[OpenIndiana-discuss] Firefox 31.3.0 (and v 31.5.0 and 24.* and 17.* ) file downloads fail mostly, "Refresh Firefox" isn't working on Solaris/Illumos

[Fred Kimball]

On Friday, April 10, 2015 9:18 AM, Predrag Zecevic [Unix Systems Administrator] <Predrag.Zecevic at 2e-systems.com> wrote:

On 04/10/15 03:10 PM, Hans J. Albertsson wrote:
>
>> The failures have varying forms:
>>
>> A text file will sometimes be displayed instead of downloaded. Sometimes it will be downloaded, sometimes it all fails.
>> A pdf download will most often fail, but occasionally be downloaded.
>> Zip och bz or tar packages have so far never failed.
>>
>> What gives??
>>
>> As stated in the subject, I have tested a few different reasonably modern FF versions, and they all behave the same.
>>
>> Version 3.6 works well, and has never failed a download.
>> (However, several functions on web sites, such as Google Groups and Gmail, aren't really useful in v 3.6. Too many features are
>> marginal with this version.)
>>
>> What could be the reason for the failed downloads???
>>
>> I have tested starting a fresh profile, but nothing helps, so the Firefox Refresh might not be very useful, But I notice that it
>> isn't available.
>>
>> Please give me as many hints on things to test for, or own experiences or whatever.
>>
>>
>> I have one machine running Oracle Solaris 11.2 with FF 31 and I haven't seen the behaviour in that, but then I haven't done too many
>> downloads in there: at least few enough not to dare to draw any safe conclusions, but it might be OK or at least less prone to this
>> problem.
>>
>>
>> Hans J. Albertsson
>>
>
>Hi,
>
>I have faced same problem when using packages... Instead, started to use tar version(s), and download worked...
>For example:
>https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/31.1.1esr/contrib/solaris_tarball/
>
>There are other small problems (flashplayer) but that is another story.
>
>With best regards,
>Predrag Zečević
>
> 
>Predrag Zečević
>Technical Support Analyst
>2e Systems GmbH
>
>Telephone: +49 6196 9505 815, Facsimile: +49 6196 9505 894
>Mobile:    +49  174 3109 288,     Skype: predrag.zecevic
>E-mail:    predrag.zecevic at 2e-systems.com
>
>Headquarter:          2e Systems GmbH, Königsteiner Str. 87,
>                       65812 Bad Soden am Taunus, Germany
>Company registration: Amtsgericht Königstein (Germany), HRB 7303
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>
>http://www.2e-systems.com/ - Making your business fly!
>_______________________________________________


Are you getting 0 byte downloads? I used to have that problem beginning with FF 24 or 26. The problems ended when Hipster upgraded GNOME to mostly 2.32.

If the file size where you downloaded the file reports that it is 0 bytes, look in /tmp for a file with an 8 character name followed by the extension and then .part; i.e. Wxqitlyu.pdf.part. Copy or cut the file and paste it to where you downloaded the file to. Then select the faulty file, press F2, copy the filename, then delete the file. Finally, rename the .part file with the original name of the downloaded file. A pain but worked for me.

I too use the tarballs. 31.6.0esr was added on April 10th. 
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox-esr/
ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

Regards,
Fred