HowTo Install the Latest Firefox in Ubuntu (Ultimate HowTo)

[cstudent]

Ok im having an issue installing this
I download firefox and I extract to home folder then I go to
applications-accessories-terminal and then I do that ./firefox_install thing and it says File or directory cannot be found any ideas?
How do I run the gnome terminal or is that the terminal under accesories

First, yes that is the terminal.
Second, click on your top menu bar, Places and then Home Folder. See if you can find the file firefox_install. If it's not there then it either didn't get extracted or was extracted to another directory.

[unwoken]

can anyone tell me how to go back to using 1.0.7 as the default?

there are certain extensions i need which are 1.0.7 only, and i am also having a little trouble accessing some sites.

i really appreciate the script, but i would like to go back to 1.0.7 for now. Can anyone help?

thks.

EDIT: i have found a file "firefox.ubuntu" in /usr/bin which loads 1.0.7. if i modifiy my launcher to that file, should i do anything else? thks again.

[arnieboy]

can anyone tell me how to go back to using 1.0.7 as the default?

there are certain extensions i need which are 1.0.7 only, and i am also having a little trouble accessing some sites.

i really appreciate the script, but i would like to go back to 1.0.7 for now. Can anyone help?

thks.

EDIT: i have found a file "firefox.ubuntu" in /usr/bin which loads 1.0.7. if i modifiy my launcher to that file, should i do anything else? thks again.
This is what u need to do:
mv ~/.mozilla ~/.mozilla-1.5
sudo rm -f /usr/bin/firefox /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/firefox /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox

now run firefox as usual from menu

[galderz]

i managed to get firefox finally running, but instead of executing just 'firefox', i had to execute 'bash firefox', it might sound very silly, but why is that? i bet it's a newbie question.

also, how can i get a link in the desktop to execute 'bash firefox'? i just tried putting that in the command line of the link but did not work.

thanks

[Sebby]

Can anyone help me with the new version of Thunderbird? I followed the Wiki instructions. When I run thunderbird from the command line, it opens Thunderbird 1.5. However, when I now click my Thunderbird icon, nothing opens - running mozilla-thunderbird from the command line gives:

run-mozilla.sh: Cannot execute /opt/thunderbird/mozilla-thunderbird-bin.

I think I've messed up the symbolic links, but I don't really know how to fix it.

[swmiller6]

This thread is still about Firefox 1.5 right?

I have been unable to in my limited Linux knowledge to figure this out, can you please point me to the person or place I should post this error message?

/opt/firefox/run-mozilla.sh: line 159: 8731 Floating point exception"$prog" ${1+"$@"}

I have tried the wiki method and also used the automatix script and both turn up the same error message. Could this have something to do with the Easyubuntu script? I used that to install the media playback mess and nvida drivers...

[mrcanard]

The install didn't go exactly as per the HOWTO.
However it was close enough that Firefox 1.5 is up and running on this machine.
Thanks,

[pcatiprodotnet]

I can't get Java to work with this either. I tried everything suggested here several times. Note, This is a fresh install with Automatix.

After running ./install_firefox I got this error message:

/lib/i386/libjavaplugin_nscp.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

[arnieboy]

I can't get Java to work with this either. I tried everything suggested here several times. Note, This is a fresh install with Automatix.

After running ./install_firefox I got this error message:

/lib/i386/libjavaplugin_nscp.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
try installing firefox 1.5 with automatix 4.0

[pcatiprodotnet]

Ok, I finally got Java working. This fix may only apply to those who installed Java with Automatix v3.5 or less.
I needed to make a little change to arnieboy's suggested fix:

sudo rm -f /opt/firefox/plugins/libjava*

ORIGINAL:
sudo ln -s /usr/local/jre1.5.0_05/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /opt/firefox/plugins/

CHANGED:
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/j2re1.5-sun/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /opt/firefox/plugins/

works great. Now lets see what new goodies are in Automatix 4.0 :)

> hey thanks for that pcatiprodotnet
Your welcome, I hope this helps the others above.

[arnieboy]

Ok, I finally got Java working.
I needed to make a little change to arnieboy's command:

WAS:
sudo ln -s /usr/local/jre1.5.0_05/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /opt/firefox/plugins/

NOW:
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/j2re1.5-sun/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /opt/firefox/plugins/

works great. Now lets see what new goodies are in Automatix 4.0 :)
hey thanks for that pcatiprodotnet.. that had slipped my notice. infact the same bug had crept into automatix version 4.0.. corrected it now. thanks a lot :)

[unwoken]

This is what u need to do:
mv ~/.mozilla ~/.mozilla-1.5
sudo rm -f /usr/bin/firefox /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/firefox /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox

now run firefox as usual from menu

thank you very much arnieboy. i'm at work now, but will do as you suggested when i get home. i appreciate the help.

uw.

[NunoCorreia]

I didn't read the rest of thread because it was big so I don't know if this has been addressed yet, but after installing FF with the script (which went great, good work ;)) code fields - like those frequently used here to represent commands - appear blank. Although I'm able to select the text and paste somewhere else to see what it is, that's a PITA :???:

Has anyone seen this happen yet and was able to solve it?
Solved. Try selecting a different font setting for Monospace in Preferences.

[ubuntu27]

Need help :( ok, firefox installed fine. I can install Extension like I always do from my user account (the first account), but the rest of the user accoun can't install any extensiosn at all. I don't remember the error that gives me.. I think it was chromo something...

ah.. and that chromo error keep apearing even in my account each time I install new extensions :shock:
so... no solutions, no ideas? :(

[spockrock]

thanks this worked perfectly

[unwoken]

so... no solutions, no ideas? :(

from what i read here the chrome error appears on first reload after every extension install (happened to me also). i think that is not necessarily a problem, but it shouldn't happen apart from that.

can't offer anything on your other issue, but maybe others can help there.

[5-HT]

Hi, thanks for the How To.

Just wondering about what the dpkg-divert step does though?

I've read the man page, but if Firefox 1.5 is not being backported to Breezy... I'm wondering if the dpkg-divert is no longer needed, and if using it may cause problems if updates are available in the repos for Firefox 1.0.7 (which I've kept installed)?

Thanks for anyone who can shed some light on this.

[galderz]

has anyone uninstalled Firefox 1.0x after installing Firefox 1.5 following this how-to? If so, how have you done it in order to avoid messing things up?

many thanks

[Darkness3477]

G'day, I've tried install it exactly how it says too. I've downloaded the file and put it in my home directory, then why i type the command sudo cp firefox-1.5.tar.gz /opt i get this error warning --cp: cannot stat `firefox-1.5.tar.gz': No such file or directory

Why is this happening? I really would like firefox 1.5 because right now, i just have the default one that comes with 5.10 and it really sucks.

[Sebby]

Are you sure that's the exact filename of the file you downloaded?

[foxy123]

G'day, I've tried install it exactly how it says too. I've downloaded the file and put it in my home directory, then why i type the command sudo cp firefox-1.5.tar.gz /opt i get this error warning --cp: cannot stat `firefox-1.5.tar.gz': No such file or directory

Why is this happening? I really would like firefox 1.5 because right now, i just have the default one that comes with 5.10 and it really sucks.
what does 'ls' say?

[ndhskp]

How do you run the new Firefox 1.5 along side the old version 1.0.7. I want to be able to run both versions simultaneously so I can make various comparison.

I installed my Firefox 1.5 this way.

/home/username/firefox

I told the profile.ini file located in /.mozilla to look to /home/username/.Firefox15/mozilla/firefox/ffjsqsgq.default for the profile.

That takes care of the profile issue. However I need to move or rename the .mozilla.ubuntu backup for the 1.0.7 version so that 1.0.7 does not rain terror down on 1.5. The problem is both look to /.mozilla to see where a moved profile has gone so merely moving a profile does not work.

I created a desktop launcher for 1.5 and left the Gnome bar & menu Firefox the way it was meaning they launch 1.0.7. And no I did not do divert because I want 1.0.7 as the default. So i'm trying to maintain 1.0.7 as the default and if I want to run 1.5 I click on the desktop launcher.

Anybody know how I can do this?

[tomski]

try this:
sudo rm -f /opt/firefox/plugins/libjava*
sudo ln -s /usr/local/jre1.5.0_05/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /opt/firefox/plugins/


i tried this restarted FF1.5 and java still is not listed in about:plugins i have the latest java
output of java-version :

java version "1.5.0_05"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_05-b05)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_05-b05, mixed mode, sharing)

i then run :

sudo rm -f /opt/firefox/plugins/libjava*
sudo ln -s /usr/local/jre1.5.0_05/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /opt/firefox/plugins/


i even rebooted & still nothing
any other pointers

[arnieboy]

i tried this restarted FF1.5 and java still is not listed in about:plugins i have the latest java
output of java-version :

java version "1.5.0_05"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_05-b05)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_05-b05, mixed mode, sharing)

i then run :

sudo rm -f /opt/firefox/plugins/libjava*
sudo ln -s /usr/local/jre1.5.0_05/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /opt/firefox/plugins/


i even rebooted & still nothing
any other pointers

do the following:
sudo rm -f /opt/firefox/plugins/libjava*
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/j2re1.5-sun/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so /opt/firefox/plugins/

This will solve your java problem in firefox.
the post of mine that u used had a typo in it. my bad.

[tomski]

bingo

cheers arnieboy

damn typos gte everone eh

[PapaWiskas]

Arnieboy......
Thanks for all the hard work...it worked great.....

I am so glad I dumped that other OS.....

[nozdormu]

i've got some issues with firefox, like blinking bookmarks (it is difficult to explain, you open bookmarks menu and hover mouse over any bookmark folder, instead to expand the folder, its blinking, so you have to click and then click on the bookmark... it is messy, anyway it never happened with 1.07), so I was hoping to get it sorted in a 'proper' install. (it may be my wm theme although or anthing like that).

The main reason I am looking forward for official package is that I want to compile moztrabiff extension for 1.5 and need firefoox development package.

I just wanted to bring this back up. Both this blinking menu problem and the long delay when opening a save dialog the first time are fixed in the nightlies. These were really driving me crazy, so I just downloaded the 12-21-2005 Linux nightly build from here: http://www.squarefree.com/burningedge/.

Since I had used the FirefoxNewVersion wiki page to upgrade to 1.5, all I needed to do was backup my Firefox folder (the one in /opt/) and untar+unzip the new version (1.6a1) into /opt/. I then copied my plugins over.

Also, be sure to make a backup of your profile just in case. Some extensions may say they are out of date so I just manually bumped up the version to 1.6 in the install.rdf files, but those Nightly Tester Tools may work (I haven't used them). I also recommend turning off automatic updates since all I really needed was these two bugs fixed and I don't want to deal with future breakage. Everything seems to be going fine now, and if you can live with Firefox still being called Deer Park Alpha 2 for some reason, then you may want to try it.

[sudokubuntu]

Yeah! This one worked nice with my Debian based DeMuDi too. That's cool.

[The Warlock]

Hey, I'm just wondering why the wiki says that the deb package is non-free. Firefox is licensed under the MPL, correct? That's a Free Software license; both the OSI and the FSF have said so. Why the warning at the bottom?

[OtubrabNad]

Very good and very fast, but it doesnt seem to have imported my profile... Any ideas?
I have the same problem. On the advise of a friend, rather than following the tutorial, I used the installer script http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.p...1&d=1134350656 from the thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ht=firefox+1.5 to install version 1.5. This didn't restore my profile, so someone on this forum suggested that I look at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion

After executing the following commands from the wiki (and not following the prior directions I might add):
cd ~/.mozilla/firefox
mkdir ff1.5
mv profiles.ini *.default ff1.5/
cp ~/.mozilla.ubuntu//firefox/profiles.ini .
cp -r ~/.mozilla.ubuntu//firefox/*.default .
I recieved this message:
cp: cannot stat `/home/hal/.mozilla.ubuntu//firefox/profiles.ini': No such file or directory
which messed Firefox up even more. The Flash plugin no longer plays sound and the font on webpages doesn't look as "pretty". My question is, how do I restore my old profile? I've noticed that the subdirectories 7alfwddg.default and emr48nez.default are in ~/.mozilla/firefox. Also 56qy6ilq.default is in ~/.mozilla/firefox/.mozilla_backup/firefox. I believe these three default files have something to do with my old profile if that helps.

[ricardo]

Hi!

Using the instructions of this thread, I installed FF1.5 perfectly. But I have one problem: the display resolution doesn't work.

I go into Edit -> Preferences -> Contents -> Fonts & colors -> Advanced -> Display resolution, and try with 72 dpi, 96 dpi, etc... without any result.

With the FF1.0.7 from Ubuntu, this option works perfectly.

Anyone knows how to activate it?

Thanks a lot.

[Freddy]

Hi could anybody tell me how te remove this version completely, the boot time for this firefox is horrific and I have some other problems too. /// Freddan

[Nunsta]

Hi could anybody tell me how te remove this version completely, the boot time for this firefox is horrific and I have some other problems too. /// Freddan

Yeah, I'm with you on this one.

[Freddy]

I've kind of solved the boot up time for this Firefox in Kubuntu though.
I used "firefox %u" to start it up and things seem to happen alot faster. Still wan't to remove it from the system though, it still feels sort of unstable for me. /// Freddan

[Humanoid]

I built my own .deb file. Works fine if you remove Firefox 1.07 before installing this one. Give it a try: http://www.students.oamk.fi/~t3vasa02/ubuntu/

The other file is the latest vlc with gtk2 support.. don't mind about that ;P

[dudus]

I built my own .deb file. Works fine if you remove Firefox 1.07 before installing this one. Give it a try: http://www.students.oamk.fi/~t3vasa02/ubuntu/

The other file is the latest vlc with gtk2 support.. don't mind about that ;P

I just can't remove 1.07 couse of the dependencies

[shof2k]

Thanks Arnieboy, worked a treat!

I only had 2 minor snags. I had to reapply your flash workaround, and I had to edit the /res folder to add in the nicer firefox widgets. Perhaps this could be added to the script?

roll on firefox 1.7!!!!! :)

[arnieboy]

Thanks Arnieboy, worked a treat!

I only had 2 minor snags. I had to reapply your flash workaround, and I had to edit the /res folder to add in the nicer firefox widgets. Perhaps this could be added to the script?

roll on firefox 1.7!!!!! :)
not everyone likes the "nice widgets", hence not included.
yes the script does not implement the flash workaround that i had devised because it doesnt work for everyone.

[MihaiM]

It is just me or after the 1.5 update the web links in gaim don't automatically open in Firefox anymore?

[Gooks]

It crashed on me how can i fix this? I am using the mozilla browser now.. I want to get back to the other mozilla browser the Firefox 1 can somebody help?

[quonsar]

It is just me or after the 1.5 update the web links in gaim don't automatically open in Firefox anymore?

i don't know about Gaim, but i noticed that desktop shortcuts no longer launched firefox on my system after installing 1.5. i did some snooping around and noticed that the URL handler for http/https is specified as "mozilla-firefox", but when i typed that in a terminal i got an error from run-mozilla.sh:

run-mozilla.sh: Cannot execute /opt/firefox/mozilla-firefox-bin.

checking in /opt/firefox i found that indeed there was no such file, there is, however, a file named firefox-bin. i made a link like so:

sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox-bin /opt/firefox/mozilla-firefox-bin

now desktop shortcuts work as expected! i'll bet this solves your Gaim problem too - give it a shot.

[cimi]

from swiss :thanks,danke,merci ,grazie!!

:) :p

[wakingeden]

Can you please give me the command(s) to undo everything the script did?
I did everything as stated then I was asked for my password....I did not :repeat: did not sudo the command so I went ahead and gave it my password (stupid mistake).....anyways it installed as root and I want to undo the mistake I made by simply undoing everything, if this is possible please post.

~wakingeden~

[calamari]

Hey, I'm just wondering why the wiki says that the deb package is non-free. Firefox is licensed under the MPL, correct? That's a Free Software license; both the OSI and the FSF have said so. Why the warning at the bottom?

It is my understanding that some of the FF graphics (icons, etc), are not free to distribute (there are free substitutes). So, I called it non-free, since the FF download comes straight from the firefox site. If I'm wrong about this please let me know.

[simber]

arnieboy, one little question, how do i change the language of the browser to spanish ?

[Il_Tuo_Nome]

That script rox, thank you ArnieSir:)

[tomash_cz]

Hello everyone,
I did all according to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion to install firefox 1.5, but in the end when I started firefox using command 'firefox', there was only following error:

/opt/firefox/run-mozilla.sh: line 131: 8786 Segmentation fault "$prog" ${1+"$@"}

Could anyone give me a suggestion (i am a real linux-beginner :confused: )

Thanx!

[lonetree]

Hello everyone,
I did all according to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion to install firefox 1.5, but in the end when I started firefox using command 'firefox', there was only following error:

/opt/firefox/run-mozilla.sh: line 131: 8786 Segmentation fault "$prog" ${1+"$@"}

Could anyone give me a suggestion (i am a real linux-beginner :confused: )

Thanx!
same question again, do you have SCIM installed? I have the same problem, same error message like yours and I found out that it is due to SCIM, chinese input etc.

[tomash_cz]

Yes, I have SCIM installed for chinese input... is it there some way how to go over it?

[erik-the-red]

I really wish there was, because I have that exact same problem with SCIM.

[tomash_cz]

Really big thanx to lonetree, i found his thread
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=572813#post572813

it really works!!! :):)

for total beginners (like me) - be sure u edit the right link in /usr/bin/, because my starter is /usr/bin/firefox, so i did
sudo gedit /usr/bin/firefox and then continue according to lonetree solution

Thanx again!

[lonetree]

I'm afraid that is not a total solution yet. It only disable SCIM with FF1.5. You will notice that you will not be able to input other languages in it. I just hope that SCIM developers will soon find a way to resolve this.

:-)

for the moment, FF 1.5 will still work as long as you disbale SCIM.

cheers all and have a Happy New Year.

regards,

[hericus]

I prefer using Opera/1.07 myself, there are way too many exploits against 1.5 as I've discovered to my own detriment.

[Sebby]

I prefer using Opera/1.07 myself, there are way too many exploits against 1.5 as I've discovered to my own detriment.
Just out of interest, like what?

[Stroganoff]

Hello,

I'm using Kubuntu 5.10 with Firefox 1.5, I installed Ff the way this thread suggested.
The problem is: The built-in download manager of Firefox is not able to open my applications anymore. When I click on "Downloads are saved in [Downloads]" it should open Konqueror with my download-directory. When I double-click on any of the finished downloads, it should open the appropriate program. But instead nothing happens.

How can I get that to work again?

[rth]

I get the following:
(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: locale not supported by Xlib

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: cannot set locale modifiers

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gtk-WARNING **: /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.4.0/engines/libclearlooks.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: locale not supported by Xlib

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: cannot set locale modifiers

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gtk-WARNING **: /usr/lib/gtk-2.0/2.4.0/engines/libclearlooks.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Gdk-WARNING **: Error converting from UTF-8 to STRING: Conversion from character set 'UTF-8' to 'ISO-8859-1' is not supported

(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-WARNING **: /usr/lib/pango/1.4.0/modules/pango-basic-fc.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Failed to load Pango module for id: 'BasicScriptEngineFc'
(firefox-bin:3960): Pango-CRITICAL **: _pango_engine_shape_shape: assertion `PANGO_IS_FONT (font)' failed

Pango-ERROR **: file shape.c: line 75 (pango_shape): assertion failed: (glyphs->num_glyphs > 0)
aborting...
Warning: locale not supported by Xlib, locale set to C
Warning: X locale modifiers not supported, using default
/opt/firefox/run-mozilla.sh: line 131: 3960 Aborted "$prog" ${1+"$@"}

I am using en-GB in Ubuntu and I downloaded that version from the Mozilla web site. Not sure why that should matter... On 5.10 AMD64.

Edit:
Never mind. Found a workaround here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=90106

I install linux32 and recreate the ln -s for Firefox and it now seems to work.

[NeoChaosX]

Hello,

I'm using Kubuntu 5.10 with Firefox 1.5, I installed Ff the way this thread suggested.
The problem is: The built-in download manager of Firefox is not able to open my applications anymore. When I click on "Downloads are saved in [Downloads]" it should open Konqueror with my download-directory. When I double-click on any of the finished downloads, it should open the appropriate program. But instead nothing happens.

How can I get that to work again?
That's funny, because it never has worked, even with the older Ubuntu packages, in KDE. It only opens the folder if you have Nautilus open, and I'm sure you don't want the folder manager from another DE just to get one function.

[tripleee]

For us amd64 users it would be nice if you could also include a link to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxAMD64FlashJava (which should probably be better coordinated with this guideline), perhaps with a small explanation that there is no amd64 version on mozilla.com (as it's apparently now called).

I bet some of the "didn't work for me" reports you see posted here are from amd64 users who didn't know how to proceed. For an example of what it looks like, http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=84975 is illustrative.

For the record, I'm seeing good performance improvements with 1.5 here, although not as impressive as I had hoped. I'm a tab junkie (something like 5 Firefox windows with 20 tabs in each right now) and that really bogs down Firefox. But it's no longer keeping the CPU load constantly over 90% so that's already a huge improvement, and the memory leak bugs should be fixed so the memory footprint should at least in principle be less horrendous.

Couple of minor nits:

Just to make it flow nicely you might want to add something like this before the "touch" command:

sudo mkdir -p /opt/firefox/extensions/talkback@mozilla.org

There is no reason to make a copy of the tar.gz file. Tar can cope with a full pathname just fine. I can see how copying and then removing the file might make things simpler to explain, but technically, it's not necessary.

In the chown command, you could use ${USER}:${USER} instead of the literal username to make the command line usable verbatim.

Since so many people ask about the dpkg-divert, and/or seem to manage to get it wrong (symptom: "firefox" command doesn't work, or starts the wrong version), perhaps you could try to explain what it does in some more detail. (Diversions are a way to tell Debian / Ubuntu to use a different file, or version of a file, than what was installed with the system)

[dcstar]

I did the upgrade without using the full wiki instructions, what I did was:


First download the latest Linux package from the Firefox site
Installed it in /usr/local
Ran /usr/local/firefox/firefox for the first time (it picked up all my existing bookmarks and extensions)
Upgraded Extensions as required
Removed incompatible Extensions
Manually copied all of my plug-in .so files from my existing 1.07 install to the new 1.5 Plugin directory (I could have created links, but I just copied the full files)
Created a new desktop shortcut with /usr/local/firefox/firefox as the command (which was then dragged to my top panel)

One issue I had was with the Spellbound (http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/download) extension, I had to uninstall the existing incompatible Mozilla Spellcheck libraries and then install the "Mozilla spell check libraries for Firefox 1.0+" version, then I was able to install my dictionary again and return this handy function to full operation under FF 1.5.

Edit: A new version of Spellbound that works with 1.5.0.1 is available at:

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=351130&postdays=0&postorder=asc&postsperpage=15&start=0

So far it all seems to work well, and it is faster than 1.07 on my system (which still runs).

[veloct]

Running 1.5 in windows and linux is really no different. If you use the profile for 1.0.7 with 1.5 it will cause a lot of issues. Before I installed 1.5 per the guide, I backed up my bookmars and then deleted the 1.0.7 profile. Then I installed 1.5 in /opt and I did the same thing with thunderbird 1.5, I've had zero issues.

[Onos]

I am really starting to pull my hair out on this, almost ready to give up and use FF 1.07 until Dapper Drake.

Most likely it is a PBKAC (Problem Between Keyboard And Chair) and I simply lack the experience to know where I messed it up.

I followed the HOWTO up til the step where it says to test it by entering firefox in the terminal... and it only loaded version 1.07.

I am using Xubuntu (Xfce4) on i686 machine.

I do not have gnome installed as a desktop environment, nor do I have KDE... my machine is a slow as tar Celeron, 1100 MHz.

I use uim / uim-anthy since I need Japanese input. I read how scim tends to break under FF 1.5, so I made sure any and all instances of it were scrubbed from the machine.

Per the wiki, I have installed:

libstdc++5

When I tried to do this step:

cd ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default
mkdir ~/Desktop/ffsettings
cp bookmarks.html cert8.db cookies.txt formhistory.dat key3.db signons.txt history.dat mimeTypes.rdf ~/Desktop/ffsettings

it will not allow me to create this ffsettings subdirectory, even when I use sudo -.

Since I figured this is only for settings that I can reset later in the would be install of FF 1.5, I passed this step after trying it a few times without any results.


This seems to have worked, but I did not have libtotem_mozilla.* installed.


cd /opt/firefox/plugins/
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins/* .
sudo rm libtotem_mozilla.*

This seems to have worked (it did not throw any errors) :

sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/firefox
sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox

And so, when did this in terminal:

firefox

FF 1.07 came up, with the default ubuntu home page (instead of my normal homepage that I had set to Google.

What am I missing?

Since I do not have gnome or KDE installed, is it safe for me to completely remove FF 1.07 and try to install FF 1.5 ?

[Onos]

やった！

Looks like removing FF 1.07 in its entirety has worked... the only thing that unnerves me a tad was when synaptic removed xubuntu-desktop, but apparently that is not needed.

[Yleeyas]

Being a newbie, I followed the wiki instructions "blindly" , and everything worked as advertised. Thanx for this excellent doc.

What I'd like to do is reverse the line;
#

If you want to keep the original Ubuntu icon for firefox, enter this command:

sudo cp /usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.xpm /opt/firefox/chrome/icons/default/default.xpm


#

and use the Moz Firefox icon. Can I just reverse the copy, or will I step on something?

Also, (and this might be a FF thing) in my Windoze version of FF1.5 the 'options' settings are at the bottom of the 'Tools' menu, while this version has the 'preferences' settings (same as options) at the bottom of the 'Edit' menu. I've got all the same extensions in both, so I don't think it's a function of one of those. Can someone confirm, deny or clarify the difference?

Yleeyas (newbie)

[Onos]

やった！

Looks like removing FF 1.07 in its entirety has worked... the only thing that unnerves me a tad was when synaptic removed xubuntu-desktop, but apparently that is not needed.

](*,)

Ack. I found out that FF 1.5 will work without xubuntu-desktop package... but removing it hoses any desktop background, and the right-click context sensitive menus in the desktop area.

I tried re-installing the xubuntu-desktop package + mozilla (package for FF 1.07) but to no avail.... I now have a brown, icky screen.

I guess my best bet will be either to tough it out for another six months until Dapper Drake, or suffer the wrath of bloat-age from KDE or gnome.

[Onos]

Found a fix for this, courtesy of Sapo ... pressing ALT + F2 and then typing xfdesktop seems to have brought my background and context back to life.

[ariel]

I just wanted to bring this back up. Both this blinking menu problem and the long delay when opening a save dialog the first time are fixed in the nightlies. These were really driving me crazy, so I just downloaded the 12-21-2005 Linux nightly build from here: http://www.squarefree.com/burningedge/.

Since I had used the FirefoxNewVersion wiki page to upgrade to 1.5, all I needed to do was backup my Firefox folder (the one in /opt/) and untar+unzip the new version (1.6a1) into /opt/. I then copied my plugins over.

Also, be sure to make a backup of your profile just in case. Some extensions may say they are out of date so I just manually bumped up the version to 1.6 in the install.rdf files, but those Nightly Tester Tools may work (I haven't used them). I also recommend turning off automatic updates since all I really needed was these two bugs fixed and I don't want to deal with future breakage. Everything seems to be going fine now, and if you can live with Firefox still being called Deer Park Alpha 2 for some reason, then you may want to try it.

I fixed this one in another way.
First I tried with with Deer Alpha2 and it made such a mess with my extensions and stuff, that i rolled back.
I downloaded the latest 1.5 branch official build, which i found in:

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla1.8/

I think they integrated the patch for the bug in it, because all my problems vanished. Also you can simply download the binary and extract it directly over /opt/firefox, it keeps your profile, extensions etc. This did the trick for me.
Ariel

[fishfork]

Couple of minor nits:

etc.


tripleee, you seem to have lots of good ideas for the page. Why not register for the Wiki and make the changes yourself? I will add them myself when I get time, but I'm a little busy at the moment. Please do feel free to edit the page; this goes for anyone with something to contribute.

If you look around, there are some useful Wiki pages with tips on getting started with editing that might help you. Good luck!

[Tosa]

Thanks for the script. Everything went like charm.

I did have the issue with left lock file, but that is due to FF not the script.

I really admire the time and effort you must be putting in the whole thing...

[Paool]

Hi :)

In KDE my Firefox 1.5 is running fine, but in fvwm when i run 'firefox' command, version 1.0.7 starts :/

how to make 1.5 default in fvwm?

[Frank Golden]

Hi Guys,
Was looking for way to update my version of Breezy Badger to FF 1.5 when I stumbled on you site. Got more than I bargained for, very cool!!!. Just what this newbie needed. Got Ubuntu set up on a 80 GB HD in my notebook (dual boot with XP Pro) almost everything works great now. Again thanks.

[Danielle]

hi, i have only read the first 4/5 pages of this thread sorry :( can i ask - if i use Automatix to install 1.5 are there the problems with libgecko, yelp and lost bookmarks which i read the script had problems with, not because of the script but because of firefox? i've never used Automatix but i'd like to try it out :smile:

[foxiness]

i can not get flash work ,

install it from synaptic flash-mozilla or by hand its the same ... opera epiphany its the same ,,,

ls /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins/
flashplayer.xpt mplayerplug-in-qt.so mplayerplug-in-wmp.so
libflashplayer.so mplayerplug-in-qt.xpt mplayerplug-in-wmp.xpt
libmozilla_bonobo.so mplayerplug-in-rm.so mplayerplug-in.xpt
mplayerplug-in-gmp.so mplayerplug-in-rm.xpt
mplayerplug-in-gmp.xpt mplayerplug-in.so


-----------------

ls -li /opt/firefox/plugins
1819497 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 32 2006-01-14 15:33 /opt/firefox/plugins -> /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins

[polkadotchickens]

ok, so i followed the wiki and it seems to work ok. problem: none of my bookmarks and settings and plugins imported. i'm new at this and i might could figure it out but i'm really afraid i'll break something. so far in trying ot fix it i've already killed it, but luckily undid everything that killed it, got it back to the original non-remembering my stuff state. help?

[polkadotchickens]

nevermind, i got it!

woo! go newbie!

[tripleee]

tripleee, you seem to have lots of good ideas for the page. Why not register for the Wiki and make the changes yourself?

Did so. Thanks for the nice words.

I could not quickly find out how to properly link to a page with a weird name so the link to FirefoxAMD64FlashJava looks like an external link. I guess anybody who is competent to fix that should go ahead.

[kbunsie]

I'm kinda new to Ubuntu and Linux and was just wondering why we can't just install Firefox 1.5 to /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox instead of /opt/firefox. When installing plugins I noticed that they get downloaded to the previous and not the latter even when I'm not using Synaptic. Also /opt/ seems to be owned by root and it causes my extensions to break. Would there be a problem with Synaptic if i installed 1.5 the way I mentioned? If that is or is not the case then I think the Wiki should be rewritten to reflect this.

[HJB]

Very good howto!
Thanks for the work!!!:KS

[Azion]

Great guide, worked perfect

[neoflight]

i followed the howto and wiki....

and my ff1.5 is still giving me trouble...i uninstalled 1.0.7 using synaptic..
i 'was' using ff1.5 from automatix and was experiencing much trouble. then i came across this howto and wiki and managed to get a new installation from mozilla...but i dont know how to remove the 'old' ff1.5 installation...

here is a snapshot of cnn front page...if u can see to the left of the page where the fonts are all messed up.....

the other thing is that sometimes if i have more than 5 or 6 tabs open then the horizontal width of the browser window goes to infinity as opposed to getting the fonts and stuff justified inside the viewing area....

help me....

[neoflight]

here is the proof of the second problem i was explaining...it happend just now with only a single tab...!!!!
look how the page is cut from the right side...there is now way i can rectify this otherthan to restart FF and copy the link?

[PuNGS]

It worked perfectly for me... I've never seen this error or something similar...

[Rhino1]

I managed to follow the Wiki all the way through to the start "firefox" from the terminal. Firefox did initially start, I viewed the new screen, it told me I was offline. I clicked File>Quit. obviously,I did something wrong... When I try to start Firefox 1.5 it tells me "Firefox is still running, and not responding, Please close Firefox or restart your computer" No joy! I rebooted the computer several times with no effect, still get the same message. I followed the removal scripts at the bottom of the Wiki (actually cut & pasted into my terminal) and am able to return quickly to Firefox 1.0.7. Any help would be appreciated.:confused:

[dimension user]

Does anybody know when firefox 1.5 will be added to the repos for (semi) automatic install? It'd be nice to have an even easier 1-click install for beginners from synaptic.

[Rory]

I believe you can install 1.5 from Automatix, although I've heard of issues with that, too. See: http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu#Installing_additional_software_.28Automatix .29

You may want to simply try installing again from the wiki, hoping the problem doesn't crop up again. The good thing about that is that you will then be able to get updates for it directly from Mozilla, rather than having to depend on the Ubuntu repos.

Sad, really. Azureus is also not available on any of the repos. I find it odd that such core programs aren't getting in to the official or unofficial repos. I think there are some priority askew as we see Ubuntu develop.

R.

[breezyfox]

Hi
just copied and pasted from how to guide. worked great. no errors. did't even backup my old profile. perfect guide.

bz

[bsantos]

The mozilla.org version does't read /etc/mozilla-firefox stuff. DSP isn't in the run scripts.

To have sound with aoss I changed the run-mozilla.sh to state the following when running the actual mozilla (firefox-bin) binary:

(...)
## Run the program
##
BIN=$prog
URL=${1+"$@"}
PROG="$BIN $URL"
if [[ $PROG == "/opt/firefox/firefox-bin" ]]; then
aoss $PROG
else
$PROG
fi
(...)

EDIT: I had to change it to regard when firefox is already running, now it should work well.

When is this voodoo scripting mozilla is using for so long being dropped? :evil:


Cheers.

[tmahmood]

hi!
I don't get it! Why do you go through so much trouble! am I missing something!?
this is what I do to make FF1.5 working...

Download the tar.gz file from mozilla website...
first rename the old firefox in the bin to something else
sudo mv /usr/bin/firefox firefox-old
this will extract all the files in a folder named firefox
tar -xf firefox-1.5.tar.gz
make a directory named firefox in the /usr/share/ (expecting there is no directory named firefox there)
sudo mkdir /usr/share/firefox
copy all the files in firefox to /usr/share/firefox/
sudo cp -r firefox/* /usr/share/firefox/
now cd to /usr/share/firefox/
cd /usr/share/firefox
make a symbolic link to firefox.sh
sudo ln -s /usr/share/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox

done! all your bookmarks & settings are available.. any extensions, themes you have installed in your user directory are also available. don't forget to install libstd++ 5

and if you want to use auto-update in the firefox then you need to start FF in super user mode..

sudo firefox

if I am missing something let me know
bye

[DougInKY]

Thank you very much for your clear instructions. It saved me worrying that I might have problems manually installing Firefox 1.5.0.1 although I have manually installed it many times over the years in Mandrake/Redhat/Fedora. Turns out to work the same. Somehow I was just sure that Ubuntu/Debian would be different. I get caught every once in a while by the little differences between the distros. I swear that I hear chuckles and a "gotcha' from somewhere far off in developer land each time this happens. ;)

Doug in Kentucky

[artik]

Important notice on FF Update:

I've tryed to update FF 1.5 to FF 1.5.0.1 using suggested method

sudo firefox

It worked but afterwards I had someproblems. They where result of changing owner of several files in profile to root:root

In order to fix this I should run a command afterwards

sudo chown -R ~/.mozilla

Please update WiKi,
Thanks!

[zodder]

Thanks for a great tutorial. It worked flawlessly for me. This release makes the original ubuntu distro seem like it was running on a 486! :) Much snappier and it loads much, much faster.

[fishfork]

Important notice on FF Update:

I've tryed to update FF 1.5 to FF 1.5.0.1 using suggested method

sudo firefox

It worked but afterwards I had someproblems. They where result of changing owner of several files in profile to root:root

I've changed the instructions to avoid this problem, I think. (please test)

While I'm at it, I can't see any advantages of the third updating method over the second. Does anyone mind if I remove it? (The page is getting a bit long and cumbersome.)

[Rory]

I think it's probably fine to remove the third option.

What we need, however, is a method to be automatically notified an update is available. Then, go sudo to get the update.

That would maintain security but still allow you to be notified when an update is available. The best of both worlds!

By the way, thank you for your instructions. I was really pleased to see 1.5.0.1 present itself for update last week and then to see the Extensions update, as well.

Your instructions worked flawlessly for me. I think it's very useful to be able to update directly from Mozilla when there's an update rather than relying on the Ubuntu package that isn't updated as often. I hope you keep the instructions for Dapper Drake so people will always have the option of getting and updating Firefox directly from Mozilla. I think it's a better security approach for such a critical piece of software. That being said, it would also be nice of Ubuntu package maintainers recognized the central nature of the browser and its security implications and released packages immediately, as Mozilla released them. SuSE maintainers do this.

Thanks!
Rory

[gregcUK]

First off - thanks for the guide, I'm posting this from FF1.5 :)

However, along the way I ran into exactly the same problem as Rhino1:

I managed to follow the Wiki all the way through to the start "firefox" from the terminal. Firefox did initially start, I viewed the new screen, it told me I was offline. I clicked File>Quit. obviously,I did something wrong... When I try to start Firefox 1.5 it tells me "Firefox is still running, and not responding, Please close Firefox or restart your computer" No joy! I rebooted the computer several times with no effect, still get the same message. I followed the removal scripts at the bottom of the Wiki (actually cut & pasted into my terminal) and am able to return quickly to Firefox 1.0.7. Any help would be appreciated.:confused:

After a bit of digging around it looks like something had gone wrong with my profiles folder - basically I had my original bookmarks etc in ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default, but there was also a second profile inside the first one (ie I had ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/*.default), which I guess was confusing Firefox.

As I was unsure exactly where the problem was, I made sure I still had a backup of everything, and deleted everything except pluginreg.dat from ~/.mozilla/firefox/ then started Firefox, which created a new profile from scratch. Then, I just followed the instructions on the wiki for restoring themes and extensions, and everything worked perfectly :D

Oh - and hello by the way. I've visited here a few times before, but this is the first time I've been able to contribute. Hope it makes sense.

[drfalkor]

wtf ? when I go into https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion, I read "Install Windows Problem solved" :neutral:

[towsonu2003]

wtf ? when I go into https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion, I read "Install Windows Problem solved" :neutral:
vandalism by some racist guy.. reverted, try again. if borked again, you could always login / register and revert by yourself to the last known good wiki state ;)
why didn't I get an email for this I wonder - time to check my settings!

[Maniak]

Cheers for the link Fishfork.

Used the upgrade option to go from 1.5 to 1.5.0.1 without drama or issue.

This community is great!

[kenweill]

I just followed the instructions found in the Ubuntu Wiki about installing the New Version of Firefox.

Works just fine.
Typed sudo firefox, then update it to 1.5.0.1

No problem at all.

[towsonu2003]

I just added a new section to the wiki about installing. This (3rd) section is not a proper ubuntu firefox installation but just a quick dirty install. basically, you untar it to your home, move old profile, change file permissions, and run. I used this method to run the nightly trunks until the 1.5.0.1 was issued (bugs annoying me in 1.5.0.0).

If something goes wrong in this section and you know how to fix it, it would be great if you could just correct the wiki :)

[Sokraates]

Firefox 1.5.0.4 is now supported

Upgrading Firefox 1.5 via the menu isn't easy on linux. You need to start Firefox as root to get the menu-option. And then there's a risk, that the ownership of some of you extensions and settings will be changed to root.

Attached you will find the easy solution: Fireupdate

Fireupdate is a simple script, licensed under the GPL, that will use Firefox' own updater to perform the update. That way, only the necessary files will be downloaded and no permissions need to be changed.

Before the update, some safety-checks will be performed and of course a backup of Firefox will be created.

Fireupdate will work with Ubuntu and Kubuntu and should work with Xubuntu and Edubuntu as well.

Attention:
1.) You will need to have Firefox from www.mozilla.com (http://www.mozilla.com) installed to /opt/firefox.
So Fireupdate will not work with the version included in Dapper Drake.
2.) At this time, Fireupdate will update the US-version only.

How to use:
Download the script you need, depending on whether you have Firefox 1.5, 1.5.0.1, 1.5.0.2 or 1.5.0.3 installed.

You can find your version by opening Firefox and clicking on "Help" and "about Firefox".

Then simply extract the tarball to your home directory and doubleclick on "Fireupdate".

Contribution:
Any contribution concerning localization and coding is welcome. Especially for creating a version-check. Please read the comments in the scripts and don't forget to update the information in the main script.

What's new in 1.5.0.4:
Official list of fixed vulnerabilities (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/security/known-vulnerabilities.html#firefox1.5.0.2)


Fireupdate 1.3, from 1.5: 10857

Fireupdate 1.3, from 1.5.0.1: 10858

Fireupdate 1.3, from 1.5.0.2: 10859

Fireupdate 1.3, from 1.5.0.3: 10860

[Sokraates]

Oups! Just noticed that I accidently named the thread "easiliy upgrade Firefox" instead of "easily update Firefox".

Could a moderator please change this? Thanks.

[BoneKracker]

I tried Fasterfox and ditched it. While I didn't do any real tests, I didn't notice any real speed difference, but I did notice it was hogging bandwidth and cpu cycles as it prefetched everything in sight. If everybody used Fasterfox (or Google's prefetching system), I think we'd probably have the opposite effect and actually slow things down by bogging down the circuits with wasted packets full of stuff we never even looked at.

[Sokraates]

For safely updating your Firefox 1.5 (en-US) to 1.5.0.1, look here:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=128806

[cjm5229]

That worked great, I have been trying to figure out how to update firefox every since 1.5.0.1 came out. Thanks.

[manicka]

Could a moderator please change this? Thanks.

np :)

[Robor]

Worked like a charm. Thanks manicka!

NOTE: Make sure you close Firefox before launching the updater.

[Sokraates]

Fireupdate will check, whether Firefox is launched and display a pop-up, if needed.

[dabear]

# For Developers: As you can see, I prefer KDE to GNOME.
# If you know a way to make Fireupdate recognize
# the desktop-manager used, please let me know.

Look at DESKTOP_SESSION environment variable

bjorninge@ubuntuBreezy:~$ env | grep DESKTOP_SESSION
DESKTOP_SESSION=gnome
GNOME_DESKTOP_SESSION_ID=Default

[bierpullen]

Worked like a charm. Thanks \\:D/




------------------------------------------


Acer laptop 1522, 528mb, AMD 64 3000, 64mb Nvidia.
http://www.antarctica-rbak.nl/ubuntu

[towsonu2003]

recently updated the wiki page, so that there is only one way to update, which does not use sudo, thus not causing the file ownership issues in profile in /home when sudo is used to update.

[chris86wm]

thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!! \\:D/

[goombah88]

seems like i'm the only one this didn't work for.

it acted like it was going fine for a while. it downloaded the file, then failed.

14:25:54 (308.83 KB/s) - `firefox-1.5-1.5.0.1.partial.mar' saved [623900]

this is the output in the terminal:

/home/goombah/Desktop/Fireupdate: line 139: 10162 Killed zenity --progress --pulsate --title "Fireupdate" --text "Downloading update. This may take a few moments." (wd: /opt/firefox-update)


any help?

[Technoviking]

I'm having a slight problem.

When trying to run /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox, I get the following
run-mozilla.sh: Cannot execute /opt/firefox/mozilla-firefox-bin.
Even though I have /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox link to /opt/firefox/firefox

/usr/bin/firefox works fine, but thunderbird wants /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox (yes, /usr/bin/firefox is set in Preferred Applications)

Thunderbird is using what 'sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser' point to

When running sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser, I get two choices
Selection Alternative
-----------------------------------------------
* 1 /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
+ 2 /usr/bin/konqueror

Any ideas?

Mike

[towsonu2003]

Thunderbird is using what 'sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser' point to

When running sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser, I get two choices
Selection Alternative
-----------------------------------------------
* 1 /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
+ 2 /usr/bin/konqueror

There is a nice application you could use for solving this, though I'm not sure how good it will work. trying won't hurt, as this is a gui thingy.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install galternatives
gksudo galternativesscroll down to and choose x-www-browser and click on Add, and add whatever application (and whereever it is) you want. let us know, as I am curious about whether this will work. thanks.

[Technoviking]

No joy:(.

Mike

There is a nice application you could use for solving this, though I'm not sure how good it will work. trying won't hurt, as this is a gui thingy.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install galternatives
gksudo galternativesscroll down to and choose x-www-browser and click on Add, and add whatever application (and whereever it is) you want. let us know, as I am curious about whether this will work. thanks.

[udha]

What is going on here is that ubuntu's firefox changed its config to better match windows behavior (middle click closes tab) whereas unix default behavior is middle click loads clipboard contents. The new firefox no longer as the ubuntu specific tweaks.

To change this or any other behavior setting in firefox type this url:

about:config


then search for middlemouse.contentLoadURL
make sure value is set to false.

Neat huh?


THANK YOU!

I had everything else working, but the middle-click close was acting strangly and I didn't know where to turn, I was finding it hard to surf the way I'm used to without the 'middle-click close'

[Sokraates]

Hmmm ... it looks as if the progressbar was killed together with wget. The update mar-file should be about 600 kb.

Try again and if nothing works, see if /opt/firefox-update is created and the files "updater" and "updater.ini" are copied there already (they sould be, if not, copy them manually from /opt/firefox).

Then download the update-file manually, rename it to "update.mar", cd to /opt/firefox and run
/opt/firefox-update/updater /opt/firefox-update 0

[goombah88]

Hmmm ... it looks as if the progressbar was killed together with wget. The update mar-file should be about 600 kb.

Try again and if nothing works, see if /opt/firefox-update is created and the files "updater" and "updater.ini" are copied there already (they sould be, if not, copy them manually from /opt/firefox).

Then download the update-file manually, rename it to "update.mar", cd to /opt/firefox and run
/opt/firefox-update/updater /opt/firefox-update 0


thanks for the help sokraates, but i already got it taken care of. i checked and the latest automatix version 5.4-2 installs firefox 1.5.0.1. the only thing is you have to copy over the bookmark folder and reinstall your extensions.

so for anyone else who used automatix to install firefox 1.5 this may be the route for you.

[Sokraates]

The difference between Fireupdate and Automatix is, that Automatix will perform a new install of Firefox. For safety measures you will have to do some restoring, since Automatix does not know wich version you had installed before.

Fireupdate on the other hand will perform an update from Firefox 1.5 to 1.5.0.1 so you can avoid the restoring. Then again it will only work with Firefox 1.5 from www.mozilla.org. ;)

[cjm5229]

The difference between Fireupdate and Automatix is, that Automatix will perform a new install of Firefox. For safety measures you will have to do some restoring, since Automatix does not know wich version you had installed before.

Fireupdate on the other hand will perform an update from Firefox 1.5 to 1.5.0.1 so you can avoid the restoring. Then again it will only work with Firefox 1.5 from www.mozilla.org. ;)

It worked fine for me, and I installed Firefox with Automatix. \\:D/

[YourSurrogateGod]

Sorry if this was mentioned before, but has anyone had problems with flash?

[Sokraates]

It worked fine for me, and I installed Firefox with Automatix. \\:D/
Automatix uses the tarballs from www.mozilla.com (http://www.mozilla.com) and installs FF to /opt/firefox. So Fireupdate will always work with such an installation.

[Sokraates]

Fireupdate 1.0 is out!

Fireupdate will now work without a terminal. A simple doubleclick will do the trick.

To download the new script, please see the first post in this thread.

[steveneddy]

Why doesn't one open a terminal, open Firefox as Root:

# sudo Firefox

When Firefox opens, go to the "Help" tab on the browser, click the now highlighted "Check for Updates" button, & let Firefox update itself.

After you update Firefox, restart Firefox _again_ as Root:

# sudo Firefox

...so it will "take" the update.

This is the recommended way to update Firefox.

Afgter you are done with the update, close Firefox, close terminal window and open Firefox in the normal fashion. You should have the 1.5.01 Firefox.

[Sokraates]

Why doesn't one open a terminal, open Firefox as Root:
[...]
This is the recommended way to update Firefox.


Nope. It's not recommended, since you risk changing the ownership of your extensions to "root".

The correct way is to start Firefox both times with
sudo firefox -safe-mode
so that no extensions will be loaded.

You are right, in that the update can be done otherwise and through Firefox' menus. But Fireupdate is for all the users who don't want to use a terminal or remember to start Firefox two times as root. Rather they should just click on an icon and be done.

[funchords]

Fireupdate 1.0 is out!

Fireupdate will now work without a terminal. A simple doubleclick will do the trick.

To download the new script, please see the first post in this thread.

Hi there,

Thanks for this. However, this was the first trick I tried after a fresh, default install of 5.10 which comes with Firefox 1.0.7

First question was where to unarchive it? It really didn't seem to matter because all paths (/tmp/* ~/* and even /opt/firefox-updater/*) eventually led to the same result:

/opt/firefox-update/updater: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

So either that's not installed, not in the path, or ... most probably ... pilot error :-)

-- Robb (still trying to get used to sudo in front of everything) ...

[funchords]

Why doesn't one open a terminal, open Firefox as Root:

# sudo Firefox

When Firefox opens, go to the "Help" tab on the browser, click the now highlighted "Check for Updates" button,

Did you mean Help Menu item or Help Tab?

I didn't see a Help Tab, and I didn't see a (button?) on the Help Menu. I did see such a choice in the Edit / Preferences / Advanced menu, but it did not return any updates: Firefox was not able to find any available updates.

This is with the Firefox 1.0.7 version that is installed by default on 5.10.

[Sokraates]

Hi there,

Thanks for this. However, this was the first trick I tried after a fresh, default install of 5.10 which comes with Firefox 1.0.7

First question was where to unarchive it? It really didn't seem to matter because all paths (/tmp/* ~/* and even /opt/firefox-updater/*) eventually led to the same result:

/opt/firefox-update/updater: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

So either that's not installed, not in the path, or ... most probably ... pilot error :-)

-- Robb (still trying to get used to sudo in front of everything) ...
As far as I understand, you don't even have Firefox 1.5 installed. Fireupdate will work with Firefox 1.5 only since older versions didn't even have an update mechanism.

To install Firefox 1.5.0.1 in english, best use Automatix (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=66563), for other languages take look at this excellent HOW-TO (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=79283).

By the way: Fireupdate should be extracted to your home-folder, that is "~/".

[funchords]

Aha! I knew it had to be something simple. Thanks!

[Delphinus]

Nice tutorial, much appreciated, and I notice that 1.5 is quite a bit faster than 1.0.7

BUT
My DNS has since seemed to have broken itself... as a direct result of following these instructions.

I noticed as son as i loaded up FF1.5 for the first time it took a long time to find "google.com" but didn't think much of it, but its been getting mostly worst in the last day.

It has appeared to break things system wide, yet somewhat randomly.
Like nslookup on an address mostly times out, then will randomly start working.
FF will either take a VERY long time to lookup the domain, or time out completely. I'll then refresh and i'll either time out again or work after a little while.
Once its looked up the domain pages within that domain work awesomely fast.
But as soon as i hit another domain, either typing or a link, we have a huge delay again.
Browsers like konqueror have the same error.

This has only started happening since installing 1.5

Any Ideas?
Thanks, Delph

[bman]

I need alot of help here....nothing is working....I followed tutorials..

Can someone, stepbystep explain how to update from 1.07 to 1.5

Abit of a newbie to linux..

[bman]

It says I don't have permission to access /opt

[towsonu2003]

It says I don't have permission to access /opt
don't forget the sudo in:
#

Install it to /opt/firefox:

# extract tar into /opt (you should make sure /opt already exists)
sudo tar -C /opt -x -z -v -f firefox-1.5.0.1.tar.gz
# remove the package if you no longer require it
rm firefox-1.5.0.1.tar.gz

[bman]

it says sudu cant find command or something like that...

[Artificial Intelligence]

It's sudo

[towsonu2003]

it says sudu cant find command or something like that...
pls copy paste what u type and what it says (from the terminal to here)

[YourSurrogateGod]

You can try to install Automatix and have it do what you need for you. (http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu#Installing_additional_software_.28Automatix .29)

[jvnn]

ARGHHH!!
Where the wiki says:

>Try it out: :-)
>firefox

>#Restore your old data:
>cd ~/Desktop/ffsettings
>mv * ~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default

I started firefox from the panel icon, then restored my old data, then closed firefox.
2 guesses what happened to my huge collection of bookmarks!
ARGHHH!!

[dvarsam]

Hello ALL:

This is a gift from ME to ALL of you !!!

Tutorial - How to Install Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1:

For Ubuntu 5.10:

Source:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion

Note:
Even though, the commands found below, are (almost) the same like those found in the above "Source" Internet Page, you will find that it is easier to install "Firefox 1.5.0.1" with the method shown below.

What I basically do, is I create ONE Script file & type ONLY ONE command in the Terminal.

Unfortunately, the method suggested in the above "Source" Internet Page, requires that YOU type each & EVERY command (one-by-one) in the Terminal.

... and if you make any "typo" mistakes:

a. You might mess up everything & an install might NEVER work out for you,

OR:

b. If you are lucky, you are just going to have to retype the command until you get it right.

However, my method is much more better, because if you EVER decide to Format Your Ubuntu again, you will only have to type ONE command, as opposed to many...


So, Here it goes:


Part 1 – Backup your Bookmarks:
Before you start, make sure you Backup your "Bookmarks" or there is a chance that you might loose them...
To do this, perform the following:

1. Launch a Mozilla Firefox window.

2. From the Menu, select "Bookmarks\Manage Bookmarks"

3. From the New window that pops up, from the Menu select "File\Export"

4. Click on the button named "Save" & your "Bookmarks" will be saved on the
Desktop.

Congratulations, your "Bookmarks" Backup (file: "bookmarks.html"), was performed successfully.


Part 2a – Install your Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1:
To Install, perform the following steps:

1. Visit the site:

http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

2. Click on the link named "Download Firefox" to download your Mozilla Firefox
1.5.0.1.
Save it on your Desktop folder (mine is "/home/dimitris/Desktop")

3. From your Ubuntu's Menu, select "Applications\Accessories\Text Editor"

4. From the Text Editor's Menu, select "File\Save As"

5. Delete the name suggested "Unsaved Document 1" & type the name
"installfirefox.sh".

6. Under the "Save in Folder:", instead of "Home" select "Desktop".

7. Click on the button named "Save"

8. Copy & Paste the following text inside your Text Editor opened file (e.g.
"installfirefox.sh").

#!/bin/bash

## How to install the latest Firefox 1.5.0.1 Internet Browser:
##
## Source: "https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion"

## First download the file "firefox-1.5.0.1.tar.gr" to your Desktop.

## Then run this file from the Terminal with the command "sh installfirefox.sh"


cd /

cd /home/dimitris/Desktop


## The following command un-zips your downloaded file to inside your folder
## named "/opt".

sudo tar -C /opt -x -z -v -f firefox-1.5.0.1.tar.gz


cd /

cd /opt/firefox/plugins

## The following command removes "totem-mozilla" because it does NOT
## work with the program you are trying to install (Firefox 1.5).

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins/* .

## For some reason I could NOT remove the following (as required):

# sudo rm libtotem_mozilla.*


cd /

cd /home/dimitris

## Rename your old profile in your "/home/dimitris" directory, leaving it as
## a Backup:


mv .mozilla/firefox .mozilla/firefox1.0.x.ubuntu


## We modify the symbolic link in "/usr/bin", to ensure that the NEW Firefox
## is used as the default version:


## 1. First, we modify the old Firefox in the "/usr/bin/firefox":

sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/firefox

sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox


## 2. Then, we modify the NEW Firefox in the "/usr/bin/mozilla-firefox" (it
## will be used as the default gnome browser):

sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox

sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox


## The "dpkg-divert" command moves the OLD system-wide "/usr/bin/firefox"
## to a new name.

## The "ln" command places a symbolic link to the newly installed Firefox in
## "/usr/bin".


## Congratulations, you have now installed successfully your Mozilla Firefox
## 1.5.0.1 Internet Browser.

## Go & Check it out !

9. In the above part that you Copied & Pasted, you MUST replace wherever you
see the word "dimitris", with YOUR name (e.g. the username you type every
time you boot your computer – mine is "dimitris").

10. When finished, from the Text Editor's Menu, select "File\Save" & then again
"File\Quit".

11. From your Ubuntu's Menu, select "Applications\Accessories\Terminal"

12. Inside the Terminal, type "sudo -i", to get root privileges.

13. Then type your Password.

14. Then type "cd /home/dimitris/Desktop" while replacing the "dimitris" with YOUR
username (e.g. the username you type every time you boot your computer –
mine is "dimitris").

15. Type the command "sh installfirefox.sh" to Run your Script file, named
"installfirefox.sh".

Congratulations, you have successfully installed Firefox 1.5.0.1 in your Ubuntu PC.

To test whether it works OK, launch a Mozilla Firefox window & surf around.
Alternatively, from within your Mozilla Firefox's window select "Help\About Mozilla Firefox".
The version stated in the new window should be v1.5.0.1.


Part 2b - Removing your Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1:
If for some reason you want to undo the installation & revert back to the standard Firefox 1.0.7, perform the following:

1. Part 2: steps 3 & 4.

2. Part 2: step 5, replacing "installfirefox.sh" with "restorefirefox.sh"

3. Part 2: steps 6 & 7.

4. Part 2: step 8, only this time, type the following:

#!/bin/bash

## How to Restore your OLD Firefox Internet Browser:
##
## Source: "https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion"

## Run this file from the Terminal with the command "sh restorefirefox.sh"

cd /

cd /home/dimitris/Desktop


## Restore the symbolic link:

sudo rm /usr/bin/firefox

sudo dpkg-divert --rename --remove /usr/bin/firefox


## Restore your old profile:
## (This is different to what the "Source" Site suggested – the "Source's"
## site version, created errors).

cd /home/dimitris/.mozilla

mv firefox firefox1.5.0.1

mv firefox1.0.x.ubuntu firefox

## (optional) Delete the firefox directory

sudo rm -r /opt/firefox


## Congratulations, you have now Restored successfully your OLD Mozilla
## Firefox Internet Browser.

## Go & Check it out !

5. In the above part that you Copied & Pasted, you MUST replace wherever you
see the word "dimitris", with YOUR name (e.g. the username you type every
time you boot your computer – mine is "dimitris").

6. Part 2: steps 10 - 14.

7. Part 2: step 15, replacing "sh installfirefox.sh" with "sh restorefirefox.sh"

Congratulations, you have successfully removed Firefox 1.5.0.1 from your Ubuntu PC.


Part 3 – Re-install your Bookmarks:
To do this, perform the following:

1. Part 1: steps 1 & 2.

2. Part 1: step 3, replacing "File\Export" with "File\Import"

3. Click on the button named "Next".

4. On the right-hand side, click on the button named "Desktop".

5. Scroll down to locate the file named "bookmarks.html" & select it.

6. Click on the button named "Open".

7. From the Menu, select "File\Close".

Congratulations, you have successfully installed ALL your "Bookmarks" to your Firefox 1.5.0.1 in your Ubuntu PC.


Conclusion:
Backup the files lying on your Desktop:

1. The downloaded Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1 program

2. The file named "installfirefox.sh" you created in this Tutorial

3. The file named "restorefirefox.sh" you created in this Tutorial (if you decided to
remove Firefox 1.5)

4. The file named "bookmarks.html" (your Bookmarks Backup), you created in this
Tutorial.


Advantages:
If you ever have to Format your Hard Drive & Re-install Ubuntu, you only have to perform "Part 2: steps 11-15", to install your Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.1.
At the same time, this Install file ("installfirefox.sh"), would work great if you had to install Firefox 1.5.0.1 on multiple PCs.

That was pretty Quick & Neat, wasn't it?

Note:
You will probably wonder why there is NO ".deb" file to install, from the "Synaptic Package Manager" or from the "Terminal" (with a command like "dpkg -i package_name.deb")...
To learn why, read the following Ubuntu Forum's thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=96595


Have Fun !!!

P.S.1> I hope I have no bad grammar syntax (& repetitions), but I have spent
more than 4 hours to create this...

P.S.2> I would appreciate if somebody has something to Add that corrects me if I
have performed a mistake.

PLEASE do NOT add comments like "thanks dude", or "that's how you do it"
because people that want to read a Tutorial, end up reading comments of
NO Learning value.
Thanks !!!

[VCSkier]

sorry if this is a dumb question, but should future updates work naturally (without fireupdate)? or, should i install fireupdate now just so i can be aware and easily update to future versions? i am currently running version that i installed via Automatix. thanks

[Sokraates]

Updates already work using the menu-option in Firefox. The problem is, that you need to start Firefox as root and run the risk of changing ownership of some files. For details on how to update manually, look here (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion).

Fireupdate currently only updates FF 1.5 to FF 1.5.0.1. For future updates I will need to include a version-check, since it will be possible to update from 1.5 or 1.5.0.1. I just don't how to do it, yet. ;)

On a sidenote: Fireupdate is not installed, but only extracted. So if you remove the folder, Fireupdate is completely gone from your system.

[jvnn]

I'm having problems with flash too.

[kyutums]

I followed the instructions with a new install of Ubuntu 5.10. Firefox works quite well now. However, my bookmarks don't get saved. When I place a bookmark, it's not there anymore when I close and start Firefox again. Any tips on how I can resolve this?

[steveneddy]

Nope. It's not recommended, since you risk changing the ownership of your extensions to "root".

The correct way is to start Firefox both times with
sudo firefox -safe-mode
so that no extensions will be loaded.

You are right, in that the update can be done otherwise and through Firefox' menus. But Fireupdate is for all the users who don't want to use a terminal or remember to start Firefox two times as root. Rather they should just click on an icon and be done.


I stand corrected, thank you.

[steveneddy]

Did you mean Help Menu item or Help Tab?

I didn't see a Help Tab, and I didn't see a (button?) on the Help Menu. I did see such a choice in the Edit / Preferences / Advanced menu, but it did not return any updates: Firefox was not able to find any available updates.

This is with the Firefox 1.0.7 version that is installed by default on 5.10.


OK....Click "Help" and then Click "Check for updates". Does it need to get any easier. And whats the difference anyway. It is a button, no matter what it looks like.

[Sokraates]

There is a difference between a menu-option and a tab. Anyway, funchords' problem was, that he didn't have FF 1.5 installed in the first place. ;)

[Sokraates]

It looks as if the permissions or the ownership have been changed. Take a look at bookmarks.html (I believe thats the name) in your profile. If the ownership is set to "root", change it with
sudo chown -R yourusername:yourusername ~/.mozilla/firefox/yourprofile This will affect the whole profile, since usually a few files are changed.

If you don't have write-permission, type
sudo chmod 660 ~/.mozilla/firefox/yourprofile/bookmarks.html This command will only affect the bookmark-file.

[Benchrest]

Sorry if this has already been addressed, (i read the first 8 pages and probasbly should read the rest) but I installed Firefox 1.5 last night on my laptop. The reason I did was I have FF 1.5 on our other operating system and my wife loves it with a particular theme. The Theme is only availible on 1.5 . I thought it would be good to make Ubuntu look the same for her, besides it being faster. First time I installed it, the firefox command from terminal was not recognized. I backed up through my commands and found a typo. Then it started once, but not again even after reboot it said firefox was already running and I had to stop it before restarting. After some looking I could not find the error so I started the install from after downloading the tar. This time it works. But I could not restore my saved bookmarks etc. Said it could find the file on the desktop. I was looking at my desktop folder and clicked on the ff* folder (don't remember the exact name.) and all of a sudden like I was clicking on things my desktop icons started disappearing one at a time untill they were mostly gone including my FF folder. Not in the trash bin Don't know what happened, but I would guess the directions were ok, just I had to many typo's and something else?

Anyway my question is, would it be possible when a person creates a write up on how to install ff or any other product, a command file of some kind could be created that us senile old folks could down load with all the commands I had to type?Would minimize finger checks and make the installation easier like for that other operating system. I realise it would work if a person had modified their system but most of us that don't know much are pretty stock. Just an idea. It will be tomorrow night before I get back to the laptop, will try to read more post before then.

[Xilon]

I followed through the steps and it worked great!!... the second time :P, but now the Package Manager wants me to "update" to the 1.0.7 ubuntu version... any ideas how to get rid of this? (I'm pretty new to ubuntu btw)

Edit: Seems like some dependencies are broken... ubuntu-desktop, yelp etc need firefox and it shows up as uninstalled :(

[towsonu2003]

Seems like some dependencies are broken... ubuntu-desktop, yelp etc need firefox and it shows up as uninstalled :(
I would say first do these:

cp .mozilla/firefox .mozilla/firefox.backup
# First, /usr/bin/firefox
sudo rm /usr/bin/firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --rename --remove /usr/bin/firefox
# Then, /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox, used as the default gnome browser
sudo rm /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --rename --remove /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox

then let the package manager download firefox 1.0.7 and install it. firefox shouldn't be removed.

then do these:
# First, /usr/bin/firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/firefox
sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
# Then, /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox, used as the default gnome browser
sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox


don't launch firefox in the process. This should fix it, as you will have firefox 1.0.7 installed (for dependencies) as well as 1.5 default browser (for enjoyment).

PS. Almost all commands are from the wiki page.

[Xilon]

I think it worked, thanks a lot! :)

[OfficeLinebacker]

hey guys

I was trying to follow the directiosn here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion

And when I try to install
libstdc++5

,

It asks for the cdrom.

The thing is, after I set up the system, I removed the cdrom and am just running on the HD (need the CDROM to set-up other systems).

How do I get the package manager to not expect there to be a cdrom drive?

Thanks

[towsonu2003]

hey guys

I was trying to follow the directiosn here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion

And when I try to install
libstdc++5

,

It asks for the cdrom.

The thing is, after I set up the system, I removed the cdrom and am just running on the HD (need the CDROM to set-up other systems).

How do I get the package manager to not expect there to be a cdrom drive?

Thanks
Do you have internet connection?

If you have internet connection -> open synaptic, choose options (or similar)>repositories and 'un-check' the first repo, which should mention a cdrom. some of the other repos in that list should be checked so that you can install stuff. search the forums or the wiki for 'package management' for those repos. anyway, assuming you have repos enabled, hit ok than tell it to reload the repos. search for libstdc-blabla and check it to install.

if you do not have internet connection -> you cant install stuff using apt-get unless it's in the cdrom or a local repository. put in the cdrom, make sure it is mounted, and try installing libstdc-blabla again.

[OfficeLinebacker]

I do have internet, I'm posting from the computer now.

Perhaps I can just edit the file? I have already edited the file that apt-get uses to enable multiverse, etc. Can I just comment out the part about cdrom?

[OfficeLinebacker]

OK, got it. Edited sources.list, then followed the directions. Only my bookmarks didn't get imported, but I only had two of interest :)

[firepol]

I followed the guide and installed firefox 1.5.0.1 accordingly. I use Kubuntu Breezy.

My problem is that when I have firefox already open and I click again on the firefox icon, instead of opening a new tab in firefox instance that is already running, it tries to open a new firefox instance. No, worse: it opens a new firefox instance AND it tries to open a new one. So I see my actual firerox instance + a new one + it loads a new one and it takes about 10 seconds or more and the 3rd one is closed at the end.

This is a wrong behaviour.

I configured the firefox "Preferences" > Tabs:

Open links from other applications in: (checked) a net tab in the most recent window

(checked) Force links that open new windows to open in: (checked) a new tab

(checked) Select new tabs opened from links


Expected behaviour:

I expect that if firefox is already open when i click the firefox icon, it will load a new tab in the instance that is already running. I dojn't want the system to load a new firefox instance (a new window).

Did somebody of you experience the same problem? If yes, how to fix it? Should this be reported as firefox bug or it's ubuntu?

[Footer]

Expected behaviour:

I expect that if firefox is already open when i click the firefox icon, it will load a new tab in the instance that is already running. I dojn't want the system to load a new firefox instance (a new window).

Did somebody of you experience the same problem? If yes, how to fix it? Should this be reported as firefox bug or it's ubuntu?

I have FF 1.5 installed and when I click on the FF icon, a new window opens regardless of whether I have another instance of FF open or not. I believe this is expected behavior. Not sure if there's any way to change it or not. But it's Linux so maybe!

:)

[towsonu2003]

I configured the firefox "Preferences" > Tabs:

Open links from other applications in: (checked) a net tab in the most recent window

(checked) Force links that open new windows to open in: (checked) a new tab

(checked) Select new tabs opened from links


Expected behaviour:

I expect that if firefox is already open when i click the firefox icon, it will load a new tab in the instance that is already running. I dojn't want the system to load a new firefox instance (a new window).

Did somebody of you experience the same problem? If yes, how to fix it? Should this be reported as firefox bug or it's ubuntu?
Sorry, that's not exactly wrong behavior... your options work when you click on a link that is supposed to be opened in a new firefox window (except popups via ?javascript?). with your option, if firefox is running, that link will be opened in a new tab in the current firefox.

when you click the firefox icon, you're basically telling the thing to "open a new firefox window", regardless of the options...

it's like right clicking on a link in current firefox and telling the browser to open the link in a new window, when new tab option is selected. It will open a new window :)

[aysiu]

News:
This project has been adopted by nanotube who has greatly improved the script. Here are some of the changes:
1. If there's an error or a failed command, the script quits without executing the other commands
2. The script checks to see if you already have a Firefox settings folder
3. The script checks to see what the latest version of Firefox is (when I first wrote the script, it was 1.5.0.1--as of this revision, it's 1.5.0.3, but the script will check even if it's 1.5.0.4 or 2.0)
4. The script will ask what locale you want (Spain, UK, US, etc.)

nanotube's script can be found here (http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installnewfirefox.sh). Download it to your desktop. Then paste these three commands in the terminal: cd ~/Desktop
chmod +x installnewfirefox.sh
./installnewfirefox.sh

Disclaimers and Context for this HowTo: There are a lot of ways to install the newest Firefox in Ubuntu...

You can install it manually with a lot of copied and pasted commands from this tutorial:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion

There's also Automatix (http://www.getautomatix.com/), which is a little more involved. It installs Firefox but can install a lot more also.

So what does this script do, and how is it different?
Well, first of all, it's a little less invasive than Automatix. It doesn't touch your sources.list. It doesn't really do much at all to your Ubuntu installation. It's not a huge commitment.

It also tries to be as automated as possible but requires a little bit of command-line in the beginning. This gives you the advantage of not having to copy and paste a lot of commands. It gives me the advantage of not having to walk you through pointing here, clicking there, etc.

The script is based on the Wiki Firefox entry, but it's a little bit different. The Wiki Firefox entry tries to back up individual parts of the profile (bookmarks, extensions, etc.) separately. I haven't found this necessary in most cases, so my script basically just backs up the entire Firefox user profile. The uninstall script (in the link below) restores the backup my original script created--not the one from the Wiki.

I also have a slightly easier-to-remember page dedicated to nanotube's script: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/firefox

[CompShrink]

Ah, I was considering making something like this and suggesting adding it to the Breezy addon cd. Do you think it would be a good addition?

[aysiu]

Ah, I was considering making something like this and suggesting adding it to the Breezy addon cd. Do you think it would be a good addition? Sure. Why not?

[Ensnared]

I took the liberty of modifying your scripts so one can do the same thing for installing Thunderbird 1.5 :)

The actual process is just slightly different, the differences are that the old Thunderbird uses ~/.mozilla-thunderbird while the new one uses ~/.thunderbird. This script will create a symlink, ~/.thunderbird, pointing to ~/.mozilla-thunderbird. Also, only one symlink is created in /usr/bin (mozilla-thunderbird). There's also some symlinking being done just within the thunderbird directory to fix the differences in filenames in Ubuntu (where it's named mozilla-thunderbird) and vanilla Thunderbird (where it's just named thunderbird).

Some things that you might want to consider for the firefox-scripts as well:
When testing my scripts, when restoring the old version, I got a lot of questions wether I wanted to remove the read-only files in ~/.mozilla-thundrbird when removing it - especially the extensions tended to be read-only. In my script, the removal of directories is therefore performed using "rm -rf" instead of just "rm -r" so you won't get any such questions. It may be that these files aren't normally read-only though, but they were in my case.

In addition, the verbose-switch to tar creates massive output due to all the filenames, so many messages from the script will get "lost" in the spam. My script therefore does not use -v when unpacking the archive.

Anyway, it works, so enjoy :)

[manicka]

I have archived both these howtos/scripts at the Ubuntu Document Storage Facility

http://doc.gwos.org/index.php?title=Install_script_Firefox_1.5.0.1

http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Install_script_Thunderbird_1.5

[vol_freak]

It worked great for me. Thank you!

[aysiu]

I
Some things that you might want to consider for the firefox-scripts as well:
When testing my scripts, when restoring the old version, I got a lot of questions wether I wanted to remove the read-only files in ~/.mozilla-thundrbird when removing it - especially the extensions tended to be read-only. In my script, the removal of directories is therefore performed using "rm -rf" instead of just "rm -r" so you won't get any such questions. It may be that these files aren't normally read-only though, but they were in my case. I've made this change in the remove script. Thanks for the note about it.


In addition, the verbose-switch to tar creates massive output due to all the filenames, so many messages from the script will get "lost" in the spam. My script therefore does not use -v when unpacking the archive. I'm going to keep verbose in. I think it's good for people to be able to see what's happening, even if they don't actually do much to make it happen.

It worked great for me. Thank you! That's good to hear. I'm no programmer, so I want to know that it works on more than just my machine.

[cowboyenvy]

Just a few questions, I myself installed Mozilla firefox in it's previous location ie /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox.

I did this by moving /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox to /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox-1.0.7
extracted the tar.gz file to /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox-1.5.0.1 and creating a symbolic link, this way if I encountered a problem I could easily downgrade back to mozilla firefox with just a quick sym link replacement.

Why did you choose to install it in the /opt directory, it seems that that might indeed create more trouble than simply dropping the new version of in the 'same' location.

Kevin

[aysiu]

I actually prefer /usr/local/bin, but I was basing this script mainly off the Wiki, which chose to put it in the /opt directory. I don't see how this "create[s] more toruble" exactly. Could you explain what you mean?

You can really put it wherever you want.

[rmlLinux]

Thank you aysiu and Ensnared these scripts, worked flawlessly, as a complete newbie they are much appreciated. Cheers . S

[TmP]

Hey!

I installed firefox 1.5 with automatix, and the extensions doesn't seem to work with this version (adblock for instance). Is it the price to pay for the new/unstable firefox under Breezy or have I pushed the wrong lever again?

Thanx

[mstlyevil]

Hey!

I installed firefox 1.5 with automatix, and the extensions doesn't seem to work with this version (adblock for instance). Is it the price to pay for the new/unstable firefox under Breezy or have I pushed the wrong lever again?

Thanx

You might want to repost the question in the Automatix sub forum for direct help with your problem. It is a little out of place here in this thread.

[carverj]

awww, magic. It even links automatically with the menu icon automatically.
couldn't figure that bit our for myself last time when I tried to upgrade from source.
thanks again aysiu and I hope Dapper is coming along nicely.

[aysiu]

thanks again aysiu and I hope Dapper is coming along nicely. You're welcome. Once Dapper comes out, this script will be obsolete, actually.

[geeknation]

:D Works, yay! Thanks for the info!

[Sokraates]

Fireupdate 1.1 is out!

Fireupdate will now update your favorite browser to version 1.5.0.2.

To download the new script, please see the first post in this thread.

[morbid_bean]

Please help me!!!!

After a long day of playing with ubuntu for the first time i finnaly figured out how to set up my modem, and it worked!! :D Now i have another problem to deal with... i would like to install the newest firefox which is v. 1.5 and the defult v. i have in this ubuntu is 1.0.7. I have read the step by step guide on how to install it ( https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion ) and i somewhat get it but when it comes to the part where it says something like install it to opt/firefox or extract files to there i cant do it because i dont have permission to extract the files there. And im wondering how the heck do i fix this problem. i have installed the libstdc++5 package already. If possible please help me out and if you can please make it as detaild as possible because I dont have much experience with this stuff.

[aysiu]

Try this. It's a script that automates the Wiki instructions.
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/firefox

[morbid_bean]

alright then ill give that a try thanks

[aysiu]

alright then ill give that a try thanks I just modified it today to point to 1.5.0.2 instead of 1.5.0.1, but I haven't had a chance to test the revised script yet. Please let me know if it fails, and I'll try to tweak it more. Sorry to make you the guinea pig.

[morbid_bean]

GREAT!! now another problem
after i do step 3 it asks for a password...i do know the password however when i try to type it in nothing happens my keyboard is almost new so i know it isnt messed up.

[towsonu2003]

sudo tar -C /opt -x -z -v -f firefox-1.5.0.1.tar.gz
make sure you use sudo in the above command (command is from the wiki).

[morbid_bean]

Im sorry i have no clue what you mean by that?....do i type that code very first in the terminal thing?

[aysiu]

GREAT!! now another problem
after i do step 3 it asks for a password...i do know the password however when i try to type it in nothing happens my keyboard is almost new so i know it isnt messed up. An administrator should be installing it. If you're logged in as the first user you created during installation, you're an administrator, and the password should be your password.

When you type your password in, there's no visual feedback, but it is being accepted.

[aysiu]

Im sorry i have no clue what you mean by that?....do i type that code very first in the terminal thing? towsonu2003 was responding to your original question about permissions and the /opt directory.

[morbid_bean]

ok cool so far its working its downloading now...as far as me being a guinea pig im an honord to do this

[morbid_bean]

HELL YES! It works! Thanks alot. by the way that link you gave me was it your website or what...because its now in my bookmarks

[Harold P]

That was an easy installation.

Just do:

./firefox

Inside the directory you extracted it into.

[aysiu]

HELL YES! It works! Thanks alot. by the way that link you gave me was it your website or what...because its now in my bookmarks Thanks for being the guinea pig on the 1.5.0.2 version, and, yes, that is my website.

[joe_bling]

Ensnared, I followed your instructions to the letter on my Ubuntu 5.10 box. I have Thunderbird in Applications-->Internet Gnome menu. When I click to start it, nothing happens. Do you have any suggestions?

[Ensnared]

Ensnared, I followed your instructions to the letter on my Ubuntu 5.10 box. I have Thunderbird in Applications-->Internet Gnome menu. When I click to start it, nothing happens. Do you have any suggestions?
Not really, other than trying to run "mozilla-thunderbird" from a command-prompt and see if you get any errors.
You might also want to make sure your menu-item is executing the "mozilla-thunderbird" command - I use KDE, but in Gnome I think you have to right-click the menu and select "Edit Menu" to check this.

[Rikostan]

Very cool script aysiu, thanks for writing it up!

[aysiu]

Very cool script aysiu, thanks for writing it up! Use it while you can--it becomes obsolete in June.

[asusrules]

i have a big problem here
i went through your steps to update the firefox to 1.5 but whenever i try to launch firefox, i get this message," can not launch icon, reason, can not run child processor 'firefox' files does not exist"
what should i do to fix this and get back to 1.0.7 instead?

many thanks

[aysiu]

It sounds as if your icon might have the wrong command? Right-click on the icon and select "Configure" or "Properties" and see what the command is.

If you really want 1.0.7 back, you can use the uninstall script (http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/removenewfirefox.sh), unless, of course, you didn't use the install script to begin with. Otherwise, you should follow these instructions (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion#head-51054869b8a40ea50859b0163c806e76f882499c).

[towsonu2003]

i have a big problem here
i went through your steps to update the firefox to 1.5 but whenever i try to launch firefox, i get this message," can not launch icon, reason, can not run child processor 'firefox' files does not exist"
what should i do to fix this and get back to 1.0.7 instead?
many thanks
Try doing these (in that order), but it's not guaranteed to work:


sudo rm /usr/bin/firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --rename --remove /usr/bin/firefox
sudo rm /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --rename --remove /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
#######
sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/firefox
sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox


Ignore #######. Those are place holders for myself. Using the commands before ####### gives you firefox 1.0.7, using commands after ####### gives you 1.5.0.2 back (hopefully). Commands are taken from the wiki page.

another option is to right click the icon, select properties, (as per azz) and put this as command to run:
/opt/firefox/firefox

Important note: you did NOT uninstall firefox using synaptic, did you? If you did (which breaks half of your system), install it back using synaptic and use above commands after #######.

[drpaul]

When I try to run firefox 1.5 after the installation [after the first try this], I get a box with a meesage about can't run because conflicts with another instance running, but there is none.

I can run 1.5 with gksudo, but I concerned about the security of doing that.

I haven't looked at all 40 pages of this thread, but I've looked at more than half :neutral: .

Any ideas about the cause?

TIA

Paul

[asusrules]

thank you aysui and towsonu2003 for th quick replys, but it still does not launch the firefox
i tried both ways icon thing and the new coding to back to 1.0.7 and to get 1.5. now i get message every time i click on the firefox icon. "cannot launch entry. Reason:failed to execute child process 'firefox' (no such file or directory. and also when i code it for to remove /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox to say no file exist.
i am thinking that i should just reinstall ubuntu or can you help me get the firefox to work

thanks
asusrules

[SomeoneWhoIsntMe]

The default FF theme breaks my GTK theme, where can I find the Ubuntu FF theme?

[towsonu2003]

thank you aysui and towsonu2003 for th quick replys, but it still does not launch the firefox
i tried both ways icon thing and the new coding to back to 1.0.7 and to get 1.5. now i get message every time i click on the firefox icon. "cannot launch entry. Reason:failed to execute child process 'firefox' (no such file or directory. and also when i code it for to remove /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox to say no file exist.
i am thinking that i should just reinstall ubuntu or can you help me get the firefox to work

I don't think it's worth reinstalling just for firefox. we'll fix this one way or another. At this point though, let's just uninstalling and reinstalling. Make sure firefox is installed in synaptic. Than go to the wiki page (wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion), read and do everything it says under section "removing". Than go back to "installing" and do everything it says to install. than run firefox from a terminal (type firefox, press enter) and copy paste any errors you get. also, copy paste any errors you get during the steps (along with the command you used).

When I try to run firefox 1.5 after the installation [after the first try this], I get a box with a meesage about can't run because conflicts with another instance running, but there is none.

I can run 1.5 with gksudo, but I concerned about the security of doing that.

I haven't looked at all 40 pages of this thread, but I've looked at more than half .

Any ideas about the cause?
don't run it with gksudo. try removing the lock file firefox puts in place. do the following (close firefox first!):

rm -i ~/.mozilla/firefox/[doubletab and choose directory]/lock

[doubletab and choose directory]: firefox puts your profile in a weirdly named directory. it's usually a <randomnumbers>.default directory. after typing ~/.mozilla/firefox/, double tab (tab key on keyboard) to see available profiles, put its name and continue. after giving the command, make sure rm is confirming the correct file, than type "y" (no quotes) and press enter. If there are more than one profiles, rm the lock file in all of them. you might also want to check under /root/.mozilla/firefox/<blabla>/lock to see if exist, but be careful very with the root.

here is what the command is in my system:
sudo rm -i /root/.mozilla/firefox/0xso281u.default/lock this was for root lock file
rm -i ~/.mozilla/firefox/4flv42qy.default/lock
and this one was for my own account.

make sure you close firefox (if running) before hand. To check if it's running, type
ps aux | grep firefox
here is the output for me, firefox is running:
username 8248 0.0 0.1 4656 1644 ? S 14:44 0:00 /bin/sh /usr/bin/firefox
username 8259 0.0 0.1 4700 1676 ? S 14:44 0:00 /bin/sh /opt/firefox/run-mozilla.sh /opt/firefox/firefox-bin
username 8264 8.8 4.1 112600 48340 ? Sl 14:44 2:18 /opt/firefox/firefox-bin
username 9121 0.0 0.0 3256 588 pts/2 R+ 15:10 0:00 grep firefox
the last one will show up even if firefox is running. If you get such an output, I'd just log out and log in to X to clear it.

If this doesn't work, reboot (I still have the windows mentality) and (don't open firefox) move away your profile:

cp -R ~/.mozilla/firefox ~/.mozilla/firefox.busted
mv ~/.mozilla/firefox ~/Desktop/firefox.busted #this is for you to locate your bookmarks and stuff. delete that folder that gets placed on your desktop afterwards.
none of these should produce errors. if cp produces errors, don't do mv and copy paste errors.

[romulus]

Geeezze, all I wanted to do was update from 1.0.7 not rewrite the whole damn program.

Please make this easier for noobs like me. I love what you guys are doing and I love the Kubuntu version. I also love the latest and greatest apps as well.

Linux has come a long way since I first tried it in 1998. But I am still dependent on Windows. I will dump Windows when Linux becomes more automated for things like installing apps and has a more universal driver support.

If I'm missing something please tell me because I really do like KDE and Linux.

[towsonu2003]

Please make this easier for noobs like me.
unfortunately, updating firefox from 1.0.7 to 1.5.x is relatively easy, compared to updating other programs... problem is the updating policy in ubuntu -> no updates at all, except security patches to existing programs, once a release is out...

But I am still dependent on Windows. I will dump Windows when Linux becomes more automated for things like installing apps and has a more universal driver support.
I can't see any of these two to become a widespread reality in the near future. I heard Linspire is fairly automated though (subscription-based "Click and run" service). But for the driver support, I don't think that will happen :( [1]

[1]sorry for offtopic...

[joe_bling]

I tried running it from the command line, here is the error:

/opt/thunderbird/mozilla-thunderbird-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libmozjs.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Yet a find / -name libmozjs.so returns:

/usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/libmozjs.so
/usr/lib/mozilla-thunderbird/libmozjs.so
/opt/firefox/libmozjs.so
/opt/thunderbird/libmozjs.so

:confused:

[lovebyte]

I have a problem with this update. I normally use firefox with profiles (one for my wife and one for me) and so run firefox with the -P option, for instance firefox -P X and firefox -P Y.
This worked with the firefox coming from breezy, but it is not working with ff1.5. With the latter, once I run with one profile, I cannot have a second instance of firefox with another profile. It seems that the second time it quits and opens a new window from the first instance.

Any idea what's going wrong?

[Sokraates]

I never managed to have two separate instances running at the same time. Neither with 1.0.x, nor with 1.5.x. As far as I can tell, this is a feature normally not supported by Firefox.

Maybe the Ubuntu-developers have tweaked the code to make this work? If so, maybe you'll want to wait for Dapper, which brings Firefox 1.5.x.

[Ensnared]

That's weird... never had any problems like that before. Try to run 'sudo ldconfig' and see if that helps.

[domino]

I don't know if it's in any interests to anyone and I also don't know how urgent it is to update to 1.5.0.2. So just a heads up. :)

Firefox Multiple Vulnerabilities: http://secunia.com/advisories/19631/

[joe_bling]

Many thanks for your help, Ensnared - and for the scripts. ldconfig got it working fine!

[asusrules]

I just read that there will be a new version of ubuntu (6.06) coiming in June with the new firefox 1.5,do you think updating firefox now will conflict the new verison of ubuntu?

[asusrules]

this is where i found the soon to be released ubuntu
http://madpenguin.org/cms/index.php/?m=show&opt=printable&id=6699

[Sokraates]

I just read that there will be a new version of ubuntu (6.06) coiming in June with the new firefox 1.5,do you think updating firefox now will conflict the new verison of ubuntu?

Ubuntu installs his Firefox in a different directory. Most how-tos and scripts for installing the FF 1.5 tarball use /opt/firefox. So in the end you will have two different installations. The difference being, that the ubuntu-version can be updated through the repositories.

The profile (located in /home/youruser/.mozilla/firefox/randomfolder) will be shared by both installations, but thats not a problem.

Eventually, I recommend removing the folder /opt/firefox (if that's where your FF 1.5 is installed) after updating to Dapper Drake.

[Sokraates]

Thanks, domino.

I've updated the first post with links to more information on the fixes and changes.

[skeezer65134]

OK, I have been running 1.5 for a while (1.5.0.1 actually). The wiki article worked flawlessly.

My question is, 1.0.8 showed up in the repos today so, naturally, Ubuntu wants to upgrade. I'm worried, though, that doing so will break my 1.5 install. Has anyone done the upgrade even though they are running 1.5? Did they have to put the 1.5 install back as the default? Did they lose any of their FF profile info?

Any advice is appreciated!

[towsonu2003]

OK, I have been running 1.5 for a while (1.5.0.1 actually). The wiki article worked flawlessly.

My question is, 1.0.8 showed up in the repos today so, naturally, Ubuntu wants to upgrade. I'm worried, though, that doing so will break my 1.5 install. Has anyone done the upgrade even though they are running 1.5? Did they have to put the 1.5 install back as the default? Did they lose any of their FF profile info?

Any advice is appreciated!
so far there were 3 approaches that I saw:
1. lock firwfox version to 1.0.7 via synaptic (what I did)
2. back up your firefox profile, follow wiki instructions to remove firefox (only the following) # First, /usr/bin/firefox
sudo rm /usr/bin/firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --rename --remove /usr/bin/firefox
# Then, /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox, used as the default gnome browser
sudo rm /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --rename --remove /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox do the upgrade, and do installation instructions on wiki (only these) # First, /usr/bin/firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/firefox
sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
# Then, /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox, used as the default gnome browser
sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox
sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox without starting/running firefox during this process

3. backup your profile and do the upgrade, hoping it will not break anything.

I don't remember anyone choosing any of these options reporting any problems to the forum about the upgrade

[Sokraates]

Updating 1.0.8 will delete your original Firefox-icons, if you have them installed.

Your profile is safe, but won't work at all with 1.0.8.

If you diverted firefox to mozilla-firefox, you will have to do it again.

Apart from that, you should have no problems.

[skeezer65134]

so far there were 3 approaches that I saw:
1. lock firwfox version to 1.0.7 via synaptic (what I did)


I wasn't aware you could even do that. That brings the next question; how do I lock it at a version?

[aysiu]

I wasn't aware you could even do that. That brings the next question; how do I lock it at a version? Like this.

[aysiu]

Ensnared, I've updated your script to use Thunderbird 1.5.0.2.

[Ensnared]

Good stuff :)

I almost forgot about this since I've upgraded to Dapper on everything except my server, so thanks for taking care of it :)

[erlendba]

Hi

Followed the script and it worked perfectly, except for the keyboard shortcut that I used for the browser. It does not work at all, even after I tried resetting it. Does anyone have a clue?

Second question: Are the files from my previous version removed?

[sumgai]

I tried the script and it worked fine except I can't install extensions unless I run firefox as root (obviously when I try to run firefox as the user, the extensions aren't there).

It seemed like firefox was also forgetting changes to preferences, so in a blind attempt, I chmod'ed all the relevant files to +w for all and that seemed to fix the preferences issue, but I've still got the extensions problem.

Also, I tried the script for thunderbird. All the files seem to be where they belong, but I don't get anything when I try to run it (from the menu or from command line).

Bear in mind that it's been about 20 years since I've seriously used any Unix-like OS, so I apologize for being a reborn noob.

Any help would be mucho appreciado!

Mitch

[vexorian]

After using this article to install firefox 1.5.0.1 when I wanted to update to 1.5.0.2 I just had to use:

$ sudo firefox

Then the Help/Check for updates was available and I could update easily.

Is there a way to make ubuntu's auto update thing stop bothering me about updating to 1.0.9 ?

[aysiu]

Is there a way to make ubuntu's auto update thing stop bothering me about updating to 1.0.9 ? Yes. Look at the post above yours--with a screenshot of how to do it.

[LazyBoy]

Anyone know how to fix the icons in the title bar and panel?
They've defaulted to boring X's.
(The running application icons, not the launcher icons -- see attachment.)

Thanks,
LB

Follow-up: This was specific to 64-bit installs, and is solved here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1040925#post1040925

[akimmell]

Hi,
Automatix is awesome.

The only problem I'm having it trying to install java realtime.
I've read all the instructions and tried making the link (ln -s etx) but it doesn't work. I selected the package with Automatix but i still don't think it's installed. When I go to some websites like time.gov or flightview.com my apps don't work. Thanks for all the work with Automatix. Any help with Java appreciated.

[OfficeLinebacker]

Is 1.5 in the repositories now?

[vexorian]

Yes. Look at the post above yours--with a screenshot of how to do it.
My bad for not noticing it, I wouldn't now the thread was 22 pages long, so I didn't really see the posts, thanks for pointing out

[aysiu]

Anyone want to be a guinea pig for my Swiftfox 64-bit script?

[pigFoot]

If you diverted firefox to mozilla-firefox, you will have to do it again.

I just ran the update against my 1.5.0.2 and did not find this to be the case.

$ ls -l `which firefox`
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 20 2006-03-27 20:04 /usr/bin/firefox -> /opt/firefox/firefox

[Giga]

where is the button to delete this msg?

[Giga]

Aysiu,

i use your script to install firefox 5.1

didnt work... im using breezy 5.10 , cpu am64 (with Ubuntu for 64bits)


i use the remove script to uninstalled also
im browsing through Galeon now :)

Well.. when i execute firefox 1.0.7.. nothing happens..the mouse cursor just get busy for a few seconds.. and thats it.

Any idea of what might be happened?

[aysiu]

The original script (post #1) is for x86, not AMD64.

Mozilla does not precompile an AMD64 version of Firefox.

Post #25, however, has a script for installing Swiftfox (another version of Firefox) specifically for AMD64. Unfortunately, not having a 64-bit processor myself, I'm not able to test it out. Would you like to be a guinea pig for the script in post #25?

[Giga]

Sure.. im going to test it
i let you know.

So.. There is no Firefox 1.5 for 64bits??

In Windows.. the same software 1.5 works for both versions..

i thouth only drivers need especifically 64bits version.
I think this is not the case for Linux,, am i wrong? There has to be every single software version for 64 bits and x86, no matter if its drivers or single softwares like firefox or Amule..etc?

Another example.. i was installing logitech 510 mouse.. works great
but when i try to installed the applet.. (i think its like a control panel like you have in windows).. didnt work .. returns a (this applet works only for x86).

Well.. if i installed Ubuntu x86 in my computer that has CPU 64buts.. it will work flawlesssly? What you recommend me to do?

Thank u very much :)

[aysiu]

So.. There is no Firefox 1.5 for 64bits?? Not unless you compile it from source.


In Windows.. the same software 1.5 works for both versions.. I'm not sure why this is.

Well.. if i installed Ubuntu x86 in my computer that has CPU 64buts.. it will work flawlesssly? From what I've read, yes--and you'll have more software easily available. What you recommend me to do? For now... test the Swiftfox script. If it doesn't work, I'll quickly compose an uninstall script. If it works, great. And, you may eventually want to try Ubuntu x86.

[Giga]

Unfortunately, didnt work.

Well... i will do what you recommend me. Try install x86 Ubuntu

[aysiu]

Unfortunately, didnt work. Sorry. Do you know at what point it failed? Did it appear to work but just not launch? Or did you get some errors that appeared during the actual installation?


Well... i will do what you recommend me. Try install x86 Ubuntu This is just based on what I've read, as I don't have a 64-bit processor, but I think the only reason to use the AMD64 version of Ubuntu is to take full advantage of what your 64-bit processor can do (is it more powerful? faster? I don't know what the actual advantage is... better graphics capability?), but if you use the x86 version, it's just as if you didn't have a 64-bit processor.

Speaking loosely based on what I've heard and know. If someone knows better about this, please correct me.

[Giga]

Sorry. Do you know at what point it failed? Did it appear to work but just not launch? Or did you get some errors that appeared during the actual installation?

It happens the same thing.. when i click on the blue world icon, the cursor get busy for a few seconds and nothing happens..
tell me what to do at terminal to get error msgs so i paste here..
sorry, im newbie and im still a bit confused about how the tree files of Linux works...


reason to use the AMD64 version of Ubuntu is to take full advantage of what your 64-bit processor can do (is it more powerful? faster? I don't know what the actual advantage is... better graphics capability?),

That is one the things i would like to know.. :) What i would gain if i keep amd64?
i also thought about things you have said like speed and better graphics, but i dont exaclty what would be these advantages..

[aysiu]

It happens the same thing.. when i click on the blue world icon, the cursor get busy for a few seconds and nothing happens..
tell me what to do at terminal to get error msgs so i paste here..
sorry, im newbie and im still a bit confused about how the tree files of Linux works... You haven't uninstalled Swiftfox, then? If so, go to a terminal and just type firefox If that doesn't work, try typing cd /opt/swiftfox
./swiftfox and post back any errors.[/quote]


That is one the things i would like to know.. :) What i would gain if i keep amd64?
i also thought about things you have said like speed and better graphics, but i dont exaclty what would be these advantages.. Start a new thread and ask what the advantages are of running AMD64 versus x86.

[Giga]

You haven't uninstalled Swiftfox, then? If so, go to a terminal and just type firefox If that doesn't work, try typing cd /opt/swiftfox
./swiftfox and post back any errors.
Start a new thread and ask what the advantages are of running AMD64 versus x86.[/quote]

good idea.. i will do

Well.. about the errors..

it returns sth like: cannot identified TF8 and then cannot find or open PANGO something.. (library?)

(im sorry, i didnt copy the msg because i called to one friend (the one who told me to learn Linux) and he said to me to install x86 instead.
He said i probably wont ge any real advantage (at least, not for now) with 64bits version.

Thank you very much though:)

By the way, i install x86 and use your txt.. guess what? Work flawless :)

[aysiu]

By the way, i install x86 and use your txt.. guess what? Work flawless :) Well, it's because the script uses the precompiled x86 Firefox package.

The other script for Swiftfox is the 64-bit package, but I've never tested it, so...


... well, in any case, glad it worked out for you finally!

[avktm]

i was trying to extract the firefox tar into the opt folder and it wouldn't let do it , i tried to log in as root and it said wrong password or username whats the deal

[aysiu]

i was trying to extract the firefox tar into the opt folder and it wouldn't let do it , i tried to log in as root and it said wrong password or username whats the deal A few things:

1. There's a script here (http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/firefox) that will download and install the new Firefox for you, so that you don't have to copy and paste all those commands from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FirefoxNewVersion

2. If you do decide you'd rather copy and paste commands, make sure you copy and paste them. Do not try to retype them. This command should extract the .tar.gz to the /opt folder: sudo tar -C /opt -x -z -v -f firefox-1.5.0.2.tar.gz

3. You don't log in as root. There is no root account enabled in Ubuntu. Read more here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RootSudo
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/permissions

[Sokraates]

Fireupdate 1.2 is out!

Fireupdate will now update your favorite browser to version 1.5.0.3.

To download the new script, please see the first post in this thread.

[russbuss]

Thanks so much for this script. It is very handy!

One thing I discovered is that I did have to kill Firefox before running the script in order for it work. If I tried running it with Firefox still running, nothing happened. I did not get a dialogue box or anything of the sort.

Still, very nice work.

Thanks.

[adamkat]

worked like a charm, thanks!

[Russty of Oz]

I must be THICK!](*,)

I can't work this out. How do you get this update to work?

[Sokraates]

If I tried running it with Firefox still running, nothing happened. I did not get a dialogue box or anything of the sort.


Now that's strange. Fireupdate checks, whether a process including the string "firefox" is running. So if you have a process to kill, Fireupdate should give you a popup. Unless you don't have kdialog, dialog or zenity installed.

Which firefox-version did you update from? Also, which desktop environment are you running?

If you still have that version of firefox handy, backup your profile (removing the "." in front of the folder is enough), rename /opt/firefox, reinstall the old version and then run the script in verbose mode from the console while running Firefox. The output should help me pinpoint the problem.

You can then restore everything by simply renaming the folders as they were before.

[Sokraates]

I must be THICK!](*,)

I can't work this out. How do you get this update to work?
For starters: check, if you have downloaded the correct Fireupdate. It depends on the firefox-version you want to update from (00, 01 or 02).

Extract the tarball to your homefolder. A folder called "Fireupdate" will be created including all the files. One of those is called "Fireupdate".

Close Firefox, if it is open, and doubleclick on the file "Fireupdate".

The script will ask you at some point to enter your password. That is your user password. The password is needed, since the sub-script, which will apply the update and modify the folder "/opt/firefox" needs to be run with root-privileges.

If you have any error-output, please post it here. If you have none or it just says, that the update has failed or could not be applied, please run Fireupdate with the verbose argument from the console. The command should look like this:
~/Fireupdate/Fireupdate -v Then please post the output.

[Russty of Oz]

Hmmm, well I did say I was thick.

To start with, where do I download Fireupdate, I googled but couldn't find it. Secondly, what is a 'tarball'?

I am using FF 1.5.0.1

As you have no doubt guessed, I am new to Linux. But I love it and am determined to learn how to do all these things!

[LazyBoy]

The HOWTO has some "chown" calls that should be "chmod".

LB

[towsonu2003]

The HOWTO has some "chown" calls that should be "chmod".

LB
thanks for letting us know. I always mix up chown with chmod... should be fixed now.

[Sokraates]

Hmmm, well I did say I was thick.

To start with, where do I download Fireupdate, I googled but couldn't find it. Secondly, what is a 'tarball'?

I am using FF 1.5.0.1

As you have no doubt guessed, I am new to Linux. But I love it and am determined to learn how to do all these things!
First of all: welcome!

You'll find all the links in the first post. You will need to download the file labeled " Fireupdate 1.2, from 1.5.0.1".

Fireupdate will only work with the tarballs from www.mozilla.com (http://www.mozilla.com). How did you install Firefox 1.5.0.1? It is not included in Breezy Badger by default.

Did you use Automatix? Then it will work correctly, since Automatix uses the official tarballs. Was it already included in Ubuntu? Then you are most likely using Dapper Drake Beta. Fireupdate will most probably not work in this case, but you will only have to wait a few days to update by Synaptic.

As for Tarballs, take a look here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarball).

[mrazster]

Worked like a charm...here to. \\:D/ =D>