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[Solved] Firefox 53.3 vs. ESR in Stretch

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supusr
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[Solved] Firefox 53.3 vs. ESR in Stretch

#1 Post by supusr »

I noticed the newest (53.3) Firefox browser is out, but Debian Stretch is using ESR. How can one install 53.3 and replace ESR? Are there reasons not to do so, or potential problems with Debian? Does anyone know if the stable release will include the latest Firefox?
Last edited by supusr on 2017-05-20 18:29, edited 1 time in total.

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Head_on_a_Stick
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Re: Firefox 53.3 vs. ESR in Stretch

#2 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

supusr wrote:Does anyone know if the stable release will include the latest Firefox?
The stable release will use firefox-esr.

Version 52 is in experimental, I am hoping they will transition that over at some point.

https://packages.debian.org/experimental/firefox-esr

I'm using that version in my stretch system with no problems (so far).
Are there reasons not to do so, or potential problems with Debian?
Non-standard repositories (or .debs) always have the potential to cause problems and should probably only be used as a last resort.

Debian stable sticks to the extended support release because the new features introduced by the mainline version inevitably introduce new bugs and vulnerabilities and may also cause API/ABI changes that are not compatible with the release paradigm.

Apart from that it should be fine :)
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phenest
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Re: Firefox 53.3 vs. ESR in Stretch

#3 Post by phenest »

If you want to try the latest version, download it from Mozilla, unpack it and use it from there. No need to install it. I even got Flash working with it.
ASRock H77 Pro4-M i7 3770K - 32GB RAM - Pioneer BDR-209D

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supusr
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Re: [Solved] Firefox 53.3 vs. ESR in Stretch

#4 Post by supusr »

To you both, thanks very much for your perspectives. I think it is right that for now I should stay with ESR for the installed version, but I also know that if I want to try the newest version I need not install it.

caulfield
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Re: [Solved] Firefox 53.3 vs. ESR in Stretch

#5 Post by caulfield »

Wait for Stretch to go stable and then use mozilla.debian.net when they update the repos, so you don't have to pull and pin form experimental (I'm always afraid of that).
"Smokey, this is not 'nam, this is bowling. There are rules!"

deborah-and-ian
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Re: [Solved] Firefox 53.3 vs. ESR in Stretch

#6 Post by deborah-and-ian »

Just a quick note: mozilla.debian.net doesn't offer current release Firefox for Jessie anymore since the newer versions need Rust and that isn't available on Jessie. But you can still get the newer ESR version from there. The only alternative for Jessie would be the statically compiled Firefox from Mozilla's own website.
Debian GNU/Linux 9 Stretch w/Openbox

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integrated AMD Mullins
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deborah-and-ian
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Re: [Solved] Firefox 53.3 vs. ESR in Stretch

#7 Post by deborah-and-ian »

I've built a script that fetches the current Firefox and unpacks it into $HOME/Build/ :

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
printf "\n\n Getting latest Firefox... \n\n"
cd ~/Build

if [ -d "~/Build/firefox~" ]; then
	rm -r firefox~
	if [ -d "~/Build/firefox" ]; then
		cp -a firefox firefox~
	fi
else
	if [ -d "~/Build/firefox" ]; then
		cp -a firefox firefox~
	fi
fi  
rm -r firefox
wget -O firefox.tar "https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-latest&os=linux64&lang=en-US" &&
#wget -O firefox.tar "https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-nightly-latest-ssl&os=linux64&lang=en-US"
tar xvf firefox.tar &&
rm firefox.tar
printf "\n\n Done! \n\n"
If you look at the 2nd wget command which was commented out, this one rather gets the latest Nightly than the stable release.

Then I have an executable script in ~/bin which looks like this:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
cd ~/Build/firefox
./firefox
And then I just edit the Firefox .desktop file with menulibre to access ~/bin/firefox rather than /usr/bin/firefox-esr

Hope that helps someone. This could be made into a cronjob.
Debian GNU/Linux 9 Stretch w/Openbox

Acer Aspire E5-521G
AMD A8-6410 APU
4 GB RAM
integrated AMD Mullins
dedicated AMD Hainan Radeon R5 M240 2 GB
240 GB Toshiba Q300 SSD
Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 ethernet
Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 wireless

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