Why does Mozilla want us to install Firefox to our home dir

[white_tee_shirt]

Hi users,
I never understood this. I have come back to Debian after many years (switched to Fedora, Ubuntu, Mint, Kali, KDE and now back to Deb).
These are instructions for installing Firefox directly from Mozilla's website:

• Download Firefox from the Firefox download page to your home directory.
  Note: If you want to have a choice of the language and operating system for your Firefox installation, please visit the Systems & Languages download page instead.
  Open a Terminal and go to your home directory: cd ~
  Extract the contents of the downloaded file: tar xjf firefox-*.tar.bz2
  Close Firefox if it's open.
  To start Firefox, run the firefox script in the firefox folder: ~/firefox/firefox

Why are their instructions like this? What use does it have in home directory?
If you install a fresh installation of Debian 9, you don't get FF in home Dir., and common sense tells me to upgrade/install where the existing copy is. How I have two versions of Firefox on my station at two different locations.

[debiman]

there's also this:

Code: Select all

apt install firefox-esr

edit:
nobody forces you to keep two versions.
if you like the shiny new ff, just uninstall the sturdy ff-esr.

[pawRoot]

doesn't have to be in home directory

https://wiki.debian.org/Firefox

[stevepusser]

If it's in your home folder, it's easier for their automatic update feature to work.

[Bulkley]

Those instructions allow a user to download and run FF in his/her own account without having to call the IT guy. It is secure because it doesn't mess up anything that requires root permission. It is a nice way to try out different browsers. The down side is that whomever is acting as the IT guy may want the software installed properly so that all users can access.

There is definitely a choice involved. I have eight browsers (because I like to try different ones) of which only three run in user space.

[white_tee_shirt]

edit:
nobody forces you to keep two versions.
if you like the shiny new ff, just un-install the sturdy ff-esr.

I had no choice but update to a newer version because my Add-on (extension?) requires a newer version.

[white_tee_shirt]

Those instructions allow a user to download and run FF in his/her own account without having to call the IT guy. It is secure because it doesn't mess up anything that requires root permission. It is a nice way to try out different browsers. The down side is that whomever is acting as the IT guy may want the software installed properly so that all users can access.

There is definitely a choice involved. I have eight browsers (because I like to try different ones) of which only three run in user space.

This is a good answer I can live with and adjust my perspective. Thanks!

[dilberts_left_nut]

I had no choice but update to a newer version because my Add-on (extension?) requires a newer version.

You could choose to use a different (or no) 'extension'.

[white_tee_shirt]

Those instructions allow a user to download and run FF in his/her own account without having to call the IT guy. It is secure because it doesn't mess up anything that requires root permission.

But it now does mess up my FF icon's though.
I lost the nice FF icons and for my latest version in ~/Downloads, the binaries have weird generic icons =(
And the shortcut of the application that I dragged and copied to the Desktop won't launch FF either.
See my screenshot

[acewiza]

I normally put anything that doesn't already know where it wants to live in /opt.

[stevepusser]

That "firefox" shortcut is just a text .desktop file. You have to open it with a text editor and edit the Exec= line to where Firefox is living now (probably /home/<username>/Downloads/firefox/firefox) and also the Icon= line to whatever icon file you want to use. Your downloaded Firefox has some .png files you can use it in someplace, or just download one of your own.

[sgage]

You can put it wherever you want. I have always put it in /opt. And the auto-update feature works fine.

[stevepusser]

You can put it wherever you want. I have always put it in /opt. And the auto-update feature works fine.

That is not possible unless you change the permissions on the /opt/firefox folder or are insane enough to run the browser as root.

[white_tee_shirt]

That is not possible unless you change the permissions on the /opt/firefox folder or are insane enough to run the browser as root.

Exactly

[dilberts_left_nut]

Which is why ~/ is the place for "user managed software".

Make a ~/bin dir and put them there ... or whatever suits.

[white_tee_shirt]

That "firefox" shortcut is just a text .desktop file. You have to open it with a text editor and edit the Exec= line to where Firefox is living now (probably /home/<username>/Downloads/firefox/firefox) and also the Icon= line to whatever icon file you want to use. Your downloaded Firefox has some .png files you can use it in someplace, or just download one of your own.

You are right. I found the firefox quantum icon in one of the sub directories and edited the properties to change the icon. Not sure how I can make shortcuts of an application. The file is an executable binary and hence i cant open it in a text editor

[debiman]

white_tee_shirt, in future please post a link instead of a full-sized image.
better yet to describe the issue in a few more words (often also helps with troubleshooting) instead of taking yet another screenshot.

[acewiza]

You can put it wherever you want. I have always put it in /opt. And the auto-update feature works fine.

That is not possible unless you change the permissions on the /opt/firefox folder or are insane enough to run the browser as root.

Filesystem permissions changes are not required for a normal user to run FF from /opt.

At least not the latest current version.

[stevepusser]

I thought we were talking about the auto update, since that is what I started my posts in this thread about, and I have stuck to that. You can't use auto-update when it's in /opt without changing some things from the norm, since the standard user does not have permission to change any files there. If you are running the browser as root, sure, it can update itself. Otherwise, you have to change the permissions of /opt/firefox to get it to work.

[acewiza]

I thought we were talking about the auto update...

Right, my bad.

I guess my thought was if you don't have root on the box, you probably shouldn't be too concerned about what software is getting installed where/how.