Firefox will not Launch due to Incorrect File Permissions

Symptom:

Clicking on the Firefox icon causes the mouse pointer to spin, but the application will not load.

Cause:

Hidden .gnome2 directory in the home directory is owned by root, so Firefox cannot write to it.

Solution:

Change the ownership of all files in the home directory to the active user

sudo chown -R user:user /home/user

Troubleshooting Steps:

1. Try launching Firefox from a terminal window
   • firefox
   • Got the following errors:

brennan@ThinkPad ~ $ firefox(process:4225): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_slice_set_config: assertion ‘sys_page_size == 0’ failed

(firefox:4225): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::sm-connect after class was initialised

(firefox:4225): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::show-crash-dialog after class was initialised

(firefox:4225): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::display after class was initialised

(firefox:4225): GLib-GObject-WARNING **: Attempt to add property GnomeProgram::default-icon after class was initialised
Could not create gnome accelerators directory `/home/brennan/.gnome2/accels’: Permission denied

1. Internet search reveals the error assertion ‘sys_page_size == 0’ failed is a known issue with Firefox
   • https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=672671
2. Check Update Manager for updates
3. Downloaded and installed Firefox update 41.0.1+linuxmint1+rafaela
4. Reboot. No change.
5. Try launching firefox as root
   • sudo firefox
   • Same error message on console, but Firefox does load
6. sudo ls -al reveals the .gnome2 directory in home directory is owned by root, instead of user
   • drwxr-xr-x  4 root    root    4096 Oct 11 12:59 .gnome2
7. Recursively change ownership of all directories and files in home directory
   • sudo chown -R brennan:brennan /home/brennan
8. Firefox now launches normally