Installing Thunderbird New Version

[davedamn]

When I try to install Thunderbird v3 from the Linux Mint Community Site Version 2 is installed instead Why ???? puzzled what am I doing wrong I got past the APT problem
Cheers Dave

[remoulder]

When I try to install Thunderbird v3 from the Linux Mint Community Site

This is obviously a mistake, version3 is not available in the karmic standard repos, please report this as a bug.

[davedamn]

In follow up if that version is not available in standard repositories I can understand what the problem is however:
I also went on Mozillas site and downloaded the latest version (v3 point something) for linux as a zip file if I extract it
to a folder I can run the program from there without actually "installing" it. Can I install this program properly if so how?
What am I missing here / doing wrong I am completely new to Linux I am really impressed with Mint and want to learn
how to use the O/S. I come from a windows background and I realize that linux is very different and I'm a bit lost / confused
Appreciate the help

Dave

[remoulder]

I also went on Mozillas site and downloaded the latest version (v3 point something) for linux as a zip file if I extract it
to a folder I can run the program from there without actually "installing" it

There's nothing wrong with doing this, it's just that it won't be integrated into the system.

I come from a windows background

Generally software in linux is installed from the repositories not by downloading from a website. Repos contain software that has been built on the system it is intended to be installed on and has all the correct dependencies and integrated. However this does also mean that you do not always have the choice of installing the latest versions unless they have been made available. With mint and ubuntu, major new releases are generally not built for existing and older releases.

[dawgdoc]

There is a daily build of Thunderbird in Ubuntu's launchpad repositories.

A tutorial on how to add this to your system so that it shows in Synaptic can be found at this page on Ubuntu Geek. It works the same for Mint. An example of where I did this with a newer version, at the time, of Pidgin is here.

You could then install from Synaptic

Is Thunderbird 3.0 still in beta?

[vincent]

I would recommend using Launchpad PPAs to get updated software, because they can be integrated into Synaptic and mintUpdate unlike seperate .deb packages you install manually, or even software compiled from source code. Follow dawgdoc's advice and grab the PPA, reload Synaptic, and upgrade Thunderbird.

Mozilla's download link gives you Thunderbird in .tar.bz2 (source code) format, so if you want to go with the official Mozilla build, then here's a handy link about installing from source code:

http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/softinstall.html

[remoulder]

There is a daily build of Thunderbird in Ubuntu's launchpad repositories

dawgdoc, please DO NOT recommend users add the mozilla daily build PPA unless you are willing to help them sort out the problems it causes. This PPA is for developers and beta testers only, it is not intended to be used by normal users. Users who must install later releases of FF & TB should look at the ubuntuzilla repo.

[dawgdoc]

okay, mea culpa. won't do it again.

I thought this was better than downloading from the mozilla site.

I also went on Mozillas site and downloaded the latest version (v3 point something) for linux as a zip file if I extract it
to a folder I can run the program from there without actually "installing" it.
Dave

[exploder]

Users who must install later releases of FF & TB should look at the ubuntuzilla repo.

I have to go along with remoulder's advice because it is easy to revert back to what you had if things don't work out with a newer version. I have used Ubuntuzilla with no problems other than an occasional manual fix for Flash or java (just differences in Firefox versions for example).

[davedamn]

Thank you all,

I think I am trying possibly to run B4 I can walk but I will have a look at the ubuntuzilla repos as suggested
If as you advise I am doing nothing "wrong" by running from a downloaded file then I am quite happy to do that
I will look at installing from source code as per Vincent's link. However I think at the moment I will stay safe
with the versions of software that are already integrated into the build I have.

Thank you all for your input I will take some time to have a look at all your info and with a bit of luck
I will get a better grasp of the way this O/S works.

Cheers Dave