When using the workstations in the Rechnerhalle, you may encounter an issue where Firefox pretends, it is already running and refuses to start. This entry explains how to deal with this issue and the reason for this.
Solution:
A script is provided to deal with this issue. To run it, simply open a terminal and execute the command repair_firefox.sh. You may wait for the command to complete, although you may abort the operation after the step Removing lock files has completed by hitting the keyboard shortcut <CTRL>+C.
Origin of the issue:
The reason for this issue is a lock file Firefox creates to indicate that it is running. When Firefox is improperly terminated, this lock file may not be deleted. Upon its next start, Firefox checks for the presence of the lock file and since it has not been deleted, it is led to believe that it is already running. The above mentioned script takes care of deleting this lock file for you.
To avoid this issue in the future, ensure that you properly quit Firefox before logging out or shutting down your machine.
If thunderbird refuses to start, because "it is already running": repair_thunderbird.sh
Asked: 2016-11-30 13:29:27 +0100
Seen: 85 times
Last updated: Apr 22 '24
