Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

Pink Unicorn · 2017-12-24 12:05:27

What is the easiest way to do that ? And how to replace Firefox ESR with Firefox 57

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-12-24 12:07:44

Pink Unicorn wrote:

What is the easiest way to do that ?

Download the program directly from Mozilla and run it from your "$HOME" folder.

And how to replace Firefox ESR with Firefox 57

Try

gksu galternatives

Use that program to add the downloaded binary as x-www-browser, I think that should work.

EDIT: if you run a multi-user system then you may have to just call it directly from the openbox menu rather than changing x-www-browser, I don't think setting it to a version in a user's "$HOME" folder would be a good idea in such a system.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-12-24 12:11:59)

Pink Unicorn · 2017-12-24 13:43:12

Download the program directly from Mozilla and run it from your "$HOME" folder. Could you tell me how to do it step by step ?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-12-24 14:30:46

Follow the "Manual Installation" instructions in this link:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Firef … stallation

Warning: please do not add the "Ubuntuzilla" repository to your system as it will probably break it completely.

BLizgreat! · 2017-12-24 21:07:50

Went ahead and babbled up a how-to here. Sure it works but that ubuntu manual install thing looked a bit convoluted to me. Not that the babble I posted is mucho better but why not, done it that way forever, see no reason it'll ever stop working on pretty much anything gnu/Linux.

garnet&gold · 2017-12-24 21:28:00

This is what I found previously that was the easiest way to install it and substitute FF 57 for FF-esr without removing esr, etc.

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install- … etch-linux

martix · 2017-12-25 01:51:46

^That how-to does work, but it's good to understand what the user is actually doing. On that page it is
1. Getting the latest Firefox version for 64 bit systems
2. Creating an /opt/firefox directory and extracting the downloaded file there
3. Renaming firefox-esr to firefox-esr_orig
4. Creating a symlink firefox-esr -> firefox, so when you start firefox-esr, actually it starts the new firefox version.

Generally I'd say:
1. Go to this page: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/releases/
2. If you want the latest version, currently click 57.0.2 and choose linux 64 bit or 32 bit depending on your system. If someone has a 64 bit system, it will download a file named firefox-57.0.2.tar.bz2
3. Extract this file. It can be extracted to a directory beginning with a . (dot) like described here or create the directory /opt/firefox (mkdir /opt/firefox) and extract it there like in the how-to ( tar xjf firefox-57.0.2.tar.bz2 -C /opt/firefox/ ).
4. When this is ready, you can already start the new Firefox version from terminal via: /opt/firefox/firefox -p --no-remote
"-p" means it start with a profile chooser window and "--no-remote" means that it will be possible to run different versions of Firefox at the same time. If it was extracted in /opt/firefox/firefox, the start command needs one more " /firefox " i.e. /opt/firefox/firefox/firefox.
5. It's not necessary to remove firefox-esr. However as the how-to suggests, it's possible to replace it with the new version (actually in the how-to firefox-esr still remains on the hdd, only firefox-esr will start the new Firefox version). It's also possible to use old profiles from firefox-esr with the new Firefox version, but some add-ons may not work.
6. Whatever way you launch the new version, be sure to use the right path (and the right command).

Last edited by martix (2017-12-25 01:57:39)

BLizgreat! · 2017-12-25 02:05:08

That's gnu/Linux, hardly ever a shortage of ways to do just about anything. Just wading through them and finding the one that works best for x-nixer. I got rid of firefox-esr cause I never use the thing anyway and tired of watching it upgrade. Liked keeping it around for the "firefox -p" command but Firefox has other ways to create/remove and manage profiles regardless.

When it comes to symlinking this or moving this/that around think someone needs to keep in mind upgrades. Depending on how it's set up things can get overwritten and borked. Use something like dpkg-divert or whatever, just in general pay attention to what you're doing obviously. The update-alternatives command can come in handy too, I don't particularly care if Firefox is set as x-www-browser, it launches in about the same capacity as it is on my install(s).

Method in that babble tute should work on any/every desktop/WM, for that matter everything gnu/Linux, shrugs. Just overly anal note, while you're right v57.0.2 may be available currently v57.0.1 is latest stable. Shouldn't make any difference but if someone goes above that, they're more like beta testing. Personally long since got burnt out on having absolute latest Firefox versions installed, Nightly or whatever it used to be called. Would rather just use latest release version.

Vll!

Pink Unicorn · 2017-12-25 09:46:19

Step 1:
If you haven’t done already, download Firefox Quantum from its official website:

Download Firefox Quantum

Step 2:
If you haven’t extracted it already, open a terminal and use the following commands to extract it.

cd ~/Downloads/
tar xjf firefox-57.0.tar.bz2
Step 3:
We’ll copy the extracted files in /opt location. It’s a standard practice to use /opt directory to keep application files.

Just to make sure that you don’t have a Firefox there already, run the command below:

sudo rm -r /opt/firefox
Now move the extracted Firefox Quantum directory to /opt

sudo mv ~/Downloads/firefox /opt/firefox
Step 4:
Just in case, if you want to use the older Firefox, make a backup of it:

sudo mv /usr/bin/firefox /usr/bin/firefox_old
Now create a symbolic link to the new Firefox 57 using the command below:

sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
And that’s it. You’ll see that when you start Firefox now, it uses the new Quantum version.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-12-25 13:07:11

May I just ask:

Pink Unicorn wrote:

sudo mv ~/Downloads/firefox /opt/firefox

Why not keep the program in "$HOME" instead?

Moving it to /opt means that you have to run it as root to update, that can't be good.

Pink Unicorn · 2017-12-26 21:42:05

after installing Firefox 57 does the line in tint look like this : launcher_item_app = /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop

brontosaurusrex · 2017-12-26 21:53:23

Haven't tested, but my first instinct would be (like HoaS mentioned)
- unpack to $HOME/apps/ff
- do a softlink to $HOME/apps/ff/firefox in $HOME/bin/firefox-esr
- (maybe backup or rename old ff data)
done.

Last edited by brontosaurusrex (2017-12-26 21:54:49)

vinzv · 2018-01-06 01:07:17

I avoid manual installations and go via apt pinning to get Firefox from testing/unstable. Never ran into any problems since FF55.

Pink Unicorn · 2018-01-06 09:28:34

vinzv wrote:

I avoid manual installations and go via apt pinning to get Firefox from testing/unstable. Never ran into any problems since FF55.

It would only use testing/unstable to update FF ? It wouldn't use the unstable/testing for updating the whole system ? I don't want to mess up the system.

Could you make step by step instruction but understandable for beginner.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2018-01-06 12:40:04

vinzv wrote:

go via apt pinning to get Firefox from testing/unstable

The BunsenLabs developers strongly recommend that "apt pinning" [sic] is not employed in a BunsenLabs system unless and until the user has read and fully understood apt_preferences(5).

Whilst pinning can be a very powerful tool it can also be a very quick way to wreck an install, using that when it is so simple to run a copy of FF locally just seems silly to me.

vinzv wrote:

Never ran into any problems since FF55.

The plural of anecdote is not evidence.

EDIT: as of the time of this edit, the version of firefox from Debian unstable is 57.0.3 whereas a locally-installed FF would now be running 57.0.4, which has some rather important fixes for Spectre & Meltdown:

https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2018/ … ng-attack/

So perhaps @vinzv would like to switch to a local version to avoid running crusty and vulnerable software ]:D

EDIT2: FF's fancy new "Quantum" version is particularly vulnerable to Spectre & Meltdown (in a way that the ESR version isn't) because the Electrolysis sandbox and multi-threading improvements make extensive use of syscalls and context stitching.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2018-01-06 13:27:55)

vinzv · 2018-01-06 15:12:56

Pink Unicorn wrote:

It would only use testing/unstable to update FF ? It wouldn't use the unstable/testing for updating the whole system ? I don't want to mess up the system.

Yes. You can add all repositories (stable, testing, unstable, even experimental) to your sources.list. To avoid messing up the system afterwards you have to give every of them a priority.

Pink Unicorn wrote:

Could you make step by step instruction but understandable for beginner.

There is this tutorial which helped me a lot. But (and that's a huge 'but'!) apt-pinning is nothing I'd recommend to unexperienced users. You definitely need to know what you're doing as un-doing a sudo apt upgrade is really painful.
If you're interested spin up some virtual machine and play around. Or at least have recent backups ready.

vinzv · 2018-01-06 15:17:43

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

EDIT: as of the time of this edit, the version of firefox from Debian unstable is 57.0.3 whereas a locally-installed FF would now be running 57.0.4, which has some rather important fixes for Spectre & Meltdown:
https://blog.mozilla.org/security/2018/ … ng-attack/
So perhaps @vinzv would like to switch to a local version to avoid running crusty and vulnerable software ]:D

Problems vs. security issues. But I get your point as I maybe was too greedy for FF Quantum's improvements which now fell onto my feet.

I just never went with local installations of FF as it has no update routine and keeping track of the continous updates is quite inconvenient.

vasa1 · 2018-01-06 16:37:15

vinzv wrote:

...
I just never went with local installations of FF as it has no update routine and keeping track of the continous updates is quite inconvenient.

I haven't found have a local install more inconvenient than a regular system install. In what way would it be more inconvenient?

vinzv · 2018-01-06 20:18:34

The installation itself is easy, but updates not so:

vinzv wrote:

as it has no update routine and keeping track of the continous updates is quite inconvenient.

vasa1 · 2018-01-07 01:36:07

Updates are automatic for local installs and often before distros make the updates available. Firefox has a release calendar here: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/em … NvbQ&pli=1

#1 2017-12-24 12:05:27

Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#2 2017-12-24 12:07:44

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#3 2017-12-24 13:43:12

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#4 2017-12-24 14:30:46

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#5 2017-12-24 21:07:50

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#6 2017-12-24 21:28:00

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#7 2017-12-25 01:51:46

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#8 2017-12-25 02:05:08

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#9 2017-12-25 09:46:19

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#10 2017-12-25 13:07:11

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#11 2017-12-26 21:42:05

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#12 2017-12-26 21:53:23

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#13 2018-01-06 01:07:17

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#14 2018-01-06 09:28:34

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#15 2018-01-06 12:40:04

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#16 2018-01-06 15:12:56

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#17 2018-01-06 15:17:43

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#18 2018-01-06 16:37:15

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#19 2018-01-06 20:18:34

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

#20 2018-01-07 01:36:07

Re: Is it possible to install Firefox 57 on Bunsenlabs ?

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