Mozilla mystery (partially solved)

[Collins]

On Thu, 26 Dec 2002 09:39:37 -0500 (EST) Net Llama!
<netllama at linux-sxs.org> wrote:
> On Thu, 26 Dec 2002, Collins wrote:
> > On Thu, 26 Dec 2002 08:45:26 -0500 (EST) Net Llama!
> > <netllama at linux-sxs.org> wrote:
> > > What does "will not start" mean??
> > >
> > > On Wed, 25 Dec 2002, Collins wrote:
> > > > I'm setting up other family members but getting varying
> > > > results with mozilla:
> > > >
> > > > 1. Users collins,cecilia, coleen, and new (added in this
> > > > order) all have the same setup, i.e. group users extra group
> > > > wheel(needed for use of su on gentoo), home directory on
> > > > /home/username, shell/bin/bash
> > > >
> > > > 2. All home directories have the same ownership
> > > > (username.users) and correct permissions, and ownership and
> > > > permissions look normal for all files on the respective users.
> > > >
> > > > 3. mozilla runs fine on collins and cecilia.
> > > >
> > > > 4. mozilla will not start on coleen and new.  No error
> > > > messages of any sort.  The ~/.mozilla directory on each user
> > > > looks similar, except that coleen and new haven't gotten far
> > > > enough along to have all files present.
> > > >
> > > > 5. $PATH is the same for all users.
> > > >
> > > > 6. Perhaps a related glitch.  On coleen and new I get font
> > > > error messages when starting xfce, but other X programs start
> > > > and run ok for these users.  No font error messages when
> > > > starting xfce on collins and cecilia.  The xfce font
> > > > specifications for all users are identical.
> > > >
> > > > 7. Successful users also have a ~/.netscape and ~/.netscape6
> > > > directory
> > > >
> > > > 8. /etc/passwd looks similar for each user.  /etc/group has an
> > > > entry for group wheel for each of these users.
> > > >
> > > > What am I missing?
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> > It means does not start, mozilla screen never appears, no error
> > messages in the console, nothing in XFree.. erors, etc., but it
> > does build all the usual ~/.mozilla, ~/.netscape... directories. 
> > The only hint is 'mozilla &' in a terminal window eventually
> > returns 'exit11'.
> >
> > BTW, no user has a .bashrc, etc.  Only the standare /etc stuff are
> > used in starting bash.
> >
> > No similar problems found on moz bugzilla.
> 
> I'd suggest running it through strace.  BTW, which version of
> mozilla is this?
> 

This is mozilla 1.2.1.  I didn't have strace, so I emerged it and ran
strace.  mozilla was segfaulting while handling fonts.

A lengthy analysis of a good strace (collins) and a failure (new)
indicated differences in handling the ~/.fonts.cache-1 file.  I tried
rm'ing the file and tried again, but no joy.  Next I copied over the
/home/collins/.fonts.cache-1 file, and now mozilla will start.

This could be an XFree problem (?).  Now that a usable
~/.fonts-cache-1 file is present, the warning messages I got from xfce
have disappeared as well.  Does anyone know which packaged generates
the .fonts.cache-1 file so that I could investigate further?


-- 
Collins Richey - Denver Area
Gentoo 1.4 sytem