[olug] firefox/widevine/nfs

Brian Beatty brian at 27megahertz.com
Mon Nov 29 16:32:49 CST 2021


Hello,

I am having an issue with Firefox/Widevine/Netflix that I can't seem to
resolve and I'm looking for your potential insights and guidance on the
matter.

In my home network, I have multiple linux workstations that utilize an
nfs server for their /home mount. I also have a media center computer
which does not use the nfs server for its /home mount. The media center
pc uses an internal ssd for its /home mount. 

Netflix on the media center pc has worked flawlessly for ages.
Recently, I tried to use Netflix on one of my workstations via Firefox
and found it to not be working at all.

When I run /usr/bin/firefox from a pc that uses the nfs server for
/home I get errors like:
/usr/bin/firefox 
restorecon: Could not set context for
/home/owner/.mozilla/firefox/installs.ini:  Operation not supported
restorecon: Could not set context for
/home/owner/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini:  Operation not supported

Now I am no expert but when I look at the security context for the
files in question everything looks ok to me:
ls -lZ /home/owner/.mozilla/firefox/*.ini
-rw-rw----. 1 owner owner system_u:object_r:nfs_t:s0  68 Jun 29 17:45
/home/owner/.mozilla/firefox/installs.ini
-rw-rw----. 1 owner owner system_u:object_r:nfs_t:s0 203 Jun 29 17:45
/home/owner/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini

If I move the ~/.mozilla directory to storage that is local to the
computer and then create a symlink, the selinux errors go away and the
Widevine software installs successfully. If I then run Firefox and go
to Netflix, everything works as expected. Then, if I move the .mozilla
directory back to its original location at ~/.mozilla and attempt to
use Firefox and Netflix the Widevine plugin crashes.

I've spent way to much time on this and am unable to get firefox with
the Widevine software working when the Firefox profile is on an nfs
share. 

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thank you,
Brian


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