http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=356250 has a patch which was apparently once applied to Ubuntu's firefox to fix this precise issue. The old bug is LP bug #31746. It was closed as Won't Fix for unclear reasons many years ago.
(I tried to link the Debian bug here as "also affects distribution ..." but Launchpad throws a timeout error for that.) -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to firefox in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1226952 Title: Option -ProfileManager does not work without (bogus) -u Status in The Mozilla Firefox Browser: New Status in “firefox” package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: You need a secret extra option if you want to run the Firefox profile manager. Steps to repro: bash$ firefox -ProfileManager & Expected outcome: New Firefox instance displaying the Profile Manager dialog box Actual outcome: New Firefox browser window in your current default profile, existing Firefox instance if one was running Workaround: bash$ firefox -u bugger -ProfileManager & The -u option is not visible e.g. in firefox --help output, but somehow it actually exists, and allows you to work around this problem (can't remember where I discovered it, Google no doubt?). The -u option requires an argument (apparently, a profile name) but you can put anything there, it doesn't seem to matter. I'm sorry if this is a duplicate, this problem has existed since basically forever but I was unable to find a report in Launchpad. Historical proof: * From 2009: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1323430 * From 2011: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2359133 * SuSE 2009: http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/network-internet/403948-firefox-profilemanager-doesnt-work.html * Win 2011: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/807487 * Alternative workaround, haven't tried: http://www.usmessageboard.com/computers/85692-firefox-profile-manager-in-ubuntu.html (hopelessly meandering thread, don't open) Possibly relevant upstream bugs: * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=317903 * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=297470 (duplicate of less focused 264181) * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=264181 * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=297618 (duplicate of unobvious bug) If the intention is that -ProfileManager is not available, it should not be displayed in --help (but that would be a pity). If it is supported, it should work (duh). bash$ lsb_release -rd Description: Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS Release: 12.04 bash$ apt-cache policy firefox firefox: Installed: 24.0+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 Candidate: 24.0+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 Version table: *** 24.0+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 0 500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main amd64 Packages 500 http://mirrors.nic.funet.fi/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status 23.0+build2-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 0 500 http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages 11.0+build1-0ubuntu4 0 500 http://fi.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/firefox/+bug/1226952/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
