Most recent Linux Standalone (4.0.18) Won't Start (Mozilla Runtime error)

byronpeacock

When I downloaded the most recent Standalone for Linux (64-bit) today (4.0.18) and ran a ./zotero or ./run-zotero.sh command, the output read "Could not find the Mozilla runtime."

Zotero seems to still be working fine as a Mozilla add-on.

When I searched the forum for similar Mozilla runtime errors, I only found old postings relating to MacOS and case-sensitive drive problems. I'm pretty sure this doesn't apply here.

Any ideas if this is a bug or if I'm just doing something wrong (most probably the latter!)?

adamsmith

works fine for me. Which distro?
And you're just downloading the tarball, extracting and running?
Have you tried running it from a different location?
See if running it with a -jsconsole flag shows anything

byronpeacock

Kind thanks for the quick reply!

I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 (LTS) and yes, I just downloaded and extracted (graphically). I moved the folder to the Desktop (for the sake of experimentation) but the same result.

Finally, when I ran "sudo ./zotero -jsconsole" I got the same, but when I ran "sudo ./run-zotero.sh -jsconsole" I got the following output: "run-zotero.sh: Cannot execute -jsconsole."

I'm guessing I have some kind of Java problem. That seems especially likely since I'm getting another Java-related output when I try to run the newest version of Docear as well. I'll try to see if I can figure out what's going on with my Java installation (the Java website says I'm using the most recent version...)

adamsmith

not a java problem:
the -jsconsole is for javascript which isn't the same as java (you do, in fact, not need Java to run Zotero Standalone).

This is quite odd - xulrunner is right there in the Zotero folder.
I'm not sure I have a good idea. Have you tried re-downloading the tarball?
Checked whether the xulrunner folder is in the folder? Made sure you downloaded the right (i.e. 64 bit version and that you're running indeed a 64 bit linux?)
Wildly guessing here, obviously

aurimas

run ./run-zotero.sh --debug once it gets to the debugger (probably gdb), you can just quit by typing "quit". Paste the output here.

byronpeacock

Thanks for the reponses and suggestions guys (I'm obviously out of my depth).

Here's the output (duly "quit" at "gdb") from "./run-zotero.sh --debug":

MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME=/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner:/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner/plugins:/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner
DISPLAY=:0
DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH=/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner:/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner
LIBRARY_PATH=/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner:/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner/components:/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner
SHLIB_PATH=/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner:/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner
LIBPATH=/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner:/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner
ADDON_PATH=/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/xulrunner
MOZ_PROGRAM=/home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/zotero
MOZ_TOOLKIT=
moz_debug=1
moz_debugger=
moz_debugger_args=
/usr/bin/gdb --args /home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/zotero
GNU gdb (Ubuntu/Linaro 7.4-2012.04-0ubuntu2.1) 7.4-2012.04
Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>;
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. Type "show copying"
and "show warranty" for details.
This GDB was configured as "x86_64-linux-gnu".
For bug reporting instructions, please see:
<http://bugs.launchpad.net/gdb-linaro/>...
Reading symbols from /home/byron/Desktop/Binary Programs/Zotero 1/zotero...(no debugging symbols found)...done.
(gdb) quit

Does that help at all?

adamsmith

this all looks right. Zotero 1 is the extracted folder I take it?

byronpeacock

Yeah, I just named it "Zotero 1" so I could continue using my existing Standalone version ("Zotero").

adamsmith

how about running ./xulrunner/xulrunner -h
That should just give you the help for xulrunner/mozilla version 28
Does that work?

byronpeacock

Running the command "./xulrunner -h" gave the output:

Mozilla XULRunner 28.0

Usage: xulrunner [OPTIONS]
xulrunner APP-FILE [APP-OPTIONS...]

OPTIONS
--app specify APP-FILE (optional)
-h, --help show this message
-v, --version show version
--gre-version print the GRE version string on stdout
--install-app <application> [<destination> [<directoryname>]]
Install a XUL application.

APP-FILE
Application initialization file.

APP-OPTIONS
Application specific options.


I should also point out that after I extracted the tarball, the files weren't neatly arranged into folders like they were in the previous (functioning) version I had been using. I only mention this to let you know that I did not have to go into a "xulrunner" folder to run the xulrunner executable; the latter was merely in the main, extracted directory. I don't know if there's some problem with the way the files are being extracted...

adamsmith

yes, that's almost certainly it then. If the folders aren't in place the filepaths likely won't work.

When you don't extract the tarball, but just browse it with the archive manager, do you still see the folders? If so, you'll need to figure out what goes wrong on extraction. That's obvioulsy not a Zotero issue, I'd maybe try commandline extractions and otherwise ask on ask Ubuntu or the like.
If not, re-download the tarball. I did so yesterday and the folders are definitely there.

byronpeacock

Yep, the extraction is almost certainly the problem. I DO see the folders when I browse in the archive manager, but they don't extract that way. I'll extract from the commandline.

(I think that's what happening with the new version of Docear as well, so I'll have to look into where the archive manager is going wrong.)

I'll report back shortly if the issue is resolved.

byronpeacock

Well, this is embarrassing; the problem was indeed the extraction method. Extracting by command line solved the problem. I'll take the problem over to the maintainers of the archive manager program.

Apologies for the wasted time and thanks for the responses.

(Can I mark the problem as "solved" somewhere?)

adamsmith

odd, archive manager is usually very reliable, didn't occur to me either.

(Can I mark the problem as "solved" somewhere?)

no need, thanks. Zotero is talking about switching to the next version of the forums software, though, which would have such an option.