Firefox 24 - 52 for ME and 98

[schwups]

6 hours ago, Kurt_Aust said:

I've got a weird effect in that when I use the portable version of Firefox 38 (from the 1st post) it always crashes on exit but otherwise works fine.

However if I use the non-portable version that it calls and is packaged with, there is no crash on exit, is this expected behaviour or is there something else I have to do?

Hallo, it shouldn't happen with Firefox 31.8 from the first post. Try - rename the portable profile folder, start FirefoxPortable.exe and make the improvements step by step yourself.

IceCat 38.8 crashes on exit. The replace of RaiseException solves this problem.

[schwups]

You also can try RoyTam's portable-loader (o.rthost.win/palemoon/palemoon-portable-loader.7z) instead of the one of sourceforge. Rename palemoon to firefox in the txt file.

[Kurt_Aust]

OK, it looks like the problem is caused by places.sqlite, if I delete that file from the profile folder, the issue goes away.

It seems quite large for a history file (10MB), seeing as Firefox should not have really done anything yet.

I take it you don't see any issue in removing it and letting Firefox create a new version?

[schwups]

places.sqlite has a fixed size of 10.240KB regardless of the size of the history. I had run this portable version Firefox 31.8 from the first post on XP once to ensure, that the functions "restore previous session, recently closed tabs and recently closed window" work and the pages load as they should. Re-creating places.sqlite on 98 may break functionality again.

Edited September 18, 2023 by schwups

[Kurt_Aust]

40 minutes ago, schwups said:

places.sqlite has a fixed size of 10.240KB regardless of the size of the history.

Strange, when Firefox regenerates it on my system it comes in at 32,768 bytes.

However, I don't get a history.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Kurt_Aust

[schwups]

The 32KB file is corrupt / created garbled on ME or 98 / KernelEx.

History doesn't work properly - not solved: Recently visited addresses aren't saved.

[schwups]

On 9/16/2023 at 2:53 AM, woi said:

Also, there is some glitches at the title bar when using the Basilisk Photonic theme https://addons.basilisk-browser.org/addon/photonic/ (SP52). But it can be fixed by going to "Customize -> Title Bar to enable it.

It also happens on Windows 2000 (with Extended Kernel) as well, but it's not as bad as Windows 9x (no fading effect).

... can't verify. On ME it looks the same to me as on XPSP3.

[Kurt_Aust]

Unfortunately using RoyTam's loader didn't help, nor did adding RaiseException=v4 to the Kernel32.dll section of kstubs24.ini

Oh well, it's hardly a big deal, just a tad annoying.

[schwups]

Today I noticed, that all my file shares seem broken. I renewed the link (file share) of Firefox 31.8 (1st post).

@ Kurt_Aust, you use Kext, so it can be, that an additional entry/definition in Kstub causes the error on exit.

The simple replace of places.sqlite with one of Firefox on XP or 7 should work, too. Then you can use the existing History and Bookmarks, but you still can't add bookmarks and recently visited addresses still aren't saved.

[jumper]

7 hours ago, schwups said:

use the existing History and Bookmarks

Can someone with this working try clearing their logs, then refreshing a webpage or adding it to Bookmarks? The new log entries might reveal what API sqlite is having trouble with when trying to update its database files.

 

[Kurt_Aust]

There's no point in copying my own personal places.sqlite across as I'm asking in order to fix one of the minor bugs in this guide:

https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?p=277041

(the major bug is that certain Host CPUs don't like Windows 98se VMs)

 

I'm using base KernelEx 4.5.2 with the updates from this reply:

 

I won't have much time to test until the weekend.

[schwups]

1 hour ago, jumper said:

Can someone with this working try clearing their logs, then refreshing a webpage or adding it to Bookmarks? The new log entries might reveal what API sqlite is having trouble with when trying to update its database files.

 

I don't receive any new Kstub log entries. I also never succeeded in assigning an API.

Nothing happens, if I try to make a new bookmark. There's no window "New Bookmark" or "Page Bookmarked".

The window "Edit Bookmark" appears, if the bookmark exists.

Old problem from 2011 - never really completely fixed. I don't know, whether the culprit is still in it: https://sourceforge.net/p/kernelex/feature-requests/7/

[jumper]

Excellent read. Kernelex 4.5.2 only fixed the delay; the sqlite3 write problem still exists.

LockFile in 9x works differently than in NT, so can't be used directly to implement LockFileEx and also needs to be fixed itself.

Sqlite3 uses file locking to maintain database integrity on multithreaded, multi-core systems. Because 9x doesn't support multiple cpus/cores/hyperthreads, the simplest solution might be to replace the *LockFileEx failure stubs MS provided in Kernel32.dll with success stubs:

• LockFileEx = o6
• UnLockFileEx = o5

Also for NT modes:

• LockFile = o5
• UnLockFile = o5

These will work as NT expects with FileMapping while faking all flags and overlapped I/O.

Create a new compatibility mode in Core.ini by cloning XP3 or Vista. Use these stub definitions in a new copy of Kexstubs and add it to Contents. Use this new test mode for mozsqlite3.dll or sqlite3.dll in Firefox going back to 3.6.

 

[schwups]

Thanks for taking care of the problem , I probably can't test it before Wednesday or Thursday.

[schwups]

On 9/29/2023 at 9:35 PM, jumper said:

Excellent read. Kernelex 4.5.2 only fixed the delay; the sqlite3 write problem still exists.

LockFile in 9x works differently than in NT, so can't be used directly to implement LockFileEx and also needs to be fixed itself.

Sqlite3 uses file locking to maintain database integrity on multithreaded, multi-core systems. Because 9x doesn't support multiple cpus/cores/hyperthreads, the simplest solution might be to replace the *LockFileEx failure stubs MS provided in Kernel32.dll with success stubs:

• LockFileEx = o6
• UnLockFileEx = o5

Also for NT modes:

• LockFile = o5
• UnLockFile = o5

These will work as NT expects with FileMapping while faking all flags and overlapped I/O.

Create a new compatibility mode in Core.ini by cloning XP3 or Vista. Use these stub definitions in a new copy of Kexstubs and add it to Contents. Use this new test mode for mozsqlite3.dll or sqlite3.dll in Firefox going back to 3.6.

 

There is no problem to bookmark pages with Firefox3.6 here. Also the history works.  I can't bookmark beginning with FF4. My first modified core.ini with a clone had not yet worked, so that KernelEx failed on start. I need more attempts. How should I configure the core.ini and that clone to get the definitions not system wide with Kext so only with that new compatibility mode?

But I tested a bit with the new copy of Kexstubs only. Browsers became extremely slow and hence unusable and I still couldn't bookmark new pages (nothing happened).