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Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

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maxb
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Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#1 Post by maxb »

Flatpack
Snap
mv Mozilla's binary to /opt or /usr/local (You have to check for updates yourself?)
The version from Unstable (frankendebian risk)

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#2 Post by arochester »

Ubuntuzilla (unfortunate name) works. It involves installing an external repository.

https://www.unixmen.com/ubuntuzilla-eas ... -products/

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#3 Post by sunrat »

arochester wrote: 2021-10-21 09:40 Ubuntuzilla (unfortunate name) works. It involves installing an external repository.

https://www.unixmen.com/ubuntuzilla-eas ... -products/
Agreed, I used that repo happily for a long time. Now I prefer just plain firefox-esr in Bullseye from the Debian repo. That guide is concise and easy to follow. And it will upgrade versions whenever you run your normal system upgrade so is the easiest method.

The binary from Mozilla takes more maintenance, Sid repo can be dangerous if you are not careful, flatpak and snap both require huge runtimes in addition to just the package and don't integrate as well as native repo packages, and I don''t trust snap at all.
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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#4 Post by reinob »

I just unpacked mozilla's binary in a user folder and use that every since.
It's always up-to-date (doesn't update with system updates, but by itself, when running, Windows-like).
I think it's the easiest way of having always the latest version.
(you just have to set-up the .desktop files once, but it's quite trivial).

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#5 Post by maxb »

reinob wrote: 2021-10-21 13:29 I just unpacked mozilla's binary in a user folder and use that every since.
It's always up-to-date (doesn't update with system updates, but by itself, when running, Windows-like).
For the updates to happen, do you need to install it under $HOME ? (where your regular account can write)

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#6 Post by reinob »

maxb wrote: 2021-10-21 15:27 For the updates to happen, do you need to install it under $HOME ? (where your regular account can write)
The location must be writable by the user, so $HOME is a suitable place for it.
(I have a ~/bin for single programs and ~/software for such "user-owned packages" like firefox, thunderbird, tor browser, texlive, etc.)

You could of course use /usr/local/ (although normally /usr/local is for self-compiled programs), or /opt/ (which is where "Windows-like" packages usually go). Both require that your admin give you permission..

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#7 Post by cds60601 »

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#8 Post by maxb »

@reinob Thanks! This looks like the most practical approach if firefox updates itself.

I checked out snap firefox, and it installs 551MB worth of snaps, that get mounted (uncompressed into RAM) into 2GB (10x more than the uncompressed firefox download)

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#9 Post by maxb »

They suggest installing in /opt. I wonder if firefox will update itself then.

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#10 Post by stevepusser »

Thersh a drinkin game here on DFN....NFD...FDN! Wherr we down a sshot any time shomeone ashks that queshion 'bout gittin the latesh Firefoxsh...
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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#11 Post by sunrat »

stevepusser wrote: 2021-10-21 21:56 Thersh a drinkin game here on DFN....NFD...FDN! Wherr we down a sshot any time shomeone ashks that queshion 'bout gittin the latesh Firefoxsh...
Haha, good point Stevo. Must be dozens of times this question has been asked here. :mrgreen:
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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#12 Post by craigevil »

sunrat wrote: 2021-10-21 22:03
stevepusser wrote: 2021-10-21 21:56 Thersh a drinkin game here on DFN....NFD...FDN! Wherr we down a sshot any time shomeone ashks that queshion 'bout gittin the latesh Firefoxsh...
Haha, good point Stevo. Must be dozens of times this question has been asked here. :mrgreen:
Pin a post:
How to run/install newer Firefox: https://wiki.debian.org/Firefox
1) Download Firefox from Mozilla, extract and run.
2) Use Flatpak or Snap.
3) Use the Ubuntuzilla repo: https://sourceforge.net/p/ubuntuzilla/w ... stallation

Sadly even in Sid Debian is a version behind. Sid has 92.0-1, Experimental has 92.0-2+b1.
For those running arm64 the only option if you want a newer version is to use Snap which has 93.0-1.
I am using the Snap Firefox Beta 94.0b8-1.
The Snap version is an official Mozilla build.

Code: Select all

Name                 Version  Publisher       Notes  Summary
firefox              93.0-1   mozilla✓        -      Mozilla Firefox web browser
Last edited by craigevil on 2021-10-22 15:00, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#13 Post by sunrat »

I don't understand the obsession with latest Firefox. What does it have that current stable 78.15.0esr does not have? And yes I've tried v92 in Sid, actually prefer the ESR version. SNS syndrome is all.
craigevil wrote: 2021-10-22 00:57Pin a post:
How to run/install newer Firefox: https://wiki.debian.org/Firefox
Unfortunately the wiki doesn't mention the ubuntuzilla repository which is most reliable in my experience. Maybe I will edit the wiki to add it, when I get around to it. :wink:
It does explain the other options, both good and bad.
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Those who have lost data
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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#14 Post by Deb-fan »

It's gnu/Linux someone can have both and/or several instances or versions of Firefox no problem. Easy enough to assign specific mozilla profiles to each and have found that's good practice. Prefer running it directly downloaded from Mozilla and store it in users home directory too. Is nice it can be set to automatically update just as it does for Windows users. No lag or delay between when updates come out .. sometimes meant to address security issues or whatever and waiting for a packager. Not that, that delay has ever caused problems anyway.

I do both, have firefox-esr installed and latest version from Mozilla. Not so much sure why majority do it, guess it's just good to have the latest version, whatever improvements or features they provide. People reasonably enough want latest versions of something like a web-browser. Feel it's also nice having the assurance of being able to launch-use the ESR version, officially maintained by Debian from an official repo too though.
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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#15 Post by craigevil »

sunrat wrote: 2021-10-22 01:02 I don't understand the obsession with latest Firefox. What does it have that current stable 78.15.0esr does not have? And yes I've tried v92 in Sid, actually prefer the ESR version. SNS syndrome is all.
craigevil wrote: 2021-10-22 00:57Pin a post:
How to run/install newer Firefox: https://wiki.debian.org/Firefox
Unfortunately the wiki doesn't mention the ubuntuzilla repository which is most reliable in my experience. Maybe I will edit the wiki to add it, when I get around to it. :wink:
It does explain the other options, both good and bad.
Use this: https://sourceforge.net/p/ubuntuzilla/w ... stallation
The article about it earlier in the thread doesn't work.

I went ahead and added it to my Giant sources.list
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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#16 Post by sunrat »

craigevil wrote: 2021-10-22 02:25Use this: https://sourceforge.net/p/ubuntuzilla/w ... stallation
The article about it earlier in the thread doesn't work.
Good catch. It appears only the signing key has changed, since 2016. I wonder how old the article on Unixmen is?
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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#17 Post by Bloom »

You can simply add the Unstable/Sid repository and install the latest Firefox from there. Don't forget to create a preferences file in /etc/apt to prevent your whole system from being "upgraded" to Unstable/Sid.

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#18 Post by sunrat »

Bloom wrote: 2021-10-22 06:59 You can simply add the Unstable/Sid repository and install the latest Firefox from there. Don't forget to create a preferences file in /etc/apt to prevent your whole system from being "upgraded" to Unstable/Sid.
Yes that's possible but I wouldn't post advice to do that without detailing exactly how to create said preferences file. We have enough posts/topics already where people have screwed up their systems mixing repos incorrectly. I would expect quite a few inexperienced users will read this thread thinking they need the latest Firefox.
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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#19 Post by maxb »

sunrat wrote: 2021-10-22 01:02 I don't understand the obsession with latest Firefox. What does it have that current stable 78.15.0esr does not have? And yes I've tried v92 in Sid, actually prefer the ESR version.
Firefox gets about 100 CVEs per year. Backporting fixes to them into an obsolete version must take a lot of effort, is probably error-prone, and introduces a delay, I imagine.
SNS syndrome is all.

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Re: Best way to run the latest Firefox on Debian 11?

#20 Post by sunrat »

maxb wrote: 2021-10-22 09:23
sunrat wrote: 2021-10-22 01:02 I don't understand the obsession with latest Firefox. What does it have that current stable 78.15.0esr does not have? And yes I've tried v92 in Sid, actually prefer the ESR version.
Firefox gets about 100 CVEs per year. Backporting fixes to them into an obsolete version must take a lot of effort, is probably error-prone, and introduces a delay, I imagine.
Sounds like you don't trust the crack team of Debian developers and maintainers.
“ computer users can be divided into 2 categories:
Those who have lost data
...and those who have not lost data YET ”
Remember to BACKUP!

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