt?

If you have Synaptic, can you

  • open Synaptic
  • look up Firefox
  • identify the correct package (installed or not) listing Firefox as a snap package
  • check for install/re-install
  • apply that install/re-install selection
  • if it does not install successfully, under the “Edit” menu, select “Fix broken packages”
  • verify existence of path for snap-based Firefox at the following:
/snap/firefox/current/usr/lib/firefox/firefox

/snap/bin/firefox
  • close synaptic
  • logout, then log back in (to reinitialize any environment variables)
  • attempt to start Firefox

Hope that helps.

:slight_smile:


[EDIT: non-Synaptic approach]

If you prefer command line approach,

  • sudo killall firefox

  • sudo snap remove --purge firefox

  • cd   ~     ;       sudo   rm -rf   ./snap/firefox

  • sudo apt purge firefox

  • sudo apt --fix-broken install

  • before continuing, confirm that there are no files at the following locations:

/bin/firefox

/etc/firefox

/opt/firefox

/snap/firefox

/snap/bin/firefox

/usr/lib/firefox

/usr/local/firefox

~/snap/firefox

  • verify that there are no “specification” files under
            /etc/apt/preferences.d/
    that are giving precedence to APT-based packages over SNAP-based packages

  • verify that there are no “configuration” files under
            /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/
    that are blocking installs of SNAP-based packages

  • sudo systemctl restart snapd

  • sudo snap install firefox

12

Eric,

I am not sure what you mean by triple block quote or how to put it into the message.

The following paths do not exist:

/snap/firefox
/snap/bin/firefox

Can I remove Ubuntuzilla–how?

I tried using Synaptic, and got the following error message:

E: /var/cache/apt/archives/firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb: new firefox package pre-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1

W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-all.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons-small (main/dep11/icons-48x48.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons-hidpi (main/dep11/icons-64x64@2.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-amd64) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-all) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target Packages (main/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-all.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target DEP-11-icons-small (main/dep11/icons-48x48.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target DEP-11-icons-hidpi (main/dep11/icons-64x64@2.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-amd64) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-all) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:7
W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target Packages (main/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-all.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target DEP-11-icons-small (main/dep11/icons-48x48.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target DEP-11-icons-hidpi (main/dep11/icons-64x64@2.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-amd64) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-all) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:9
W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target Packages (main/binary-i386/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-all.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target DEP-11-icons-small (main/dep11/icons-48x48.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target DEP-11-icons-hidpi (main/dep11/icons-64x64@2.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-amd64) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11
W: Target CNF (main/cnf/Commands-all) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:11

When I select Fix Broken packages from the edit menu nothing happens.

13

So NO version of the Firefox application is installed.

So, as @graymech predicted, that apt package is merely transitional. It just installs the Snap.

Correct. Your sources are broken, not your packages.

There’s lots of apt errors and warnings. You’ve clearly been installing --unsuccessfully-- a lot of stuff: Wine, Chromium, Firefox (deb). Looks like you’ve not been cleaning up after failures.

  1. Your apt sources need repair.

It’s also not clear what you meant by Firefox “stopped working.” Failed to start? Error message? Wouldn’t load web pages? Something else?

  1. We have insufficient data about what exactly went wrong. Your “stopped working” might be a symptom of something else entirely.

All the online chat about Snap vs. deb so far seems a bit premature. I might suggest let’s identify the problem a bit more clearly rather than jumping straight to solutions that haven’t worked before.

1 Like
14

It does actually a bit more, like setting the default browser via the alternatives system and installing a wrapper script into /usr/bin/firefox (that largely only calls snap run firefoxbut does some checks before to make sure data is migrated from non snap installs into the right directories etc), you should preferably always have both packages installed, the deb and the snap so that bits that can only be handled from apt are set up properly.

3 Likes
15

I saw you are missing keys for winehq

wget -O - https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/winehq-archive.key
sudo wget -NP /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/dists/noble/winehq-noble.sources
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable

wine --version should be wine-11.0

1 Like
16

Not triple block quote, triple back quote (“`” but 3 consecutive, on the same line, by themselves, before and after the block of text being pasted). That is the same as pasting a block of text into a post, selecting ALL of that block of text, then clicking on the “</>” menu button, aka the code button.

1 Like
17

Reuven, can you please share with us the file that tells us where you get your packages? That file is located here:

  • /etc/apt/sources.list

The experts can then tell you where there might be conflicts with what is needed to make the SNAP service work properly for Application installs.


The following will report any mozilla-specific directives that may be defined as guidance to APT. If you can share the ouput of this command with us:

sudo grep 'mozilla' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*

We are hoping that there are no items reported by the above.


To ensure that APT redirects to snap, when required, please confirm the existence of the file

  • /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20snapd.conf

Can you share with us any issues reported by the following command:

sudo snap warnings

Also, please share the output of the following script (view of the SNAP installation):

#!/bin/sh

echo ""
snap info --verbose snapd |
	awk '	/^publisher/ ||
		/^store-url/ ||
		/^tracking/  ||
		/^installed/{
			beg=$1 ;
			pos=index( $0, $2 ) ;
			rem=substr( $0, pos ) ;
			printf("\t %s\t%s\n", beg, rem ) ;
		}'

which should look something like this:

	 publisher:	Canonical**
	 store-url:	https://snapcraft.io/snapd
	 tracking:	latest/stable
	 installed:	2.74.1                         (26382) 50MB snapd
18

Looks like your snapd is hitting a mount namespace conflict.

This happens when the daemon can’t sync the host filesystem with the snap container, especially after a purge.

Run these to clear the hang:

1. Purge the broken wrapper and abort pending tasks:

sudo apt purge firefox

sudo snap abort firefox

2. Clean up the snap mount points:

Sometimes the system keeps stale mounts under /var/lib/snapd/hostfs/ A service restart usually fixes the namespace:

sudo systemctl restart snapd.service

3. Reinstall directly via Snap:

Don’t use apt install, just go straight to the source:

sudo snap install firefox

If it still fails:

Reboot your machine. “cannot change mount namespace” error is often tied to the current kernel session holding onto dead mount points. If you still see “Permission denied” on /root/snap/, it’s an AppArmor profile mismatch-running sudo apparmor_parser -r /var/lib/snapd/apparmor/profiles/* can sometimes force a refresh, but a reboot is more reliable.

2 Likes
19

That will make you miss some integration (see my post further up), you should just use apt here which will then call the snap install command from the deb’s postinst script after it did set up the required parts of the system … (though you could indeed create your own /usr/bin/firefox wrapper and set the default browser for all apps manually with update-alternatives etc if you prefer to not have the deb integration package installed…)

1 Like