Torbrowser broken

marco.righi · 23 May 2025 09:11

Hi,
torbrowser does not start

sudo pacman -Qi torbrowser-launcher
Name            : torbrowser-launcher
Version         : 0.3.7-3
Description     : Securely and easily download, verify, install, and launch Tor Browser in Linux
Architecture    : any
URL             : https://github.com/torproject/torbrowser-launcher
Licenses        : MIT
Groups          : None
Provides        : None
Depends On      : dbus-glib  gnupg  hicolor-icon-theme  python  python-gpgme  python-packaging  python-pyqt5  python-pysocks  python-requests  tor
Optional Deps   : apparmor: support for apparmor profiles [installed]
Required By     : None
Optional For    : None
Conflicts With  : None
Replaces        : None
Installed Size  : 267.29 KiB
Packager        : Jelle van der Waa <jelle@archlinux.org>
Build Date      : Fri 29 Nov 2024 05:00:55 PM CET
Install Date    : Fri 23 May 2025 11:04:11 AM CEST
Install Reason  : Explicitly installed
Install Script  : No
Validated By    : Signature

torbrowser-launcher
Tor Browser Launcher
By Micah Lee & Tor Project, licensed under MIT
version 0.3.7
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/torbrowser-launcher/
Launching Tor Browser.
Running /home/marco/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser/start-tor-browser.desktop
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/torbrowser-launcher", line 31, in <module>
    torbrowser_launcher.main()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/torbrowser_launcher/__init__.py", line 92, in main
    gui = Launcher(common, app, url_list)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 168, in __init__
    self.update()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 215, in update
    self.start(None)
    ~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 232, in start
    self.run_task()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 300, in run_task
    self.run()
    ~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 480, in run
    subprocess.call(
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        [self.common.paths["tbb"]["start"]], cwd=self.common.paths["tbb"]["dir_tbb"]
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 395, in call
    with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as p:
         ~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 1039, in __init__
    self._execute_child(args, executable, preexec_fn, close_fds,
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                        pass_fds, cwd, env,
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    ...<5 lines>...
                        gid, gids, uid, umask,
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                        start_new_session, process_group)
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 1969, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception_type(errno_num, err_msg, err_filename)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/marco/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser/start-tor-browser.desktop'

Best

Nachlese · 23 May 2025 10:56

To test it I just installed it.
Works flawlessly for me.

Is your system fully up to date?

marco.righi · 26 May 2025 06:44

It should be…

sudo pacman -Suuyy
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core                  143.2 KiB  1023 KiB/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
 extra                   8.3 MiB  8.72 MiB/s 00:01 [######################] 100%
 multilib              147.9 KiB  2.73 MiB/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
:: Starting full system upgrade...
 there is nothing to do

I tried to delete the configuration completely

rm -Rf .config/torbrowser/

the first execution generates a core dump

torbrowser-launcher 
Tor Browser Launcher
By Micah Lee & Tor Project, licensed under MIT
version 0.3.7
https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/torbrowser-launcher/
Downloading Tor Browser for the first time.
Downloading https://aus1.torproject.org/torbrowser/update_3/release/Linux_x86_64-gcc3/x/ALL
Latest version: 14.5.2
Downloading https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/14.5.2/tor-browser-linux-x86_64-14.5.2.tar.xz.asc
Downloading https://dist.torproject.org/torbrowser/14.5.2/tor-browser-linux-x86_64-14.5.2.tar.xz
Verifying Signature
Extracting tor-browser-linux-x86_64-14.5.2.tar.xz
Running /home/marco/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser/start-tor-browser.desktop
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 434, in success
    self.run_task()
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 300, in run_task
    self.run()
    ~~~~~~~~^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/site-packages/torbrowser_launcher/launcher.py", line 480, in run
    subprocess.call(
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
        [self.common.paths["tbb"]["start"]], cwd=self.common.paths["tbb"]["dir_tbb"]
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    )
    ^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 395, in call
    with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as p:
         ~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 1039, in __init__
    self._execute_child(args, executable, preexec_fn, close_fds,
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                        pass_fds, cwd, env,
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    ...<5 lines>...
                        gid, gids, uid, umask,
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                        start_new_session, process_group)
                        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/lib/python3.13/subprocess.py", line 1969, in _execute_child
    raise child_exception_type(errno_num, err_msg, err_filename)
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/marco/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser/start-tor-browser.desktop'
Aborted (core dumped)

The following executions generate the reported error.

and the not-found file exists

exiftool '/home/marco/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser/start-tor-browser.desktop'
ExifTool Version Number         : 13.25
File Name                       : start-tor-browser.desktop
Directory                       : /home/marco/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser
File Size                       : 1710 bytes
File Modification Date/Time     : 2025:05:18 07:10:03+02:00
File Access Date/Time           : 2025:05:18 07:10:03+02:00
File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2025:05:26 08:44:44+02:00
File Permissions                : -rwx------
File Type                       : env script
File Type Extension             : 
MIME Type                       : text/x-env

Torbrowser from Tor Project | Download works perfectly

Nachlese · 26 May 2025 09:04

torbrowser-launcer tries to saunch torbrowser and if it doesn’t exist it is downloded first.
All in your $HOME directory, not system wide.

To start from scratch, delete:

~/.cache/torbrowser
~/.config/torbrowser
~/.local/share/torbrowser

and everything in those.

I didn’t see where it said that it wasn’t found.

Why would you use
pacman -Suuyy instead of pacman -Syu
…the double -y ins understandable, but why the double -u ?

Anyway - it works when you download it directly.
I think this is the recommended method anyway.

I was just testing it and it worked for me - I don’t actually use it.
I have no idea why it would work for me but not for you.

marco.righi · 26 May 2025 18:07

torbrowser installed using pacman reports

FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/home/marco/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser/start-tor-browser.desktop'

but the file exists

ll /home/marco/.local/share/torbrowser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browse|
r/start-tor-browser.desktop                                                     
4,0K -rwx------ 1 marco marco 1,7K 18 mag 07.10 /home/marco/.local/share/torbrow
ser/tbb/x86_64/tor-browser/start-tor-browser.desktop

I tried to delete the directory as suggested and it does not work.

The problem could be the following one?

readlink -f /home/marco                                     
/media/data/users/home/marco

Nachlese · 26 May 2025 18:19

I don’t know.
It an unusual configuration to have your $HOME symlinked to somewhere else.

The torbrowser-launcher is what is installed via pacman - the torbrowser itself is then fetched when torbrowser-launcer is first executed.

soundofthunder · 26 May 2025 23:44

The expected command to perform a sync/update is:

sudo pacman -Syu

unless specifically directed to use any other variation.

You might consider completely removing your existing tor-browser installation and building it directly via the AUR instead - a binary package is already available;

1. Remove tor-browser;

sudo pacman -Rns tor-browser

2. Build tor-browser from AUR:

pamac build tor-browser-bin

Regards.