In order to share my Firefox bookmarks among various PCs, I save them to a
..json file on the "master" computer and then restore from this file to
Firefox on several other computers. This has always worked perfectly, but
when I tried it on a Linux Ubuntu 22.04 computer I got the "This will
overwrite your current bookmarks" popup followed by an error message "Unable
to process the backup file". Other Linux PCs (Cinnamon Mint, Linux MX 21.3)
work fine, as does a Windows 10 PC. All are FF 114.0.2.

I'm not aware of anything that has changed on the Ubuntu PC since it last
worked, apart from the routine software updates using Software Updater.

The steps that I'm using are:

* On Master PC (Windows 7, FF 114.0.2)

Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Backup (creates a
bookmarks-2023-06-30.json file)

* On Slave PCs (Ubuntu 22.04, FF 114.02)

Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Restore (navigate to
..json file, Select)

I've followed the steps in
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1280937

- Verify Integrity reported that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite were sane

- I closed Firefox, moved those files elsewhere and let Firefox regenerate
them as it automatically restored from a saved state

- I then retried restoring from the .json file and got the same error

I've narrowed it down to an *apparent* difference between the ,json files.
If I backup the bookmarks that were automatically restored when I deleted
and regenerated the places.sqlite, and then restore from that json file, it
works. If I restore from the master copy (generated on the Win 7 PC) I get
the error.

I've done this process countless times in the past and it's worked fine. And
the same .json file can be restored into Firefox on other Windows and Linux
Mint or MX PCs.

I've opened the two .json files in LibreOffice Writer and saved them as text
files. They appear to be the same syntax, although there are too many
differences (diff old.json new.json) to be able to tell whether there is any
subtle syntactical difference anywhere.

Any suggestions? Before I uninstall and reinstall FF on the Ubuntu PC.

On 6/30/23 08:40, this is what NY wrote:
> In order to share my Firefox bookmarks among various PCs, I save them to a .json file on the "master" computer and then
> restore from this file to Firefox on several other computers. This has always worked perfectly, but when I tried it on a
> Linux Ubuntu 22.04 computer I got the "This will overwrite your current bookmarks" popup followed by an error message
> "Unable to process the backup file". Other Linux PCs (Cinnamon Mint, Linux MX 21.3) work fine, as does a Windows 10 PC.
> All are FF 114.0.2.
>
> I'm not aware of anything that has changed on the Ubuntu PC since it last worked, apart from the routine software
> updates using Software Updater.
>
>
> The steps that I'm using are:
>
> * On Master PC (Windows 7, FF 114.0.2)
>
> Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Backup (creates a bookmarks-2023-06-30.json file)
>
> * On Slave PCs (Ubuntu 22.04, FF 114.02)
>
> Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Restore (navigate to .json file, Select)
>
>
>
> I've followed the steps in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1280937
>
> - Verify Integrity reported that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite were sane
>
> - I closed Firefox, moved those files elsewhere and let Firefox regenerate them as it automatically restored from a
> saved state
>
> - I then retried restoring from the .json file and got the same error
>
>
> I've narrowed it down to an *apparent* difference between the ,json files. If I backup the bookmarks that were
> automatically restored when I deleted and regenerated the places.sqlite, and then restore from that json file, it works.
> If I restore from the master copy (generated on the Win 7 PC) I get the error.
>
> I've done this process countless times in the past and it's worked fine. And the same .json file can be restored into
> Firefox on other Windows and Linux Mint or MX PCs.
>
>
> I've opened the two .json files in LibreOffice Writer and saved them as text files. They appear to be the same syntax,
> although there are too many differences (diff old.json new.json) to be able to tell whether there is any subtle
> syntactical difference anywhere.
>
>
>
> Any suggestions? Before I uninstall and reinstall FF on the Ubuntu PC.
First I don't know why you're going about this the hard way.
If you make an account on firefox you can sync all copies of firefox. Android, IOS, etc etc.
In FF, goto settings -> Sync. Login or create account. Remember you creds, and use it on other machines. Do backups to
begin with. Updates are bi-directional. Do not run 2 FF's at the same time ie. pc1 and pc2.
I know people are hyper about accounts and info, so I understand.

Second, I would use meld to compare the two json files. Open meld and do a file compare and pick the two files, or on
the command line type "meld file1 file2". It's easy if they are in the same folder so 'meld 1.json 2.json' is easier to
type. Using the alt key and up/down moves from changed line to changed line. You can hit the alt-left to move a
changed line from right to left. the other way you have to use the mouse and the arrow on the line in the left side.
--
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 5.6.8
Al

On 6/30/23 8:40 AM, NY wrote:
> In order to share my Firefox bookmarks among various PCs, I save them
> to a .json file on the "master" computer and then restore from this
> file to Firefox on several other computers. This has always worked
> perfectly, but when I tried it on a Linux Ubuntu 22.04 computer I got
> the "This will overwrite your current bookmarks" popup followed by an
> error message "Unable to process the backup file". Other Linux PCs
> (Cinnamon Mint, Linux MX 21.3) work fine, as does a Windows 10 PC. All
> are FF 114.0.2.
>
> I'm not aware of anything that has changed on the Ubuntu PC since it
> last worked, apart from the routine software updates using Software
> Updater.
>
>
> The steps that I'm using are:
>
> * On Master PC (Windows 7, FF 114.0.2)
>
> Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Backup (creates a
> bookmarks-2023-06-30.json file)
>
> * On Slave PCs (Ubuntu 22.04, FF 114.02)
>
> Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Restore (navigate
> to .json file, Select)
>
>
>
> I've followed the steps in
> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1280937
>
> - Verify Integrity reported that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite
> were sane
>
> - I closed Firefox, moved those files elsewhere and let Firefox
> regenerate them as it automatically restored from a saved state
>
> - I then retried restoring from the .json file and got the same error
>
>
> I've narrowed it down to an *apparent* difference between the ,json
> files. If I backup the bookmarks that were automatically restored when
> I deleted and regenerated the places.sqlite, and then restore from
> that json file, it works. If I restore from the master copy (generated
> on the Win 7 PC) I get the error.
>
> I've done this process countless times in the past and it's worked
> fine. And the same .json file can be restored into Firefox on other
> Windows and Linux Mint or MX PCs.
>
>
> I've opened the two .json files in LibreOffice Writer and saved them
> as text files. They appear to be the same syntax, although there are
> too many differences (diff old.json new.json) to be able to tell
> whether there is any subtle syntactical difference anywhere.
>
>
>
> Any suggestions? Before I uninstall and reinstall FF on the Ubuntu PC.
Have you tried making an HTML file instead of the json, and restoring
from that HTML file?

"Big Al" <Bears@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:u7mjna$2hv7a$1@dont-email.me...

>> Any suggestions? Before I uninstall and reinstall FF on the Ubuntu PC.
> First I don't know why you're going about this the hard way.
> If you make an account on firefox you can sync all copies of firefox.
> Android, IOS, etc etc.
> In FF, goto settings -> Sync. Login or create account. Remember you
> creds, and use it on other machines. Do backups to begin with. Updates
> are bi-directional. Do not run 2 FF's at the same time ie. pc1 and pc2.
> I know people are hyper about accounts and info, so I understand.

I hadn't realised that feature existed. I'll investigate it. Probably a good
idea, then a change on any device that uses the same account will be
replicated to all other devices that use that account. Does this also
replicate login IDs/passwords or do I need to maintain a separate list of
those on each device? Sometimes copying logins.json replicates login
details, sometimes it doesn't, which makes me think that I'm trying to solve
that problem in the wrong way :-)

> Second, I would use meld to compare the two json files. Open meld and do
> a file compare and pick the two files, or on the command line type "meld
> file1 file2". It's easy if they are in the same folder so 'meld 1.json
> 2.json' is easier to type. Using the alt key and up/down moves from
> changed line to changed line. You can hit the alt-left to move a changed
> line from right to left. the other way you have to use the mouse and the
> arrow on the line in the left side.

Meld is just showing me a single line for the two json files, probably
because .json files seem not to contain any \n (Unix) or \r\n (Windows)
terminators.

I tried (on the Windows PC) opening each json file in turn (using the file
association between json and Firefox), selecting the "raw" tab le and then
"pretty print". I copied that output and pasted it to a text file - this
seems to insert line breaks so meld or the Windows WinDiff program can
process the files line by line.

The only differences that I can see are:

- different "index" numbers
- different "id" numbers
- presence/absence of "iconuri" line
- different sections corresponding to different bookmarked entries (new
version of the bookmarks versus an older one)

The json files (or the pretty-printed versions generated from them) contain
a few non-ASCII characters, but as far as I can see, these are the same in
the good and bad files.

I tried exporting the bookmarks as HTML from the Windows PC and reading them
as HTML on the Ubuntu PC. This had no effect: not the "This will
overwrite..." warning and not the "Cannot process..." error. However when I
then tried to restore the bad json file, I got the same behaviour - no
warning, no error: just no effect.

Given that this process used to work perfectly until very recently,
something has changed on the Ubuntu PC. Maybe I wasn't sharing bookmarks in
the most sensible way, but I was doing what has worked fine for the past few
years.

Time to reinstall FF on the Ubuntu PC? Or should I delve deeper into *why*
it's started misbehaving on Ubuntu? The age-old dilemma: fix (without
knowing why it now works) or investigate further ;-)

"Big Al" <Bears@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:u7mjna$2hv7a$1@dont-email.me...
> On 6/30/23 08:40, this is what NY wrote:
>> In order to share my Firefox bookmarks among various PCs, I save them to
>> a .json file on the "master" computer and then restore from this file to
>> Firefox on several other computers. This has always worked perfectly, but
>> when I tried it on a Linux Ubuntu 22.04 computer I got the "This will
>> overwrite your current bookmarks" popup followed by an error message
>> "Unable to process the backup file". Other Linux PCs (Cinnamon Mint,
>> Linux MX 21.3) work fine, as does a Windows 10 PC. All are FF 114.0.2.

> First I don't know why you're going about this the hard way.
> If you make an account on firefox you can sync all copies of firefox.
> Android, IOS, etc etc.
> In FF, goto settings -> Sync. Login or create account. Remember you
> creds, and use it on other machines. Do backups to begin with. Updates
> are bi-directional.

WTF didn't I know about this feature before? ;-)

It seems to work perfectly: I've set it up on the Windows PC and the Ubuntu
PC, so far, and it replicates bookmarks and passwords. Now to set it up on
other devices.

Thank you for pointing out something that has probably been blindingly
obvious to other users of FF for a loooong time. I feel like a bit of an
idiot ;-)

> Do not run 2 FF's at the same time ie. pc1 and pc2.
> I know people are hyper about accounts and info, so I understand.

Hmm. I'll need to remember that...

I'll probably keep a safety copy of the bookmarks as a json, updating it
periodically, just in case the account gets screwed up, but I won't need to
use that file to transport the bookmarks between devices.

Big Al wrote:

> Do not run 2 FF's at the same time ie. pc1 and pc2.

Why? I run FFs on home and work machines, specifically to allow
"sending" a tab from one to the other via the sync service.

On 30 Jun 2023 16:03:37 +0100 NY wrote:
>
>WTF didn't I know about this feature before? ;-)
>
I've used sync for years for bookmarks. It's particularly useful for
setting up on a desktop or tablet BMs that I might need while away (e.g.
transport links) and sending them to my phones. I have Fx on 2 desktops,
one ancient laptop, this Android tablet, two iPhones, and a old phone
running Android 4 and Fx 68. Some of these are used very infrequently!

Probably due to this collection of kit I've found it doesn't sync BMs
correctly. In particular if I delete BMs on my tablet - which I use most
of the time - they may reappear after I use my Linux desktop. Or months
later. I've got used to this. I suspect I'd need to find and disconnect
all devices, save a 'master' set of BMs, delete each device's bookmarks,
and resync. And I can't be bothered!

Sending a tab to another machine is very useful too. And pulling sites out
of the shared history.
--
(Remove numerics from email address)

On 6/30/23 09:19, this is what Nic wrote:
> On 6/30/23 8:40 AM, NY wrote:
>> In order to share my Firefox bookmarks among various PCs, I save them to a .json file on the "master" computer and
>> then restore from this file to Firefox on several other computers. This has always worked perfectly, but when I tried
>> it on a Linux Ubuntu 22.04 computer I got the "This will overwrite your current bookmarks" popup followed by an error
>> message "Unable to process the backup file". Other Linux PCs (Cinnamon Mint, Linux MX 21.3) work fine, as does a
>> Windows 10 PC. All are FF 114.0.2.
>>
>> I'm not aware of anything that has changed on the Ubuntu PC since it last worked, apart from the routine software
>> updates using Software Updater.
>>
>>
>> The steps that I'm using are:
>>
>> * On Master PC (Windows 7, FF 114.0.2)
>>
>> Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Backup (creates a bookmarks-2023-06-30.json file)
>>
>> * On Slave PCs (Ubuntu 22.04, FF 114.02)
>>
>> Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Import and Backup | Restore (navigate to .json file, Select)
>>
>>
>>
>> I've followed the steps in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1280937
>>
>> - Verify Integrity reported that places.sqlite and favicons.sqlite were sane
>>
>> - I closed Firefox, moved those files elsewhere and let Firefox regenerate them as it automatically restored from a
>> saved state
>>
>> - I then retried restoring from the .json file and got the same error
>>
>>
>> I've narrowed it down to an *apparent* difference between the ,json files. If I backup the bookmarks that were
>> automatically restored when I deleted and regenerated the places.sqlite, and then restore from that json file, it
>> works. If I restore from the master copy (generated on the Win 7 PC) I get the error.
>>
>> I've done this process countless times in the past and it's worked fine. And the same .json file can be restored into
>> Firefox on other Windows and Linux Mint or MX PCs.
>>
>>
>> I've opened the two .json files in LibreOffice Writer and saved them as text files. They appear to be the same syntax,
>> although there are too many differences (diff old.json new.json) to be able to tell whether there is any subtle
>> syntactical difference anywhere.
>>
>>
>>
>> Any suggestions? Before I uninstall and reinstall FF on the Ubuntu PC.
> Have you tried making an HTML file instead of the json, and restoring from that HTML file?
In Firefox 3, bookmarks are automatically saved and exported for you. The only problem is that by default, they're saved
as places.sqlite instead of the more convenient bookmarks.html. To change this setting so that they can be easily
re-imported, search for autoExportHTML and you should see:
browser.bookmarks.autoExportHTML: Change this to true.

Then every time you exit FF, it will export the bookmarks to an HTML file.
--
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 5.6.8
Al

On 6/30/23 11:07, this is what Andy Burns wrote:
> Big Al wrote:
>
>> Do not run 2 FF's at the same time ie. pc1 and pc2.
>
> Why?  I run FFs on home and work machines, specifically to allow "sending" a tab from one to the other via the sync
> service.
Truthfully, I've never done it. I never thought it would sync right. When I first started using sync, I was booting
up all sorts of old copies of FF and starting sync and I would get ghost folders popping up on other machines. Ghost as
in dead folders deleted weeks ago on my main system, then when booting up a copy of FF on a VM that is a month or two
old with that folder still there, it populates to my main PC and puts it all back. I had a horrible time getting rid
of old BMs.

If it works, it works. My bad. Maybe the newer versions are just that much better at doing this.
--
Linux Mint 21.1 Cinnamon 5.6.8
Al

On Fri, 30 Jun 2023 16:07:08 +0100, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk>
wrote:

>Big Al wrote:
>
>> Do not run 2 FF's at the same time ie. pc1 and pc2.
>
>Why? I run FFs on home and work machines, specifically to allow
>"sending" a tab from one to the other via the sync service.

Thanks for that 'send tab' reminder. I had forgotten about it.