# 0002: fedora firefox cannot share camera

**Status:** open (diagnosis pinned; awaiting user-side action + retest with new telemetry)
**Priority:** High (feature unavailable)
**Surface:** fedora firefox — speaker / host attempting to publish camera
**First seen:** 2026-06-06
**Reporter:** fox (blanka identity)

## Symptom

Click "share camera" on fedora firefox → instant `pub.camera: off →
acquiring → off [FAILED]` cycle. Chrome on the same machine shares
camera fine. Mic publish works (so general WebRTC + permission grants
are not all broken).

## Telemetry

Every attempt in `/var/log/zebra-spaces-signal.log` produces the same
verbatim error:

```
click: btn-camera-share
pub.camera: off → acquiring [START]
camera open cancelled: The request is not allowed by the user agent or the platform in the current context.
pub.camera: acquiring → off [FAILED]
```

Captured pre-deploy of the Jun 6 telemetry improvement (no `e.name`,
no `constraints:` suffix). Next attempt on the live page will surface
both, but the error text is already definitive.

Session fingerprint (latest):
```
session: ua=firefox/desktop ctx={sr=48000 baseLat=0.0000 sinkSupp=0 sink=n/a}
        devs={out=1 in=2 cam=1} picked={mic=dmV7HOOY cam= spk=+tR1ptfV}
```

- `picked.cam=` is **empty** → no saved cameraDeviceId. Not the
  OverconstrainedError + stale-id case my Jun 6 auto-recovery
  handles.
- `devs.cam=1` → firefox enumerates one camera. Hardware is there.
- Error fires within the SAME SECOND as the click → **no permission
  prompt is being shown**.

## Diagnosis

Firefox's error text "The request is not allowed by the user agent or
the platform in the current context" maps to **`NotAllowedError`**.
On a fresh request, Firefox shows a permission prompt. The
instant-fail signature means Firefox has a **remembered "Block"** for
the origin (`www.unturf.com`) on camera — most likely the user (or a
previous version of the page) dismissed the prompt with "Block" +
"Remember this decision," and Firefox auto-denies forever after.

Mic permission is independent and was granted separately, which is
why audio publish works.

This is NOT a code defect — the page's `getUserMedia` call is correct
and chrome accepts the identical call. But the page can still help
the user recover.

## Path forward

Two prongs:

### Prong 1 — user-side recovery (immediate)

1. Visit `www.unturf.com/zebra-report/` (or wherever the page is
   loaded from).
2. Click the **lock icon** in the URL bar → **Connection secure** →
   **More information** → **Permissions** tab.
3. Find **Use the camera** → uncheck "Use Default" → select **Allow**
   (or **Always Ask**).
4. Reload, click share camera.

Alternative: `about:preferences#privacy` → scroll to **Permissions**
→ **Camera → Settings…** → find the origin → change from Block /
remove the entry.

### Prong 2 — code-side help (next code pass)

When `e.name === 'NotAllowedError'`, the page should surface a
**non-technical user notice** with the recovery steps above, AND
suggest clicking the camera-icon in Firefox's URL bar (Firefox
shows that icon after a blocked permission, click → "Always Allow"
without leaving the page).

Don't auto-retry — Firefox won't change its decision until the user
acts. Show the notice, log the breadcrumb, leave the FSM in `off`.

## Fix

Pending. After fox's user-side recovery + retest with the Jun 6
telemetry live (showing `e.name`), I'll add prong 2 to
`sfuPublishCamera`'s catch.

## Cross-references

- CLAUDE.md "Telemetry" section — how to grep the signal-server log
  for these events.
- The catch site in `web/zebra-spaces.html` is `sfuPublishCamera`
  (search `camera open cancelled`).
- Auto-recovery for `OverconstrainedError + saved deviceId` already
  landed Jun 6; this prong covers the orthogonal `NotAllowedError`
  case.

## Status notes

- **2026-06-07:** diagnosis pinned via signal-server log grep. Five
  identical instant-fail attempts across 4 sessions over 2 days. No
  prompt shown → Firefox saved-block on origin. Awaiting fox
  permission reset + retest.
- **2026-06-06:** Jun 6 telemetry improvement (`e.name` + constraints
  suffix) deployed. Auto-recovery for the saved-deviceId case shipped
  but doesn't apply here (picked.cam is empty).