How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

PetyrVeliki · 2017-11-06 15:06:24

I have the default Firefox ESR, but I want to also be able to launch the new ESR, based on version 52.

I tried to download the browser, put it in /opt, but if I open it and check the version - it always gives me the latest one - currently 56.

Opening the old ESR always shows it's version. (I think 45.9.)

What can I do in this case ?

Thanks in advance

Last edited by PetyrVeliki (2017-11-06 15:09:17)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-11-06 17:55:13

PetyrVeliki wrote:

I have the default Firefox ESR, but I want to also be able to launch the new ESR, based on version 52

No need to risk using third-party repositories, simply run these commands:

sudo apt update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

The new ESR version has been available in BunsenLabs since the 14th of June, you should probably update your system more regularly

martix · 2017-11-06 20:32:46

^Yep, for me it's currently ESR 52.4.0.

Recently I really started to dislike Firefox. In comparison to others like Vivaldi, ungoogled Chromium, Brave, Pale Moon, etc. it's a horrible browser. No wonder Mozilla lost almost all the market shares they used to have. It's a pity but I have to say that Firefox as a major browser is unfortunately dead. By now it's more like a bad niche browser.

PetyrVeliki · 2017-11-07 13:28:37

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

No need to risk using third-party repositories, simply run these commands:
sudo apt update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Thanks, that worked ... I did it on my home laptop
(On the workstation however I downloaded this - https://packages.debian.org/jessie/amd6 … r/download - which installed the 52 ESR over the old one. However, going through the package manager looks much more elegant ... so I'll do dist-upgrade there as well.)

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

The new ESR version has been available in BunsenLabs since the 14th of June, you should probably update your system more regularly

I update almost every single day, via these commands:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

I thought dist-upgrade is only when new major OS release is available

martix wrote:

Recently I really started to dislike Firefox. In comparison to others like Vivaldi, ungoogled Chromium, Brave, Pale Moon, etc. it's a horrible browser. No wonder Mozilla lost almost all the market shares they used to have. It's a pity but I have to say that Firefox as a major browser is unfortunately dead. By now it's more like a bad niche browser.

It depends a lot. I usually use two or three versions of FF - the develop edition and the latest stable edition. With the multiprocessing it's much faster than it was a year or two ago.
And the reason I needed the ESR is that I use Vimperator addon a lot, and with latest Firefox they changed the API for addons and now it doesn't work ... or at least it doesn't work that well.
And last but not least - I'm a web developer and the developer tools of FF before version 56 was more comfortable and better for me. So ESR 52 is like combining the goods from all over - Vimperator works fine, the dev tools is the good old one, and at the same time it has the stability and security updates, and like newer versions of FF - it has multithreading, which makes the browser faster in general.

(I know about Vimium, but Imperator is better 8-) ...)

martix · 2017-11-07 16:57:36

^Yep, that's exactly what I mean: As a web developer FF might suit you (being in a sort of niche), but "no-tech" ordinary users just turn away from Firefox - and I can understand why. Btw it's interesting with multithreading because I simply cannot see it: E.g. with chromium there are several chromium processes, but using this ESR version I always have only one single FF instance called firefox-esr (checking it via conky).

PetyrVeliki · 2017-11-07 17:41:47

Why not checking with "htop"?
(I removed conky as I like clear desktop, and also I always see it being incorrect for the info it shows ...)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-11-07 19:31:50

PetyrVeliki wrote:

I update almost every single day, via these commands:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
I thought dist-upgrade is only when new major OS release is available

The `dist-upgrade` command is needed whenever packages have to be removed for an upgrade to go through correctly, this is certainly the case for upgrades between major versions but it is also occasionally true for some packages and in this case the jump from ESR 45 to ESR 52 also necessitated the switch from good ol' Iceweasel (RIP) to the re-branded firefox-esr package — this is why running `apt-get upgrade` alone failed to complete the process.

For the record, `apt-get` would have told you that packages remained un-upgraded in the output so perhaps pay more attention to that in the future.

It is probably worth noting that the simpler, more user-friendly `apt` command would have got v52 for you as well:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

It also saves you from typing eight extra characters and every microsecond counts, right? 8o

martix · 2017-11-08 01:19:21

PetyrVeliki wrote:

Why not checking with "htop"?
(I removed conky as I like clear desktop, and also I always see it being incorrect for the info it shows ...)

With htop I have several processes for almost everything, like three or four for Volumeicon or SpaceFM (although running only one instance of those).

hhh · 2017-11-08 01:28:51

martix wrote:

With htop I have several processes for almost everything, like three or four for Volumeicon or SpaceFM (although running only one instance of those).

It's ncurses, so you can either mouse-click F2 or use your keyboard, then Display Options > Hide userland process threads, F10Done.

martix · 2017-11-08 14:00:15

^Thank you @hhh, much better that way!

As for firefox-esr: Using "hide userland process threads" there are no multithreads in htop either.

martix · 2017-11-14 23:37:15

^It was released in March '17 on a Mozilla blog: "For example, multi-threading and SIMD are already on the WebAssembly Roadmap."

This was couple of weeks ago: "Mozilla has released the first beta versions of Firefox 57 that come with a new user interface (“Photon”) and a new core engine (“Quantum”): they claim that it is twice as fast as Firefox 52, the version released a year ago. Firefox Quantum takes advantage of multiple CPU cores."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that ESR 52 is without multithreading -> no wonder it did not look like that in conky.

Btw there is an experimental package for Firefox 57 Quantum in the repos.

Last edited by martix (2017-11-14 23:51:08)

#1 2017-11-06 15:06:24

How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#2 2017-11-06 17:55:13

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#3 2017-11-06 20:32:46

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#4 2017-11-07 13:28:37

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#5 2017-11-07 16:57:36

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#6 2017-11-07 17:41:47

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#7 2017-11-07 19:31:50

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#8 2017-11-08 01:19:21

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#9 2017-11-08 01:28:51

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#10 2017-11-08 14:00:15

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

#11 2017-11-14 23:37:15

Re: How can I install the Firefox ESR 52 on BunsenLabs Linux?

Board footer