"sine mods" entry doesn't appear after running sine-linux-x64

[Speedfighter87]

"sine mods" entry doesn't appear when zen-browser-bin is installed from AUR

Steps to reproduce the behavior:

install zen-browser-bin from AUR on arch
run automatic sine install
sine mods entry doesn't appear in about:preferences

trouble shooting:
clear startup cache
set toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets to true
restart browser
still doesn't show up

• OS: Arch (btw)
• Browser: zen
• Browser Version: 1.21.8b-1
• Sine Version: v2.3.3

when omni.ja's SHA-256 is checked before and after sine install, it stays the same
profile is detected correctly
profile is written correctly

[Speedfighter87]

plz fix

[Speedfighter87]

Additional debugging information

I've done some more testing and wanted to add what I've found.

Tested on:

• zen-browser-bin 1.21.8b-1 (AUR)
• Official Zen Browser Linux tarball

The issue occurs with both, so it doesn't appear to be specific to the Arch package.

Verified

• Correct profile is detected by the installer.
• The profile is modified successfully.
• toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets is true.
• Startup cache has been cleared.
• Running the installer as a normal user and with sudo makes no difference.
• pkexec works correctly on my system.
• Polkit authentication agent is running.

The installer creates:

• /opt/zen-browser-bin/config.js
• /opt/zen-browser-bin/defaults/pref/config-prefs.js

config.js contains the expected Sine loader:

ChromeUtils.importESModule("chrome://userscripts/content/sine.sys.mjs");

These files are not owned by the zen-browser-bin package, so they appear to have been created by Sine.

What's unexpected

After installation:

• about:preferences has no Sine Mods section.

• about:config does not contain:

  • general.config.filename
  • general.config.sandbox_enabled

Since config-prefs.js exists but those preferences never appear, it looks like the browser never loads config-prefs.js, so config.js is never executed.

I also confirmed that the issue reproduces with the official Zen tarball, so it doesn't appear to be an Arch packaging issue.

---

AI disclaimer: I used ChatGPT to help guide the debugging process and organize the findings above. I verified the commands and outputs on my own system before posting this comment.

[SodoKae]

Same with my problem man, I tried whatever I can and sine mode still doesn't appear in about:preferences

[zolfo]

I have the same problem, tried installing Sine on linux under Zen and Firefox, it doesn't show up in the Preferences, I'm on CachyOS.
Never used Sine before, so I don't know what should be the correct behaviour.

[CosmoCreeper]

@Speedfighter87 Inside of your Zen profile, please check if there is a chrome folder, containing a JS folder with all the Sine files.

[CosmoCreeper]

As for @SodoKae and @zolfo, installation problems vary per person regardless of distro, method of installation, etc.
I ask that you both provide system details (although zolfo has already detailed that he uses Cachy), as well as the profile you're installing to, the profile you use, and the method of installation for Zen/Firefox that you have used.

Please provide details in this format:
OS: ___
Browser: ___
Profile Name (In Use): ___
Profile I'm attempting to install to: ___
Browser Path Detected by Installer: ___
Method of Installation for Browser: ___
Version of unzip CLI installed (Linux or Mac): ___
Name of polkit agent (Linux): ___

This should give me plenty of details to determine the issue.

[zolfo]

@CosmoCreeper

Zen:
OS: CachyOS
Browser: zen browser beta
Profile Name (In Use): zolfo
Profile I'm attempting to install to: zolfo
Browser Path Detected by Installer: "/opt/zen-browser-bin" (wrong), change to "/usr/bin/zen-browser"
Method of Installation for Browser: Pacman
Version of unzip CLI installed (Linux or Mac): UnZip 6.00 of 20 April 2009
Name of polkit agent (Linux): cachyos-extra-v3/polkit 127-3.1

Firefox:
OS: CachyOS
Browser: Firefox stable
Profile Name (In Use): zolfo
Profile I'm attempting to install to: zolfo
Browser Path Detected by Installer: "/usr/lib/firefox" (wrong), change to "/usr/bin/firefox"
Method of Installation for Browser: Pacman
Version of unzip CLI installed (Linux or Mac): UnZip 6.00 of 20 April 2009
Name of polkit agent (Linux): cachyos-extra-v3/polkit 127-3.1

I also confirm the presence of the chrome folder inside the profiles, containing a JS folder with all the Sine files.
I hope it helps.

[JerbearGC]

Same problem here, I think. When using the automatic installer it dumps the core after putting the browser and profile directories. I don't know if I chose the right ones for both? I chose what is labelled as "Local Directory" in Zen's about:profiles for the profile directory and I chose the flatpak directory for the browser directory in the installer. That would lead to a dumped core every single time.

Then I tried the manual install using the directories above and ran into the same issue with @Speedfighter87 in the sense that Sine wouldn't show in Zen. I double-checked I chose the right directories to put the extracted files in, moved the program.zip's files into the x86_64 and tried (didn't work but at least I tried). So far no good.

OS: Kubuntu 26.04 LTS
Browser: Zen Browser
Profile Name (In Use): Default (release)
Profile I'm attempting to install to: Default (release)
Browser Path Detected by Installer: None (said Path doesn't exist)
Method of Installation for Browser: Flatpak
Version of unzip CLI installed (Linux or Mac): UnZip 6.00 of April 2009 as well apparently
Name of polkit agent (Linux): polkit-kde-agent-1

[Speedfighter87]

@CosmoCreeper sorry for seeing this so late, i've checked, and it seems that all files are where they are supposed to be.

this is how it's supposed to be, right?:

[~/.config/zen/mak3xwhd.Default (release)/chrome]$ ls
engine engine.zip JS profile profile.zip sine-mods utils zen-themes.css

[~/.config/zen/mak3xwhd.Default (release)/chrome]$ ls ./sine-mods
chrome.css content.css mods.json

please tell me what i should do to fix

[theminji]

I got it working by doing the manual installation (Pop!_OS)

[CosmoCreeper]

@zolfo It appears that the browser installation paths that the installer is selecting are both right, and by changing it the installer is tripping up.

@JerbearGC Flatpak is not supported by the auto-installer yet (see #517), instead you have to first install v2.3.0 by going to that release on GitHub, then downloading the sine-flatpak.sh file and executing that, then you can update Sine to the latest version from there.

@Speedfighter87 All of your data appears in order. To be certain though, I would delete your chrome folder.
The Sine installer, when run, will regenerate the files necessary and rebuild all the data. This ensures that you not only have the latest stuff but also that no failed launches could have corrupted the data. Please let me know if this resolves it.

[JerbearGC]

@CosmoCreeper, dawg ty sm, you do NOT understand how long I was racking my brain the first time I tried this (my comment concerns my second try). One question, should I then delete all the extracted files or will the installer see those and be okay? TY once again.