From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

I've been getting

The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security software can cause this problem.

on one of my four Firefox profiles for a couple of days, and it's not
the default profile. This is using Firefox 149.2.0esr (64-bit) for Linux.

The Fix for it is detailed under https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/The%20bookmarks%20and%20history%20system%20will%20not%20be%20functional?redirect=no

The profile is set to "Open previous windows and tabs" on Startup.

The message feels entirely inappropriate,
- This profile does not have any bookmarks.
- the "history system" works perfectly, to the extent that closing and reopening that profile window also opens a tab with the support article.
- my Linux system does not have security software.


The root cause is supposed to be that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite
"can't be accessed by Firefox". Why not? They have the normal access permissions. Both files are 5242880 bytes, maybe I've exceeded some limit.

Has anyone else seen this?
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On 13.09.2025 12:00, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:

I've been getting

The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security software can cause this problem.

on one of my four Firefox profiles for a couple of days, and it's not
the default profile. This is using Firefox 149.2.0esr (64-bit) for Linux.

The Fix for it is detailed under https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/The%20bookmarks%20and%20history%20system%20will%20not%20be%20functional?redirect=no

The profile is set to "Open previous windows and tabs" on Startup.

The message feels entirely inappropriate,
- This profile does not have any bookmarks.
- the "history system" works perfectly, to the extent that closing and reopening that profile window also opens a tab with the support article.
- my Linux system does not have security software.

The root cause is supposed to be that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite "can't be accessed by Firefox". Why not? They have the normal access permissions. Both files are 5242880 bytes, maybe I've exceeded some limit.

Has anyone else seen this?

yes, just now, after a reboot after some weeks.
Restarted FF and all back to normal.

ciao...

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Schugo wrote:

On 13.09.2025 12:00, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:

I've been getting

The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security software can cause this problem.

on one of my four Firefox profiles for a couple of days, and it's not
the default profile. This is using Firefox 149.2.0esr (64-bit) for Linux. >>
The Fix for it is detailed under
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/The%20bookmarks%20and%20history%20system%20will%20not%20be%20functional?redirect=no

The profile is set to "Open previous windows and tabs" on Startup.

The message feels entirely inappropriate,
- This profile does not have any bookmarks.
- the "history system" works perfectly, to the extent that closing and
reopening that profile window also opens a tab with the support article.
- my Linux system does not have security software.


The root cause is supposed to be that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite
"can't be accessed by Firefox". Why not? They have the normal access
permissions. Both files are 5242880 bytes, maybe I've exceeded some limit. >>
Has anyone else seen this?

yes, just now, after a reboot after some weeks.
Restarted FF and all back to normal.

ciao...

Thanks, I have just restarted the window for that profile and the
message is no longer there.
I close all FF windows and the computer every night, this "fake error"
had persisted over a couple of nights. S-t-r-a-n-g-e.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

In article <10a3fb2$1nfev$1@paganini.bofh.team>,
R Daneel Olivaw <Danni@hyperspace.vogon.gov> wrote:

I've been getting

The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of >Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security software

can cause this problem.

[...]

The root cause is supposed to be that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite >"can't be accessed by Firefox". Why not? They have the normal access >permissions. Both files are 5242880 bytes, maybe I've exceeded some limit.

Has anyone else seen this?

Yes, since sometime this Spring. I have 3 FF profiles with different
add-ons and different bookmarks and it happens randomly a couple of times
a week on any one, two, or all three of the profiles (all FF windows are always closed overnight, but the computer --Linux Mint 20.3-- stays on.)
It always gets fixed if I close and restart the FF window(s).

Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc
The Gigometer www.gigometer.com
The NYC Beer Guide www.nycbeer.org
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On Sat, 13 Sep 2025 12:00:02 +0200, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:

The root cause is supposed to be that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite "can't be accessed by Firefox". Why not? They have the normal access permissions. Both files are 5242880 bytes, maybe I've exceeded some
limit.

Unlikely. E.g. the maximum size of an SQLite database is on the order of hundreds of terabytes <https://sqlite.org/limits.html>.

However, it is possible for the database to get corrupted somehow. You can check on that sort of thing with the sqlite3 CLI tool.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

R Daneel Olivaw <Danni@hyperspace.vogon.gov> Wrote in message:

The root cause is supposed to be that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite "can't be accessed by Firefox". Why not? They have the normal access permissions.

Probably that message means Fx tried to open a table in the
database and was denied access because another process has a
locked it. That could happen if the locking process failed or
was terminated without finishing a transaction.
--
Remove numerics from my email address.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 07:01:23 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Dave Royal wrote:

That could happen if the locking process failed or was terminated
without finishing a transaction.

Databases are supposed to be robust against basic errors like aborted transactions -- transactions are part of their bread and butter.

There are no leftover locks if an SQLite3-using process is unexpectedly terminated before finishing a transaction <https://www.sqlite.org/lockingv3.html>.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Lawrence DrCOOliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> Wrote in message:

On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 07:01:23 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Dave Royal wrote:

That could happen if the locking process failed or was terminated
without finishing a transaction.

Databases are supposed to be robust against basic errors like aborted transactions -- transactions are part of their bread and butter.

There are no leftover locks if an SQLite3-using process is unexpectedly terminated before finishing a transaction <https://www.sqlite.org/lockingv3.html>.

I agree. It /shouldn't/ happen. Yet IME it does.
What else could this message mean?
--
Remove numerics from my email address.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Dave Royal wrote:

Lawrence DrCOOliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> Wrote in message:

On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 07:01:23 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Dave Royal wrote:

That could happen if the locking process failed or was terminated
without finishing a transaction.

Databases are supposed to be robust against basic errors like aborted
transactions -- transactions are part of their bread and butter.

There are no leftover locks if an SQLite3-using process is unexpectedly
terminated before finishing a transaction
<https://www.sqlite.org/lockingv3.html>.

I agree. It /shouldn't/ happen. Yet IME it does.
What else could this message mean?

A bit of background,
- I do a clean closedown of Firefox before closing down the PC.
- I close down the PC at least every evening, occasionally rebooting
during the day.
- If I'm going out for a while (30 mins to all day) I'll put the PC in
"sleep" mode and wake it up when I get back, I don't close windows /
programs in this case. Occasionally this happens by accident overnight,
but not recently and then I'd have terminated all windows / programs anyway.

Pierre Jelenc appears to have hit it - it looks to be a random Firefox
bug, possibly only under Linux (my interpretation).

Thanks all.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On Sun, 14 Sep 2025 08:55:20 +0100 (GMT+01:00), Dave Royal wrote:

Lawrence DrCOOliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> Wrote in message:

There are no leftover locks if an SQLite3-using process is unexpectedly
terminated before finishing a transaction
<https://www.sqlite.org/lockingv3.html>.

I agree. It /shouldn't/ happen. Yet IME it does.

What does? Leftover locks? Not possible.

Database corruption? Yes, possible, as I mentioned elsewhere.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On 2025-09-13 12:00, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:

I've been getting

The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of
Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security
software can cause this problem.

on one of my four Firefox profiles for a couple of days, and it's not
the default profile.-a This is using Firefox 149.2.0esr (64-bit) for Linux.

It happened to me today on one profile. Thanks to this thread I just
restarted FFx and it worked.

I am using 140.2.0esr (64-bit) on Linux.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 2025-09-13 12:00, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:

I've been getting

The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one
of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security
software can cause this problem.

on one of my four Firefox profiles for a couple of days, and it's not
the default profile.-a This is using Firefox 149.2.0esr (64-bit) for
Linux.

It happened to me today on one profile. Thanks to this thread I just restarted FFx and it worked.

I am using 140.2.0esr (64-bit) on Linux.

I think you just have to terminate and restart that profile window.
Glad for my part in making the solution more public.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On 2025-09-15 15:34, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:

Carlos E.R. wrote:

On 2025-09-13 12:00, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:

I've been getting

The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one
of Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security
software can cause this problem.

on one of my four Firefox profiles for a couple of days, and it's not
the default profile.-a This is using Firefox 149.2.0esr (64-bit) for
Linux.

It happened to me today on one profile. Thanks to this thread I just
restarted FFx and it worked.

I am using 140.2.0esr (64-bit) on Linux.

I think you just have to terminate and restart that profile window. Glad
for my part in making the solution more public.

Yes, that's what I did. menu: file/quit. It quits only that profile. I
can have different profiles running at the same time.
--
Cheers, Carlos.
ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On Sat, 13 Sep 2025 12:00:02 +0200, R Daneel Olivaw wrote:

I've been getting

The bookmarks and history system will not be functional because one of
Firefox's files is in use by another application. Some security
software can cause this problem.

on one of my four Firefox profiles for a couple of days, and it's not
the default profile.

Happened to me today. One of the suggested cures (simply restarting
Firefox) fixed it.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2