Firefox crashes when I click on a link in VSCode.

[rumble19]

Issue Type: Bug

1. Brand new Ubuntu 19.10 install. Comes with firefox installed and set as default browser.
2. Install VSCode from "ubuntu software".
3. Click any link inside of VSCode, for example Help> Tips and Tricks.
4. Firefox crashes.

VS Code version: Code 1.40.1 (8795a98, 2019-11-13T16:49:30.162Z)
OS version: Linux x64 5.3.0-23-generic snap

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8565U CPU @ 1.80GHz (8 x 3456)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: unavailable_software flash_3d: disabled_software flash_stage3d: disabled_software flash_stage3d_baseline: disabled_software gpu_compositing: disabled_software metal: disabled_off multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on oop_rasterization: disabled_off protected_video_decode: disabled_off rasterization: disabled_software skia_renderer: disabled_off surface_control: disabled_off surface_synchronization: enabled_on video_decode: disabled_software viz_display_compositor: enabled_on viz_hit_test_surface_layer: disabled_off webgl: unavailable_software webgl2: unavailable_software
Load (avg)	0, 0, 1
Memory (System)	15.38GB (5.81GB free)
Process Argv	--force-user-env --no-sandbox --unity-launch --no-sandbox
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

Extensions: none

[francogu]

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1838129

[jsantias]

I followed ctaggart's workaround (#75579) and was able to resolve this issue.

1. Remove and purge the current installation sudo apt remove code --purge
2. Download and install the deb package from https://code.visualstudio.com/download
   sudo apt install ./<vscodefile>.deb

[arnas]

Had same issue with code installed with a snap. Installed it as deb package fixed issue too.

[joaomoreno]

This is the same underlying cause as #90806.

@sergiusens has pointed out the root cause in https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1838129:

If I were a betting person, I would put my stakes on gdk-pixbuf (https://github.com/snapcrafters/vscode/blob/master/files/bin/wrapper#L36)

Crash is gone after unsetting the following env:

sergiusens@umbar:/snap/code/25$ unset GDK_PIXBUF_MODULE_FILE
sergiusens@umbar:/snap/code/25$ unset GDK_PIXBUF_MODULEDIR

@deepak1556 Know anything about gdk-pixbuf?

[sergiusens]

@joaomoreno I have a LD_PRELOAD related solution I can share (which wouldn't touch code's code), but if on launch those can be unset if code or code-insiders is in process.env "SNAP_NAME", that should solve the problem too.

[ygbr]

On Ubuntu 19.10 uninstalling the "Firefox Web Browser" pre-installed deb package and installing the package named as just "Firefox" (packaged as a snap by Mozilla itself) on the Ubuntu Software store did the trick.

[Tyriar]

Advice from snapcraft team: this should be fixed by removing the following environment variables after start up:

GDK_PIXBUF_MODULE_FILE
GDK_PIXBUF_MODULEDIR