Firefox 4 in LMDE How To

[technoshaun]

Normally adding a PPA repository to LMDE is a bad idea but getting Firefox 4 is a good idea. This is one of the few Ubuntu based applications that is binary compatible with LMDE and I am using right now.

First add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list file using any editor in root mode:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/fi ... ble/ubuntu maverick main

Save the file and then

sudo apt-get update

I highly suggest you use Synaptic to install Firefox 4 because a couple of recommended files that LMDE doesn't need get flagged for installation. Plus you will need to install the appropriate language packs for your locale that do not get flagged for install. Synaptic makes that so much easier.

Using the "Orgin" button look for ppa.launchpad.net, since the mozillateam ppa should be the only one in your sources list all things firefox4 related are here.

Firefox will be listed as upgradeable so select that. Select the appropriate language pack needed. Unselect firefox-globalmenu, ubufox and xul-ext-ubufox. Note that you will be unable to install firefox-gnome-support due to a dependency issue but it is not required.

Click apply after you have finished checking and unchecking everything.

You may have to edit your menu entries to allow for the correct launch. If you have a full path to the binary file for firefox just change it to firefox only. You will probably also have to select an icon for it as well. Nearly every Icon theme has an Icon for firefox in it so just navigate and select the icon from the theme you use.

[kwevej]

too many posts about FF4 already
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=70998

[backtogeek]

Guide on my blog (repost) I used to get it installed the config pictures help

http://backtogeek.com/2011/04/19/instal ... tion-lmde/

[TinyTony]

There are many ways to install Firefox 4 in LMDE. I propose to list them with links to full method and speak about pro/cons :

– Manual download of the binary from Mozilla website (in a tarball archive), extract in a system directory, and then creation of shortcuts : http://linux-blog.org/install-firefox-4 ... tion-lmde/ (exactly the same tutorial at backtogeek.com)
Pros : simple method, installs an official version of Firefox.
Cons : ?
Questions :
- does it autoupdates ?
- What is the recommended directory for binaries : /opt/ ? /usr/local ? /usr/local/bin/ ? /usr/lib/ ? How to create the shortcuts ? In fact, this is the main difference between tutorials : linux-blog.org recommends to put it in /usr/local/, to create a symbolic link into /usr/local/bin and manual entries in the MintMenu and Gnome preferences; but here http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 36&start=0 it says to put it in /usr/lib/, make a link to /usr/bin/, finally, here http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 49#p413402 Riboshom tells about the /opt/ binary.
- What happens with the ~/.mozilla/firefox profile : does the binary use it, does it create a new profile automatically, do we need to manually create a new profile to avoid incompatibilities with Firefox 3.6 ?

– Install Iceweasel 4 from the Experimental repository. Tutorial : http://mozilla.debian.net/ or http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=70998
It seems that you need to install the libcairo2 package from the backports repos in order to make it work, someone confirms ?
Pros : uses the Debian package managing system, automatic creation of entries in the menu, autoupdates.
Cons : ?
Questions :
- What happens with Firefox 3.6 from the Mint repo ? Is it replaced by Iceweasel 4.0 ? What about the ~/.mozilla/firefox profile ?
- What will happen when Iceweasel 4 will move from the experimental repo to the unstable or testing one ?

– Install Firefox 4 with the Ubuntu PPA : http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=71155 (solution provided by this topic)
Pros : simple, seems to work
Cons : possible future incompabilities
Questions : ?

– Wait for Firefox 4 to be in the Mint repository or Iceweasel 4 to be in the Debian Testing repository.
Pros : all will be done automatically and by the book.
Cons : just wait a little bit, will you ?
Questions : does someone knows if the Linux Mint team plans to ship Firefox 4 on its own repository soon ?

I will update this post in function of the answers and with better tutorials if found.

[SeanBest]

Normally adding a PPA repository to LMDE is a bad idea but getting Firefox 4 is a good idea. This is one of the few Ubuntu based applications that is binary compatible with LMDE and I am using right now.

First add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list file using any editor in root mode:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/fi ... ble/ubuntu maverick main

Save the file and then

sudo apt-get update

I highly suggest you use Synaptic to install Firefox 4 because a couple of recommended files that LMDE doesn't need get flagged for installation. Plus you will need to install the appropriate language packs for your locale that do not get flagged for install. Synaptic makes that so much easier.

Using the "Orgin" button look for ppa.launchpad.net, since the mozillateam ppa should be the only one in your sources list all things firefox4 related are here.

Firefox will be listed as upgradeable so select that. Select the appropriate language pack needed. Unselect firefox-globalmenu, ubufox and xul-ext-ubufox. Note that you will be unable to install firefox-gnome-support due to a dependency issue but it is not required.

Click apply after you have finished checking and unchecking everything.

You may have to edit your menu entries to allow for the correct launch. If you have a full path to the binary file for firefox just change it to firefox only. You will probably also have to select an icon for it as well. Nearly every Icon theme has an Icon for firefox in it so just navigate and select the icon from the theme you use.

This did not work. I went into Synaptic and used the Origin button, but there was no firefox listing that was upgradable. Any suggestions?

[bwat47]

I used this guide: http://backtogeek.com/2011/04/19/instal ... tion-lmde/

to install the binary manually. Worked perfectly and was actually quicker and easier than adding a ppa.

[cwgtex]

– Install Iceweasel 4 from the Experimental repository. Tutorial : http://mozilla.debian.net/ or http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=70998
It seems that you need to install the libcairo2 package from the backports repos in order to make it work, someone confirms ?
Pros : uses the Debian package managing system, automatic creation of entries in the menu, autoupdates.
Cons : ?
Questions :
- What happens with Firefox 3.6 from the Mint repo ? Is it replaced by Iceweasel 4.0 ? What about the ~/.mozilla/firefox profile ?
- What will happen when Iceweasel 4 will move from the experimental repo to the unstable or testing one ?

The biggest advantage of this solution is that it is the official solution from the Debian Mozilla team. Backport repositories are specifically designed for safely getting the latest software on your stable (or testing) Debian system. Here is a quote from the Debian wiki. (http://wiki.debian.org/Backports)

You are running Debian stable because you prefer the stable Debian tree. It runs great, there is just one problem: The software is a little bit outdated compared to other distributions. That is where backports come in. Backports are recompiled packages from testing (mostly) and unstable (in a few cases only, e.g. security updates), so they will run without new libraries (wherever it is possible) on a stable Debian distribution.

Yes, you have to get a more up to date version of libcairo2, as well as xulrunner-2.0 and libmozjs4d, from the backports repo. Not a big deal. Can easily be accomplished by one command (after you have added the backports repo).

Code: Select all

apt-get install -t squeeze-backports libcairo2 xulrunner-2.0 libmozjs4d iceweasel

As for the Firefox 3.6 question, don't worry. Nothing happens to it. Iceweasel and Firefox can peacefully co-exist. They do use the same profile. This is good because when the Mint developers update Firefox in the Mint repo, then you can just remove the Iceweasel package, and launch Firefox 4, and all your extensions, bookmarks, passwords, and history will work just as it was on Iceweasel.

The only possible problem I can think of is if you have an extension installed which are not yet compatible with Firefox/Iceweasel 4, it will be disabled upon launch.

[bwat47]

Yeah I decided to switch over to using the debian mozilla repo and installing iceweasel. Font smoothing looks much better with the debian packages compared to the mozilla binary.

[growdigital]

FWIW I didn't get this:

Firefox will be listed as upgradeable so select that.

Just a list of language packs and dummy packages.

Will try to install iceweasel 4 from mozilla.debian.net

[growdigital]

Yeah I decided to switch over to using the debian mozilla repo and installing iceweasel. Font smoothing looks much better with the debian packages compared to the mozilla binary.

Yep, I finally did the same mozilla.debian.net: much easier.

btw fwiw LMDE is based on Squeeze (I didn't know!!)

[cwgtex]

I'm pretty sure that LMDE is based on Debian Wheezy (testing).

[panzer]

Hello,

I have installed iceweasel 4.0 but how to get it in my native language? (French)

[TinyTony]

Hello,

I have installed iceweasel 4.0 but how to get it in my native language? (French)

Install the package iceweasel-l10n-fr from experimental.

[Afro-head1]

I am testing out Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) and wanted to benefit from Firefox 4 and all its speediness. It’s not available in the repositories and since LMDE uses Firefox and NOT Iceweasel, you really can’t install it from the Mozilla Debian repository. So, I decided to manually install Beardstown Opera House things. Normally I don’t like [...]


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