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HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

Share your HowTo, Documentation, Tips and Tricks. Not for support questions!.
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lemoicavalier
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HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#1 Post by lemoicavalier »

Why this HowTo?

I can think of many reasons as to why anyone would want to install Firefox from binary source instead of using Debian's Iceweasel...
Maybe a website actually requires the user agent Firefox, maybe you think foxes are sexy; or maybe, just maybe! You suffer of an irrational fear of weasels! (I'm not judging! Promise!)

But it's because of the reasons that I can't think of that this HowTo was born.

Anyways, the only assumption I make here is that you have a working Internet Connection and that Iceweasel is not installed. Because of that pretty much all the code and explanations are aimed towards new users.

Ok. Let's do it!

Open a console and log in as root. Enter root's password when asked:

Code: Select all

su
Firefox depends on libstdc++5. Install it by running this command:

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apt-get install libstdc++5
Next, you can either type the codes manually, or just copy and paste to avoid typos... It's really up to you (This is not a typing lesson after all):

Code: Select all

cd /opt
wget ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/2.0.0.9/linux-i686/en-US/firefox-2.0.0.9.tar.gz
tar -xvf firefox-2.0.0.9.tar.gz
ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
rm -rf /opt/firefox/plugins/ && ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/ /opt/firefox/plugins
  • - The 1st line changes your location to /opt. I like it there becuase it doesn't interfer with the Debian's defaults.
    - The 2nd line downloads the latest Firefox's code. If you need a lenguage different then US English, go to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/f ... inux-i686/ and change the en-US line with your language code.
    - The 3rd line untars the code to /opt/firefox/
    - The next line creates a link at /usr/bin so you can start Firefox from any console just by typing firefox
    - Next one removes the plugin folder and replaces it with a link to the Debian's pluggins. This is so we don't have to update links when adding, removing or upgrading plugins.
And that's it! You can create a shortcut to it, added to your menu or task bar, or alt+F2 and type firefox... Whatever!

Note:
When a new Firefox version is released, all you have to do is enter as root and type:

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rm -rf /opt/firefox*
rm /usr/bin/firefox
That will remove all traces of the current install. After that all you have to do is follow this procedure, but modified with the new source..

*********************************************************************************************
Changelog:
v 0.1
- 1st release. Firefox Version 2.0.0.6. 08-23-2007. GPL.
v 0.2
- Updated to Firefox Version 2.0.0.7. 09-24-2007
- Added libstdc++5 dependency
v 0.3
- Updated to Firefox Version 2.0.0.8. 10-19-2007
v 0.4
- Updated to Firefox Version 2.0.0.9. 11-12-2009
Last edited by lemoicavalier on 2007-11-13 01:50, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#2 Post by lemoicavalier »

Reserved, for whatever! You never know.
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#3 Post by ingo »

nice one, but no joy :(

Code: Select all

dicker:/opt# firefox
Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
Xlib: No protocol specified


(firefox-bin:24195): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
dicker:/opt#  
what am I doing wrong?

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#4 Post by plb »

ehm...why are you trying to run it as root? ^^...anyway why not just download the tar file and just run it from your ~? works fine for me

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#5 Post by ingo »

very polite of you to point it out in such a restrained manner! DOH!!!!!

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#6 Post by craigevil »

Howto: Install Firefox 2 and various plugins on Debian Etch - Linux Forums
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/debian ... -etch.html
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#7 Post by Issyer »

Nice howto. You can also download firefox from FTP repositories, unpack with file-roller and use together with iceweasel sharing the same .mozilla folder.
http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla ... /releases/

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#8 Post by craigevil »

Issyer wrote:Nice howto. You can also download firefox from FTP repositories, unpack with file-roller and use together with iceweasel sharing the same .mozilla folder.
http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla ... /releases/
Thats pretty much all I did, created a new profile, unpacked Firefox, created a menu shortcut, and copied the plugin symlinks to the appropriate dir. Took all of 5 minutes. I use IW 99% of the time and generally only use Firefox to check out a problem someone says they are having.
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mmorse757
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Firefox updates.

#9 Post by mmorse757 »

OK, forgive the question. Why does the built in update function of Firefox not work when it is installed in this manner?

Michael

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Re: Firefox updates.

#10 Post by lemoicavalier »

mmorse757 wrote:OK, forgive the question. Why does the built in update function of Firefox not work when it is installed in this manner?

Michael
Didn't realize how long it has been since I was here the last time :(

As for the question: The build in update works just fine, but you have to run Firefox as 'root' so it's able to overwrite files; after all /opt is owned by root, and by default other users only get read access to it.

Easy way to go about it is to open a terminal and then:

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host +
su               (enter root pasword when prompted)
firefox
Go to Help > Check for Updates...
And that's it!


I've been meaning to update this HowTo and include that bit, but alas I haven't had time to visit this community for months now!
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Re: Firefox updates.

#11 Post by TristanDee »

lemoicavalier wrote:I've been meaning to update this HowTo and include that bit, but alas I haven't had time to visit this community for months now!
And now you haven't been updating this NICE HowTo for over a year!

Thanks for the tut. Haven't yet tried it on my Squeeze system though, but I hope it WILL work.

Just one question: Will there be any problem if Iceweasel is also installed on the system? Or do I need to uninstall Iceweasel?

Edit: Also, does Firefox still depend on libstdc++5?
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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#12 Post by jheaton5 »

I'm not having any issues using iceweasel. Why do I want to download firefox? OK, it's that freedom thing. Not everyone thinks like me. Perhaps you are fortunate that way.
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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#13 Post by TristanDee »

jheaton5 wrote:I'm not having any issues using iceweasel. Why do I want to download firefox? OK, it's that freedom thing. Not everyone thinks like me. Perhaps you are fortunate that way.
No sir, it's not that. I've always used Iceweasel in Debian. I'm writing this very post through Iceweasel. I just wanted to try the REAL Firefox once with that good old logo and that orangish colour (perhaps I want to see if I can do those tricky things correct, I don't know). And yes, I love Firefox--the real one--more than its "clone" Iceweasel. But I'm happy with IW, no complaints with that.
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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#14 Post by vrkalak »

I have used Firefox for a number of years. Since FireFox 2.0 (IceWeasel) in PuppyLinux and my personal favorite FireFox 3.0. 3.0 is much better than the newer 3.5

I was using FireFox 3.5.5 in my Debian (testing) Xfce build. Of course, I had done some major 'tweaking' of the FireFox source files.

A few days ago, I found the daily build codes for FireFox in Launchpad.net and added them to my 'testing' repositories.
I am now running FireFox 3.7 - tweaked, of course.

In FireFox 3.7 I find that the fonts are sharper, crisper than in previous versions, and the taskbar to be more customizable.
Although, the Speed-dial feature (new for FireFox) is harder to configure than it was in Opera 10.
And, the big difference is the speed. It's 'stupid' fast ... faster the Chrome browser.

Of course, FireFox 3.7 is still in pre-Alpha. FireFox 3.6 is still in Beta 4. . . . :lol: I likes the 'bleeding edge'

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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#15 Post by Coco »

No, thanks! I want Iceweasel or nothing. You keep your Firecrap!
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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#16 Post by TristanDee »

I haven't understood one thing--Can the longtime members of this forum please clarify that? Is wanting to use Firefox, not Iceweasel, in Debian something like blasphemy? Because many seem to have this strict policy not to use the real Firefox, even strong disapproval of the browser. If it were so, my next question is: Why was this thread allowed here in the first place? If you don't like Firefox, it should not be much hard just to ignore this thread!

Now, that said, I have got Firefox running on my Debian Testing machine, but did receive some errors. At the first run, I got two errors:
In terminal

Code: Select all

oracle:/opt# ff3

(firefox-bin:2647): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times

(firefox-bin:2647): GnomeUI-WARNING **: While connecting to session manager:
None of the authentication protocols specified are supported.

(firefox-bin:2647): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times

(firefox-bin:2647): GnomeUI-WARNING **: While connecting to session manager:
None of the authentication protocols specified are supported.

(firefox-bin:2647): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times

(firefox-bin:2647): GnomeUI-WARNING **: While connecting to session manager:
None of the authentication protocols specified are supported.
...and a Firefox error message

Code: Select all

Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Failed to get connection to session: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.)

Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Failed to get connection to session: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.)

Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Failed to get connection to session: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.)

Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Failed to get connection to session: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.)

Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks due to a system crash. See http://projects.gnome.org/gconf/ for information. (Details -  1: Failed to get connection to session: Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.)
Finally, ran Firefox again as normal user and received this error

Code: Select all

rubel@oracle:~$ ff3

(firefox-bin:2707): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times

rubel@oracle:~$ ff3

(firefox-bin:2728): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times

(firefox-bin:2728): GLib-WARNING **: g_set_prgname() called multiple times

(firefox-bin:2728): libgnomevfs-WARNING **: Could not create per-user Gnome application-registry directory: /home/rubel/.gnome/application-info

(firefox-bin:2728): libgnomevfs-WARNING **: Deprecated function.  User modifications to the MIME database are no longer supported.

(firefox-bin:2728): libgnomevfs-WARNING **: Deprecated function.  User modifications to the MIME database are no longer supported.

(firefox-bin:2728): libgnomevfs-WARNING **: Deprecated function.  User modifications to the MIME database are no longer supported.

(firefox-bin:2728): libgnomevfs-WARNING **: Deprecated function.  User modifications to the MIME database are no longer supported.

(firefox-bin:2728): libgnomevfs-WARNING **: Deprecated function.  User modifications to the MIME database are no longer supported.

(firefox-bin:2728): libgnomevfs-WARNING **: Deprecated function.  User modifications to the MIME database are no longer supported.

(firefox-bin:2728): libgnomevfs-WARNING **: Cannot open '/home/rubel/.gnome/application-info/user.applications' for writing

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

(firefox-bin:2728): Gdk-WARNING **: XID collision, trouble ahead

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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#17 Post by craigevil »

Iceweasel is still my systems default browser but I use Firefox 99% of the time.

This is all I do to use Firefox.
download Firefox
extract to my /home
ln -s /usr/lib/iceweasel/plugins /home/craig/Downloads/firefox/plugins
opened iceweasel with iceweasel -profilemanager and created a profile for Firefox
copied my iceweasel profile to the new firefox profile

my Firefox.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Name[en_US]=Firefox
Exec=/home/craig/Downloads/firefox/firefox %u
Icon=/home/craig/Downloads/firefox/icons/mozicon50.xpm
StartupNotify=true
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;

copied the Firefox.desktop to /usr/share/applications so it would appear in my LXDE menu and so I could put it on my lxde Applicatrions bar.

Firefox doesn't tend to crash on Flash or Java sites and it uses way less ram/cpu than Iceweasel. Several people in #smxi have tested this on multiple systems, on stable, testing, and sid.
It also seems to load pages faster than iceweasel.

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.1.5) Gecko/20091102 Firefox/3.5.5
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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#18 Post by TristanDee »

craigevil wrote:my Firefox.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Name[en_US]=Firefox
Exec=/home/craig/Downloads/firefox/firefox %u
Icon=/home/craig/Downloads/firefox/icons/mozicon50.xpm
StartupNotify=true
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;

copied the Firefox.desktop to /usr/share/applications so it would appear in my LXDE menu and so I could put it on my lxde Applicatrions bar.
Hello Craig, Firefox.desktop is a file, right? I just create the file (or is it already created?), open it in gedit and insert the codes and save? What also I didn't understand: where to create the file?

And there's this BIG question: What to do with the Firefox already present in my system?

Thanks for the easier how-to. And, sorry, I probably asked too many questions.
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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#19 Post by craigevil »

A more permanent method:
"firefox" is :: give up? I did, dump Iceweasel and set your system up with Firefox. Directions for doing a permanent changeover:
http://techpatterns.com/forums/about1435.html
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Re: HowTo: Firefox, the "real" thing.

#20 Post by Absent Minded »

Why is this thread allowed here, you ask? Everyone is freely allowed to make the best choice for them.

Myself, tried Firefox propper as several made claims it was so much better. Truthfully, I didn't notice a thing differnt than how Iceweasle performed, read pages, used RAM, etc. My conclusion.. might as well just use Iceweasle. Works just fine for me. I can change the info the browser sends to sites if I choose with not much effort. I however am not feeling the need for the "Bleeding Edge". Advantages for me is that it works the same and updates the way it is suppose to. No hassle, no muck. It is a bit sad that FF needed rebranded just to be able to have regular security updates in Debian stable but I guess that's the breaks.

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