Zotero Standalone 4.0.29.14 problem ?

michael.davie

Hello
My Zotero 4.0.29.13 on my Mac OS 10.6.8 has just been automatically updated to .14 and since then, my Standalone won't open. I've re-installed Zotero, even gone back to .13, even replaced the zotero file in the Default file, restarted the computer x times, etc, to no avail. Firefox manages to communicate with Zotero (which is not what I want as I use the Standalone with Word or OpenOffice). Any suggestions to get Zotero working (I don't want to lose the 25 000 references I need for my research, and my bibliographies in my Word .docs won't open).
Thanks in anticipation

adamsmith

we'd need this info:
https://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_problems#reporting_startup_errors

michael.davie

Here's the info

Could not read chrome manifest 'file:///Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources/chrome.manifest'.
OpenGL compositor Initialized Succesfully.
Version: 2.1 ATI-1.6.36
Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Renderer: ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO OpenGL Engine
FBO Texture Target: TEXTURE_2D
unreachable code after return statement[En savoir plus]zfs.js:1144:2
unreachable code after return statement[En savoir plus]itembox.xml:1025:5
OpenGL compositor Initialized Succesfully.
Version: 2.1 ATI-1.6.36
Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Renderer: ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO OpenGL Engine
FBO Texture Target: TEXTURE_2D
OpenGL compositor Initialized Succesfully.
Version: 2.1 ATI-1.6.36
Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
Renderer: ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO OpenGL Engine
FBO Texture Target: TEXTURE_2D

dstillman

OK, nothing obvious in there. Could you generate real-time debug output for the startup attempt and email it to support@zotero.org with a link to this thread?

michael.davie

OK. The requested information has been sent.

dstillman

It looks like Mozilla dropped support for 10.6–10.8 in Firefox 49, which is what Zotero 4.0.29.13 and later are based on (and which it requires for proper macOS Sierra/10.12 support), so Zotero will indeed no longer run on 10.6. They actually turned off updates to Firefox 49 for 10.6 users, which I've now done for Zotero as well. (You presumably have either Firefox 48 or Firefox 45 ESR?)

Given your graphics card, I'm guessing you have a 2008 Mac, which should be able to at least run El Capitan, so I'd recommend upgrading to that if possible.

You can also reinstall Zotero 4.0.29.11, which is based on an earlier Firefox, and that will no longer auto-update, but I'd strongly recommend using Zotero for Firefox instead so that you can stay up to date. Either way, you'll hit a wall if you don't upgrade your OS — various things in 4.0 (e.g., sync) will stop working within a few months after Zotero 5.0 comes out, the full-featured version of Zotero for Firefox will be going away early next year for technical reasons, and the next Firefox ESR in January will drop support for 10.6 as well, meaning that you're either already or will be soon running an outdated browser. (I think Chrome also dropped support for 10.6 earlier this year.)

But to buy yourself a few more months, you can use Zotero for Firefox and install the word processor plugins to use that Word/LibreOffice.

michael.davie

Thanks for the good/bad news. But I'm more worried about the fact that Zotero, installed on most of our University's student and staff machines (PC and Macs), will also not work soon. Which poses the question of whether Zotero (and Firefox) is a good long-term choice for teaching and/or research, especially in very tight budget situations. Our ITC will be baying for blood if they learn that everything has to be updated or new machines need to be purchased... Oh well, Christmas is coming soon... :-)
Thanks for all your help and technical suggestions.

adamsmith

You'll be fine on PCs -- Zotero still works on Windows XP, afaik. This is really about Mac OS's having shorter OS lifespans.
That's a well known issue/fact and you'd have to budget in when using them -- if updating your OS every 3-5 years is a major financial concern, you probably shouldn't be using Macs.

michael.davie

Ah ! The eternal Mac-PC war ! But you'd be surprised at the level of "financial concerns" here in good ol'France. Some of our University PCs are collectable memorablia, let alone their OSs. But this isn't the subject of this particular thread. Thanks also to you (adamsmith) for the technical advice.

dstillman

I'm more worried about the fact that Zotero, installed on most of our University's student and staff machines (PC and Macs), will also not work soon.

Just to clarify, this is only an issue for pre-2007/2008 hardware that can't be updated to 10.11. And if that's the case, you have more serious problems than Zotero.

Which poses the question of whether Zotero (and Firefox) is a good long-term choice for teaching and/or research, especially in very tight budget situations.

Firefox, Chrome, and Safari have now all dropped support for 10.6, which means there's no major browser that's safe to use. (Firefox ESR is OK until mid-2017.) So it seems a little odd to make this about Zotero when the largest companies in the world are also no longer supporting this 7-year-old OS.

We're just following Mozilla's (and Google's, and Apple's) lead here — Firefox now requires >10.6 (and has discontinued support for 10.7/10.8), and we're based on their platform, so we have to do the same. Even Firefox ESR, which is intended for large organizations, will be dropping 10.6 support mid-2017, and since neither Chrome nor Safari is supported on 10.6 any longer, an organization that continued to use 10.6 would be irresponsibly putting their users and the wider Internet at risk. No IT department should be surprised by the need to upgrade from 10.6 at this point.

(We can't just base Zotero for Mac on Firefox 45 ESR until 2017 because of a major bug with older Firefox versions in Sierra.)

@adamsmith:

This is really about Mac OS's having shorter OS lifespans.

That's true, I suppose, but El Capitan, which was the current macOS until a few days ago, runs on Mac hardware dating back to 2007. Apple puts out (free) yearly releases, but they've been excellent at maintaining system requirements. Sierra was the first release since 2012 to cut off any machines, and Sierra supports hardware back to 2009/2010. So yes, you have to install updates, as with any software, but Mac hardware has to be pretty old for you not to be able to run current software.

Zotero still works on Windows XP, afaik

It does for the moment, but Microsoft no longer provides security updates, Chrome dropped XP support in April, and Firefox is dropping it in March for non-ESR builds. (You'll be able to use Firefox ESR on XP for a while, it seems, if your system doesn't get remotely compromised.) Zotero Standalone will support XP through March — whether it continues to work after that depends on whether we build from mainline Firefox or Firefox ESR.