trying to install firefox -- sudo isn't helping

[oospill]

hello. I'm trying to install firefox. I'm having trouble getting permissions to move the tar file to /usr/lib/ .. then again, the site I'm looking at is dated 2008.

can anyone walk me through installing firefox on debian?

thanks!!

[craigevil]

Switching from Debian Iceweasel to Firefox, permanently - http://techpatterns.com/forums/about143 ... ht=firefox

[Rolling Stone]

Why would you want to install Firefox?

[fsmithred]

I'm guessing you didn't add yourself to /etc/sudoers. Don't bother.

To become root.

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su

OR

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 su -

The latter will put root in its own environment instead of your user's environment. You can then copy, move, edit or do anything else to system files.

To run a gui program with root privileges.

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gksu [some program]

OR (if you use kde)

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kdesu [some program]

If you're crazy enough to run a file manager this way, be careful. One wrong click could destroy your system.

And if you wanted to install firefox without ever needing to become root, just unpack it in your home directory, rename or remove the firefox/plugins directory, and make the link to /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins. Add it to your menu or make a button on the panel, set the command to /home/your-user-name/firefox/firefox. If your desktop has a way to set preferred applications, you can do the same there. Note that this does not replace or remove iceweasel, and it makes firefox available to only one user.

Open a terminal and issue the following commands. (the firefox tarball should be in your home directory, not on the desktop.)

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tar -xvjf firefox<version>.tar.bz2
mv firefox/plugins firefox/plugins.orig
ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins firefox/plugins
firefox/firefox   (to prove that it works)

Then deal with any of the button, menu and preferred apps stuff.

[oospill]

tip of the hat. thank you all for the posts!!

[xze]

If you like using bleeding edge software, or don't mind it -- download the nightlies and run them out of the folder; as a portable app. Then, you can just create a launcher or link somewhere that works for you.