Hi! I was trying to use firefox snap under kde plasma.
And experienced some weird behavior that might be severe and need a closer look. Since firefox snap is used by lots of people, I think it would nice to check it with you guys first.
System detail
OS: ubuntu 18.04
D.E: plasma 5.12.8
app: firefox-snap
snap-version: stable(243)/beta(246)
issues:
- crash when open file dialog
- pinned instance coexist with the .desktop instance
- ignore confinement when launched from /snap/firefox/current/firefox-bin
1. crash when open file dialog
At the beginning, I was facing the issue of snap not respecting the theme. My firefox(launched via .desktop file) would crash when opening file dialog. It leaves an error message of:
Error loading theme icon 'dialog-question' for stock: Icon 'dialog-question' not present in theme breeze
Since there are not breeze-icon-theme under gtk-common-themes, I tried to set icon themes to Yaru under kde system configs–>gtk styles.
Similarly, I got the exception of: Error loading theme icon 'dialog-question' for stock: Icon 'dialog-question' not present in theme Yaru
The same has been done with adwaita installed(both icon/theme) with the same exception.
2. pinned instance coexist with the .desktop instance
By accident, I pinned firefox to the plasma taskbar and found out that, If I launch firefox from the taskbar instead of from the launcher, firefox would pick up the correct theme.
As I believe the correct behavior for snap app would store it’s config in ~/snap/firefox/common/…, I’ve noticed that the pinned version and the .desktop version can be launched side by side while using different profile.
I’ve found that the pinned version read/write it’s profile into ~/.mozilla/firefox/some-profile, which is the default behavior for the deb/tar.gz version when launched by user account.
3. ignores confinement when launched from /snap/firefox path
With the findings mentioned above, I tried to launch the app by creating a new desktop from the menu editor and set the exec path to /snap/firefox/current/firefox-bin, and it picks up the profile the pinned version used. Which lead me wonder if other snap restrictions are lifted as well.
Unfortunately, the answer is yes. If I disconnect firefox from the camera plug, the original version would not allow me to use the camera. However, for the newer one that launched by /snap/firefox/…, I can not only use my camera, but bypass other confinement such as removable medias and such.
The whole experience feels strange since snap was supposed to be solid and secure since it’s the biggest selling point for me.
Really hoping this was a false alarm. It Would be nice if someone can help me figure this out, I really want to use snaps for the foreseeable future.