• Registered: 2009-03-23
  • Posts: 354

Topic: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

Sorry guys, I have searched the big ol' google and the thing is there are so many different approaches to this (Linux-freedom after all).

So: I'd like to install the latest firefox alongside the old iceweasel.

Some say ubuntuzilla repo's is safe - but I'd prefer not to mix debian and ubuntu.
Some say just extract the tarball to /opt, som say /user/share

If I remeber correctly /opt is the recommended dir for all non distrobution install (and where opera and OOo gets installed)? So it should go here - correct? - and if so it's just a matter of downloading to /opt and extracting?

But without a deb there I have to manually upgrade each time there is a new version. apt-get dist-upgrade wont work?

What would you do?

Bonus question: All users will have acces to the programs installed in /opt? correct?
Bonus Bonus question: If I decide to do a separate /opt partion - how big should it be? i am thinking 4 GB and then maybe 8 gb for root?

Thanks a lot - and sorry for any stupidity I might have exposed you to. - I don't think it's contagious

Last edited by achristoffersen (2010-07-27 15:26:06)

  • From: London
  • Registered: 2009-07-19
  • Posts: 96

Re: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

I tested the beta of Firefox 4 by extracting it to my ~/bin and running it from there. I also made a backup of my ~/.mozilla just incase the new version borks something.

This is most probably not the slickest way of doing things, but it works. You should still get updates to the browser through its internal updater.

Registered Linux user #503837
  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 1,858

Re: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

+1; if you are the sole user on the system, you can just put it in /home/achristoffersen/.bin and use the Help menu to check for updates.

And of course, you do realize Iceweasel (#!'s default browser) is simply Firefox rebranded? wink

  • Registered: 2009-03-23
  • Posts: 354

Re: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

Thanks snowpine

I actually have a guest account for my girlfriend - so I put in /opt.

I ended up installing the latest firefox (beta 4) in opt/firefox as per theese instructions. http://techpatterns.com/forums/about1435.html, which included making my normal user owner of opt/firefox - which should solve the update issue.  However it seams that firefox and iceweasel are now sharing some folders, as I cannot run the two side by side, and they also share tabs (the tabs I open in FF4, shows up in iceweasel). - Any suggestions to this?

Thanks again!

  • Registered: 2008-11-24
  • Posts: 1,858

Re: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

achristoffersen wrote:

However it seams that firefox and iceweasel are now sharing some folders, as I cannot run the two side by side, and they also share tabs (the tabs I open in FF4, shows up in iceweasel). - Any suggestions to this?

Firefox and Iceweasel are the same application, therefore they share the same folders and it is not recommended to run them both at the same time.

That being said, the beauty of open source is that there's always a way... hopefully someone will come along with some hints for you. smile

  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
  • Posts: 8,647

Re: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

You can create a new profile for Firefox using firefox -p, then to launch Firefox with the new profile, use firefox -p profilename.

Note: ** Please read before posting **

BTW if you wish to contact me, send me an e-mail instead of a PM.
  • Registered: 2009-03-23
  • Posts: 354

Re: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

Thanks anonymous.

maybe because it's beta firefox -p did not work. What did work was 

firefox -ProfileManager

- Now i am a happy camper :-)

  • Registered: 2009-10-08
  • Posts: 91

Re: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

I always install to /opt and create a menu entry in /usr/share/applications. I haven't had any problems with this method and have used it for several installs of Firefox and Swiftfox. It really can be a pain when you use a distribution that for whatever reason just will not update their browser packages in a timely manner.

"I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone."
AMD PhenomII x4 955be, MSI 785GT-E63, 8GB DDR2, Radeon hd5570, Unity Gnomemini x64
  • Registered: 2008-12-15
  • Posts: 23

Re: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

you can also do something like:

/home/phil/progs/firefox4/firefox -profile /home/phil/.mozilla/abcxxx.default

smile

  • From: Nagoya, Japan
  • Registered: 2009-01-07
  • Posts: 1,724

Re: [solved] so many ways to install latest firefox

anonymous wrote:

to launch Firefox with the new profile, use firefox -p profilename.

You need a capital P 'firefox -P profilename'

John
------------------------
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“There is more Unix-nature in one line of shell script than there is in ten thousand lines of C.” - Master Foo

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