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How to upgrade to Firefox 3.6 on Linux
LAST WEEK the Mozilla Foundation announced that it will phase out its old version 3.0 of the Firefox web browser with the current release, Firefox 3.0.19.
If your chosen Linux distribution, like the Mandriva Linux 2009 that I use, maintains its software repository a year or more behind the latest release of Firefox, then it has likely upgraded to Firefox 3.0.18 just recently and probably will upgrade to version 3.0.19 within a month or so. When its maintainers get around to it, that is.
That's two major release levels behind the latest version, which is Firefox 3.6, and more than half a dozen point releases downlevel from the current, and somewhat conservatively backlevel, Firefox 3.5.X release.
I don't know about you, but I prefer to keep Firefox rather more up to date than that. So, if you'd like to upgrade to the latest release under Linux, here are some tips about how you can do that in an easy, straightforward manner, including maintaining your existing plugins, excepting only a required upgrade to your Sun Java plugin.
In a command shell (Terminal, Console or Konsole), use su to get into superuser (root) mode and then find your existing Firefox software files:
find / -name firefox
You should see something like this:
/home/userid/.mozilla/firefox
/usr/lib/firefox-3.0.18/firefox
/usr/bin/firefox
Or something similar. If you don't see the /usr/bin/firefox entry, don't worry - that likely only means that your desktop's application launch entry probably refers to the actual location of the Firefox program rather than using that symbolic link. I'll show you how to override that while leaving your existing Firefox installation intact.
Look for your Firefox plugins:
ls /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.18/firefox/plugins
If Firefox is installed somewhere else, then substitute the directory path to that as may be appropriate. You should see something like this:
libflashplayer.so@
libjavaplugin_oji.so@
libnullplugin.so*
mplayerplug-in-dvx.xpt*
mplayerplug-in-gmp.xpt*
mplayerplug-in-qt.xpt*
mplayerplug-in-rm.xpt*
mplayerplug-in-wmp.so*
mplayerplug-in.xpt
mplayerplug-in-dvx.so*
mplayerplug-in-gmp.so*
mplayerplug-in-qt.so*
mplayerplug-in-rm.so*
mplayerplug-in.so*
mplayerplug-in-wmp.xpt
nppdf.so*
If you have Java installed, note that libjavaplugin_oji.so symbolic link entry. We will change that shortly. The other entries above include a Flash Player symbolic link (which you might or might not have, depending upon whether or not you tolerate Flash) and the Mplayer plugins, which I happen to use, but you might have some others instead. There is also the null plugin, and the Adobe Reader plugin is listed as well, but you might not have that either.
You should be in your home directory, but if you're not sure use the pwd command to find out, then use the cd command if you need to do so to get to your home directory, /home/userid/.
Create a subdirectory under your home directory and copy your Firefox plugin entries to it:
mkdir ./plugins
cp -a /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.18/firefox/plugins/* ./plugins/
Now download and install Firefox 3.6. Point your web browser to the Firefox download webpage, and download the tar file, "firefox-3.6.tar.bz2". Then install that, as follows.
Copy the Firefox 3.6 tar file to where you're going to install it:
cp -a ./firefox-3.6.tar.bz2 /usr/local/
Switch to the /usr/local directory:
cd /usr/local
Untar the Firefox 3.6 file to install it:
tar -xvjf firefox-3.6.tar.bz2
Copy your saved plugins to Firefox 3.6:
cp -a /home/userid/plugins/* /usr/local/firefox/plugins/
And clean up by deleting the Firefox 3.6 distribution file:
rm firefox-3.6.tar.bz2
Now, Firefox 3.6 requires an updated Sun Java plugin. If you have the Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) software installed, you will need to delete the existing symbolic link to the old Java plugin and establish a symbolic link to the new one. If you don't have Java installed, then just skip these steps.
Find the new Java plugin:
find / -name libnpjp2.so
You should find that at:
/usr/java/jre1.6.0_18/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so
So, switch to the Firefox 3.6 plugins directory:
cd /usr/local/firefox/plugins
Delete the old Java plugin symbolic link:
rm ./libjavaplugin_oji.so
Create the new Java plugin symbolic link:
ln -s /usr/java/jre1.6.0_18/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so ./libnpjp2.so
Now you need to change or add the /usr/bin/firefox symbolic link.
Switch to the /usr/bin directory:
cd /usr/bin
If a /usr/bin/firefox symbolic link entry exists, delete it:
rm /usr/bin/firefox
Create the new symbolic link entry pointing to Firefox 3.6:
ln -s /usr/local/firefox/firefox ./firefox
Now you're almost done. All that's left to do is to use the Main Menu or Menu Edit utility on your graphical desktop to add the Firefox 3.6 menu entry as:
Program: Firefox 3.6
Command: firefox %u
Save that, and you're done. Click on your new Firefox 3.6 menu entry and you're on your way with the latest stable version of the Mozzarella Foundation's Firefox web browser, with all your plugins carried forward, including Java support. µ
L'Inq
Firefox
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You must have posted late, and I just happened in here again, but for the historical record:
Why would you ever want to do that unless you'd already messed up your PC by tinkering with it and were desperately trying to make it work again?
I'd *NEVER* want to do so manually (the horror! editing the registry!), but after trying three or four "easy" packages for new installation with a generic Nvidious card, I *was* desperate. I'm still traumatized.
XP and all are easy ONLY if you have the exact driver. I've watched people in a repair shop similarly spend hours trying to install the right drivers. Perhaps you only buy new and keep the CD.
There are serious problems in this area that I'd thought *long* ago fixed by mandate: installation packages don't detect the required hardware. You might still want to install, but most don't seem to check that the hardware *is* installed, just blithely go ahead and trash the system.
I'm used to OS/2 where, until support ceased, installing a video driver was usually the SciTech SNAP universal that allows changing to nearly any card of its era without so much as another click. But turns out that M$ is actually the one *still* ten years behind.
Suppose you want to want to do an easy install of Firefox 3.6.2 in Ubuntu (Kubuntu, etc.). All you have to do is download (from Mozilla) Firefox and then type these two commands:
sudo tar -C /opt/ -xf ~/Downloads/firefox-3.6.2.tar.bz2
sudo ln -sf /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
on the assumption that you placed the download in your ~/Downloads folder.
Was that hard?
P.S. There are also easier instructions for getting the latest java plugin (from Sun) to work.
Ubuntu 9.10 runs Firefox 3.5.8. so it is not affected.
I downloaded and imaged 11.2 but am waiting to try it until Ubuntu 10.04 releases. I have been running Ubuntu since 8.04 and update every 6 months with a clean install. It doesn't take that long and external hard drives are great for backup.
Once Ubuntu 10.04 comes out I will first give OpenSuse a spin using the Gnome desktop
Don't be silly Bob, if you were to do a manual upgrade of Firefox on Windows it would look much the same as on Linux.
The real question is why Egan is doing a manual upgrade on Linux instead of using the package manager.
"For a challenge, try manually installing a video driver in XP"
Why would you ever want to do that unless you'd already messed up your PC by tinkering with it and were desperately trying to make it work again?
Just download the EXE/MSI, run it and start watching your videos. Painless, sweat-free and all done in under a minute. Just how my wife would like it. Still, two out of three ain't bad.
If there's no easy-installer for the driver, you must be up to no good or something.
'Cos Firefox 3.6 has an insecurity.
I assume nothing else in the article and comments needs to change...?
For OpenSuse 11.2, you can get Firefox 3.6 straight from the Mozilla repository:
http://tropenhitze.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/how-to-install-or-update-to-firefox-version-3-6-on-linux-opensuse-11-2/
(I did not realize that all you had to do was click on "versions" in YaST and select 3.6 for your version...pretty easy stuff, and less intimidating that the CLI monkey-wrenching provided in this article).
Use "ln -sf " instead of "ln -s" to overwrite an existing link!
because "The real problem is that now you have an unmanaged program floating around on your system, polluting your folders with random libraries and programs that you'll have to fish out should you wish to install a new version." otherwise means that even Linux types are turning into timid little nebishes -- and with poor memories too.
I could curl your hair with my hacking tales, and I'm not anywhere near guru status.
This is exactly what I hate about Linux software that is not packaged up in the distribution's repository.
It's not even that all these commands and extra work is a pain. The real problem is that now you have an unmanaged program floating around on your system, polluting your folders with random libraries and programs that you'll have to fish out should you wish to install a new version.
I hope you either plan on documenting exactly what you've changed, or reinstalling your system, because manually installed programs get "lost" in your system.
Really, is it necessary at all? Does Firefox 3.6 really outclass 3.5 or whatever your distro provides so much that you need to go through this archaic hell to install it?
This is only a rig job. I rigged Firefox 3.6 on my Fedora 12. When F13 arrives, everything will be glorious. Anyway, some pro in a forum will help you unfix your premature upgrade!
The above is not a difficult procedure. For a challenge, try manually installing a video driver in XP.
Quick, remove this article! It must have been posted by mistake and was obviously meant for April 1st.
I have rarely seen such bad advice.
For the life of me, I can't fathom why Windows continues to maintain such a commanding desktop market share over Linux.
No, really.
This is a really bad idea, you're going to run into serious problems when the package manager tries to update Firefox, especially since you din't remove the actual package. You should NEVER EVER mess with system files and installed applications manually on a distro like Ubuntu or Mandriva, unless you know what you're doing.
If you want a newer version of Firefox on Ubuntu, there are PPAs available, e.g. the Mozilla team's stable ppa: https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/firefox-stable
Mandriva probably has something similar.
Option 1. Use a different distro.
Option 2. Point to a mandriva repo that holds updated packages.
Option 3. Just download the latest linux package from mozilla and run it.
A guide like this seems pointless on an IT news site. Or is it supposed to be satire? oh look how complicated that funny linux system is?
Windows sucks!