22.04 Firefox Snap Crashes

[DuckHook]

I am partially resigned to Canonical's doubling down on snap. But only partially resigned.

Since I have come to rely on LXD, I have no choice about that platform. However, alternatives do exist to the Firefox conundrum:

1. One obvious alternative is ajgreeny's solution: install the standalone app and let it self-update. That's what happens now with my TOR Browser install which updates with no problems. FF behaves the same way, so this is an easy solution.
2. Another is to install the Mozilla Team's PPA, then install Firefox-ESR. That will run a slightly older FF build but still more than sufficient for most users. And since the PPA is maintained by Mozilla devs, it is about as secure as a PPA gets, in both the trustworthiness sense and the timely patching sense.
3. A third option is to run Focal in a VM or container and then run FF from within that older version. Since Focal will still be supported for three more years (even longer with ESM), the day of reckoning can be put off for a while yet. This option has the added advantage of naturally sandboxing FF for enhanced security protection.
4. Last but not least is to switch from FF to another decent, privacy‑respecting browser like Brave. Admittedly, this is not strictly a "solution" to the OP's question (which asks specifically about FF), but it is a valid general option nonetheless.

So there are a lot of options.

[guiverc]

I am partially resigned to Canonical's doubling down on snap. But only partially resigned.
...

1. A third option is to run Focal .... Since Focal will still be supported for three more years (even longer with ESM), the day of reckoning can be put off for a while yet.

...

So there are a lot of options.

True, at least for the three remaining years of 20.04 LTS (before ESM)

Just as occurred with 16.04 ESM, I suspect `firefox` will be supported only via the snap package with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS when it hits ESM.

[ssnover]

Just before checking in on this thread I ran apt update/upgrade cycle and tried Firefox again. This time after some spinning it eventually showed a menu for "refreshing Firefox" but said I'd lose extensions and themes. Gave it a go and was able to get it to run; it didn't even actually lose my extensions or themes.

Only packages in there that seemed like they could be related were udev and mesa related.

[TenPlus1]

I ended up installing Firefox from linux mint repo's rather than using the snap release: http://packages.linuxmint.com/search...eyword=firefox

[DuckHook]

I ended up installing Firefox from linux mint repo's rather than using the snap release: http://packages.linuxmint.com/search...eyword=firefox

While doable, I would not advise that new users try something like this. Power users who know what they are getting into can (and will) do as they please, but for the OP and any lurkers out there:

Mixing repos is a very fraught exercise and not recommended. Don't be misled by the inaccurate refrain that MINT is "derived from" or "based on" Ubuntu. Were we to take that one step further, both are "derived from" Debian. Two steps further and both are "based on" Linux. Misunderstanding the "based on" refrain can lead to disaster. Different distros use different libraries and, quite frequently, different versions of even the same libraries. Mixing repos is pretty much a guarantee that you will irreparably break dpkg at some point. Unless you have personally experienced dependency hell, you would not wish it on your worst enemy.

In any case, there is no need to implement a cure that is possibly worse than the disease. The other alternatives listed are quite sufficient to solve this problem without the need to court complete system breakage.