Thunderbird/Firefox upgrade permissions

[Palice]

Hi there.

Lovin Mint Debian so far.

There is an issue we having RE upgrading Thunderbird/Firefox.

It downloads from the upgrade OK, then when installing it tells us that we don't have permission to install the upgrade.

As a noob, I am not sure how to overcome this.

Thanks for any advice you may give us.

Palice

[ChromeMukuro]

to upgrade firefox:

close out of any open firefox windows you have. save your tabs if you want, or do your usual close-of-firefox routine
press alt-f2 or open a terminal and run "gksu firefox"
enter password
firefox will now be running as ROOT USER. i do not suggest doing anything but update firefox while firefox is opened as root.
in the top bar of firefox, hit tools, check for update
the update will run, and firefox will prompt you to restart. hit restart later.
close out the root firefox window, and reopen firefox as you would normally

i dont use thunderbird, but its probably a similar method.

[Palice]

Thanks you, that did indeed fix the issue.

Much appreciated.

[DJPhil]

The suggestion above works for both Firefox and Thunderbird.

In my observation it worked best to use 'Restart [application]' rather than 'Restart Later'. They both seem to attempt a sort of background update, then revert to a full download mode. Persistently restarting and checking Help -> Check for Updates until you're all done seems to be a sure way to make it all the way through the process. This may just be the result of my battered and abused install, as LMDE has put up with a lot of my crap since it began.

Also, do not panic that your configuration wasn't carried over to the Root account, it will still be there when you open it up in the standard manner.

Thanks ChromeMukruo!

[ChromeMukuro]

haha, no problem! i ran into this problem my self (albeit before LMDE, early mint 8 i believe.) and used this method. should be pretty standard across Linux for Mozilla apps to upgrade in this fashion.