Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[der.hans]

Am 30. Jul, 2017 schwätzte rpr // so:


On 30 July 2017 at 22:05, Curt  wrote:


I'm not quite following here. -no-remote allows you to run multiple
Firefox instances simultaneously (profile1 and profile2 at the same
time, let's say). However you cannot open external links in the
-no-remote instance (link in an email, for example--perhaps that's what
you mean by "do not want the links automatically opened to open in this
instance").


Curt, have a look at the following page that explains -no-remote and
other command line options in more detail:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Command_Line_Options


Implies -new-instance. Hmm, might have to move to -no-remote.

As to keeping things completely separate, beware flash and other
applications that have per user cookies. Flash cookies, less known as local
share objects, are stored in ~/ rather than in
~/.Mozilla/firefox/$random.$profile_name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_shared_object

It's been a while since I audited to see what all cheats.

Using another account ( the sudo tip elsewhere ) or a container will give
better separation.

I like containers for my test or single-use environments because I can
easily move the container if I need it elsewhere. Destruction when no
longer needed is also complete.

ciao,

der.hans
--
#  http://www.refer2404.org https://www.LuftHans.com https://www.PhxLinux.org
#  But getting smart is a tricky business. The smartest people I've ever met
#  are the ones who knew exactly what they were ignorant of. -- Alan Alda
#  Southamton commencement speech, 2007May18

Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[Fungi4All]

> From: dan.h...@gmail.com
> To: Sven Hartge 
> debian-user@lists.debian.org 
> Thanks Sven, and also Erwan, Curt, rpr, and Felix,
> On Sun, Jul 30, 2017 at 11:54 AM, Sven Hartge  wrote:
>> Dan Hitt  wrote:
>>
>>> I would like to run a second copy of firefox in debian, that is
>>> completely unconnected to the first.
>>
>>> That is, the second copy should not share history, cookies, any kind
>>> of storage, passwords, configuration, or anything else with the first.
>>> It should be possible to send a signal to one (such as kill) without
>>> the other being aware of it.
>>
>>> In essence it should run parallel to firefox like a clone (e.g., Pale
>>> Moon), except using the same binary. (But i"d be willing to copy the
>>> binary if there were an easy way to just change its name to firefox2
>>> or something.)
>>
>> Make a new user on your system, and start firefox as that user via sudo,
>> adding the option "--no-remote" to the firefox command line.
>>
>> You might need to add
>>
>> Defaults env_reset,env_keep+="DISPLAY XAUTHORITY"
>>
>> to your /etc/sudoers to allow any programm running as the other user
>> access to your X session.
> This is a very good solution for my particular use case.
> I had actually used profiles before, but not so satisfactorily. But
> that was some years ago, and may have been due to my general
> ineptness.
> My only modification on the solution is to use "xhost +" instead of
> giving extra privs to the new user. This is all on a very isolated
> lan so hopefully no holes there.
> It has the advantage that i"m certain that information from one
> firefox cannot possibly leak into the other. And one side effect,
> which i think can sometimes be an advantage, is that the downloads
> cannot mix either.
> dan

All good ideas if you trust mozilla to behave itself.
You can also run it in jail with firejail for example. It is like a little 
container just for firefox.
My 2c on top of all those good suggestions.
Also try gksu if you have a 2nd user.

Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[Dan Hitt]

Thanks Sven, and also Erwan, Curt, rpr, and Felix,


On Sun, Jul 30, 2017 at 11:54 AM, Sven Hartge  wrote:
> Dan Hitt  wrote:
>
>> I would like to run a second copy of firefox in debian, that is
>> completely unconnected to the first.
>
>> That is, the second copy should not share history, cookies, any kind
>> of storage, passwords, configuration, or anything else with the first.
>> It should be possible to send a signal to one (such as kill) without
>> the other being aware of it.
>
>> In essence it should run parallel to firefox like a clone (e.g., Pale
>> Moon), except using the same binary.  (But i'd be willing to copy the
>> binary if there were an easy way to just change its name to firefox2
>> or something.)
>
> Make a new user on your system, and start firefox as that user via sudo,
> adding the option "--no-remote" to the firefox command line.
>
> You might need to add
>
>  Defaultsenv_reset,env_keep+="DISPLAY XAUTHORITY"
>
> to your /etc/sudoers to allow any programm running as the other user
> access to your X session.

This is a very good solution for my particular use case.

I had actually used profiles before, but not so satisfactorily.  But
that was some years ago, and may have been due to my general
ineptness.

My only modification on the solution is to use 'xhost +' instead of
giving extra privs to the new user.  This is all on a very isolated
lan so hopefully no holes there.

It has the advantage that i'm certain that information from one
firefox cannot possibly leak into the other.  And one side effect,
which i think can sometimes be an advantage, is that the downloads
cannot mix either.

dan

Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[Curt]

On 2017-07-30, rpr //  wrote:
> On 30 July 2017 at 22:05, Curt  wrote:
>>
>> I'm not quite following here. -no-remote allows you to run multiple
>> Firefox instances simultaneously (profile1 and profile2 at the same
>> time, let's say). However you cannot open external links in the
>> -no-remote instance (link in an email, for example--perhaps that's what
>> you mean by "do not want the links automatically opened to open in this
>> instance").
>
> Curt, have a look at the following page that explains -no-remote and
> other command line options in more detail:
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Command_Line_Options

Thank you. I see that the flag '-new-instance' obviates any potentially
prohibitive restrictions concerning sending or accepting remote
commands.

> -- rpr.
>
>


-- 
“Certitude is not the test of certainty.”
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[Felix Miata]

Sven Hartge composed on 2017-07-30 23:29 (UTC+0200):

> Curt wrote:

>> I could imagine this restriction being prohibitive in some cases, and
>> Sven's suggestion, which at first reading I thought unnecessarily
>> complicated, might then be taken into account.

> To be fair: I hadn't even thought about multiple profiles. 

> I've been using Netscape Navigator and Firefox for such a long time, the
> existance of multiple profiles is still "new" to me and I constantly
> forget about it.

I've been using multiple profiles since long before Firefox existed. I find it
easier to include 'export MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1' in ~/.profile than remembering
whether --noremote or -no-remote --no-remote or -noremote is the applicable
startup switch for use with test profiles or binaries.
-- 
"The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant
words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation)

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks!

Felix Miata  ***  http://fm.no-ip.com/

Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[Sven Hartge]

Curt  wrote:

> I could imagine this restriction being prohibitive in some cases, and
> Sven's suggestion, which at first reading I thought unnecessarily
> complicated, might then be taken into account.

To be fair: I hadn't even thought about multiple profiles. 

I've been using Netscape Navigator and Firefox for such a long time, the
existance of multiple profiles is still "new" to me and I constantly
forget about it.

Grüße,
Sven.

-- 
Sigmentation fault. Core dumped.

Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[rpr //]

On 30 July 2017 at 22:05, Curt  wrote:
>
> I'm not quite following here. -no-remote allows you to run multiple
> Firefox instances simultaneously (profile1 and profile2 at the same
> time, let's say). However you cannot open external links in the
> -no-remote instance (link in an email, for example--perhaps that's what
> you mean by "do not want the links automatically opened to open in this
> instance").

Curt, have a look at the following page that explains -no-remote and
other command line options in more detail:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Command_Line_Options

-- rpr.

Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[Curt]

On 2017-07-30, Erwan David  wrote:
> Le 07/30/17 à 20:47, Dan Hitt a écrit :
>> I would like to run a second copy of firefox in debian, that is
>> completely unconnected to the first.
>> 
>> That is, the second copy should not share history, cookies, any kind
>> of storage, passwords, configuration, or anything else with the first.
>> It should be possible to send a signal to one (such as kill) without
>> the other being aware of it.
>> 
>> In essence it should run parallel to firefox like a clone (e.g., Pale
>> Moon), except using the same binary.  (But i'd be willing to copy the
>> binary if there were an easy way to just change its name to firefox2
>> or something.)
>> 
>> I suppose that i could do this with a virtual machine bur that seems
>> very heavy weight.
>> 
>> TIA for any clues on how to do this!
>> 
>> dan
>> 
>
> You can define another profile then use
> firefox -P profile

Yes, that's the way to go.

> I use it adding -no-remote because I do not want the links automatically
> opened to open in this instance.
>

I'm not quite following here. -no-remote allows you to run multiple
Firefox instances simultaneously (profile1 and profile2 at the same
time, let's say). However you cannot open external links in the
-no-remote instance (link in an email, for example--perhaps that's what
you mean by "do not want the links automatically opened to open in this
instance").

I could imagine this restriction being prohibitive in some cases, and
Sven's suggestion, which at first reading I thought unnecessarily
complicated, might then be taken into account.



-- 
“Certitude is not the test of certainty.”
--Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[Erwan David]

Le 07/30/17 à 20:47, Dan Hitt a écrit :
> I would like to run a second copy of firefox in debian, that is
> completely unconnected to the first.
> 
> That is, the second copy should not share history, cookies, any kind
> of storage, passwords, configuration, or anything else with the first.
> It should be possible to send a signal to one (such as kill) without
> the other being aware of it.
> 
> In essence it should run parallel to firefox like a clone (e.g., Pale
> Moon), except using the same binary.  (But i'd be willing to copy the
> binary if there were an easy way to just change its name to firefox2
> or something.)
> 
> I suppose that i could do this with a virtual machine bur that seems
> very heavy weight.
> 
> TIA for any clues on how to do this!
> 
> dan
> 

You can define another profile then use
firefox -P profile
I use it adding -no-remote because I do not want the links automatically
opened to open in this instance.

Re: how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[Sven Hartge]

Dan Hitt  wrote:

> I would like to run a second copy of firefox in debian, that is
> completely unconnected to the first.

> That is, the second copy should not share history, cookies, any kind
> of storage, passwords, configuration, or anything else with the first.
> It should be possible to send a signal to one (such as kill) without
> the other being aware of it.

> In essence it should run parallel to firefox like a clone (e.g., Pale
> Moon), except using the same binary.  (But i'd be willing to copy the
> binary if there were an easy way to just change its name to firefox2
> or something.)

Make a new user on your system, and start firefox as that user via sudo,
adding the option "--no-remote" to the firefox command line.

You might need to add 

 Defaultsenv_reset,env_keep+="DISPLAY XAUTHORITY"

to your /etc/sudoers to allow any programm running as the other user
access to your X session.

Grüße,
Sven.

-- 
Sigmentation fault. Core dumped.

how to run a second copy of firefox in a separate address space with no connection to the first?

[Dan Hitt]

I would like to run a second copy of firefox in debian, that is
completely unconnected to the first.

That is, the second copy should not share history, cookies, any kind
of storage, passwords, configuration, or anything else with the first.
It should be possible to send a signal to one (such as kill) without
the other being aware of it.

In essence it should run parallel to firefox like a clone (e.g., Pale
Moon), except using the same binary.  (But i'd be willing to copy the
binary if there were an easy way to just change its name to firefox2
or something.)

I suppose that i could do this with a virtual machine bur that seems
very heavy weight.

TIA for any clues on how to do this!

dan