Comment 16 for bug 204480

Binary package hint: firefox-3.0

Firefox forgets the location of the main window each time I close it down and start it back up. I have investigated this, and it turns out that Firefox rewrites parts of the localstore.rdf file in my profile, and thus changes the screenX="499" setting to screenX="0" as can be seen in the below diff.

Steps to reproduct:
1) Start firefox and move the main window until it touches the right edge of the screen.
2) Shut down firefox.
3) Start Firefox again

Result: Firefox is positioned on the very left side of the screen.
Expected result: Firefox should be started in the position I left it.

Below is a diff that shows what changes are done by Firefox to my localstore.def file between step 2 and 3:

--- localstore.rdf_correct 2008-03-21 03:45:28.000000000 +0100
+++ localstore.rdf_wrong 2008-03-21 03:48:25.000000000 +0100
@@ -1,21 +1,17 @@
 <?xml version="1.0"?>
 <RDF:RDF xmlns:NC="http://home.netscape.com/NC-rdf#"
          xmlns:RDF="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
+ <RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul">
+ <NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#main-window"/>
+ <NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#sidebar-box"/>
+ <NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#sidebar-title"/>
+ </RDF:Description>
   <RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#main-window"
                    screenY="25"
                    sizemode="normal"
                    width="1093"
                    height="1122"
- screenX="499" />
+ screenX="0" />
   <RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#sidebar-title"
                    value="" />
- <RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#sidebar-box"
- sidebarcommand=""
- width=""
- src="" />
- <RDF:Description RDF:about="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul">
- <NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#main-window"/>
- <NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#sidebar-box"/>
- <NC:persist RDF:resource="chrome://browser/content/browser.xul#sidebar-title"/>
- </RDF:Description>
 </RDF:RDF>

This problem has been observed in all Ubuntu releases that I can remember. Info about my Ubuntu installation and Firefox installation:

Description: Ubuntu hardy (development branch)
Release: 8.04

firefox:
  Installed: 3.0~b4+nobinonly-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 3.0~b4+nobinonly-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 3.0~b4+nobinonly-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://se.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Fri Mar 21 03:46:38 2008
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 8.04
Package: firefox 3.0~b4+nobinonly-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: firefox-3.0
Uname: Linux 2.6.24-12-generic i686