Firefox 19 don't update

Archived topics about LMDE 1 and LMDE 2
Locked
GoranI

Firefox 19 don't update

Post by GoranI »

I installed Linux Mint Debian with Cinnamon desktop 32bit. It came with Firefox 19. Now there is Firefox 20 available, but It can'upgrade/update to this version. I have this repository lines in my sources.list:
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport romeo
deb http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/latest/multimedia testing main non-free

I tried with
# sudo apt-get update
# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

but it not update Firefox on latest version.
How to do this. Is there a deb repository to add to automatically update Firefox ?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
User avatar
xenopeek
Level 25
Level 25
Posts: 29460
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:58 am

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by xenopeek »

Firefox comes from the Linux Mint repository (first one in your list), and is still at 19 there. You can update all you want, but until it is upgraded there you won't get the upgrade. I don't think you will see a newer release of Firefox there before also the Main Edition of Linux Mint has a new release of Firefox (we're at 19 also).

Debian itself doesn't carry Firefox, it has a modified version of it called IceWeasel. As Debian Testing is still frozen, that is an ancient version now. IceWeasel 20 is just a day in experimental: http://packages.qa.debian.org/i/iceweasel.html.

When you absolutely, positively, got to have the lastest Firefox version available; accept no substitutes. Compile from source or download the binary from the Mozilla website.
Image
GoranI

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by GoranI »

xenopeek, thank you to you`re answer. Is there any way to have updated software in mint repository, not to wait untill next major release. Like there is for example on Ubuntu repositories, or this is limitation only on linux mint debian edition ?
User avatar
xenopeek
Level 25
Level 25
Posts: 29460
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:58 am

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by xenopeek »

Well, again, Firefox 20 isn't available on Ubuntu yet either :wink: I don't know for sure as my primary system isn't LMDE, but I believe the developers do update Firefox inbetween UPs.
Image
lKingjr

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by lKingjr »

If you are in a hurry for Firefox 20, (or you want to try Aurora or the Nightly builds), you can always download the tarball from their site or wherever, extract the folder somewhere convenient like the home folder, create a launcher that points to the firefox file inside or just double click on it, and tada.
User avatar
kmb42vt
Level 5
Level 5
Posts: 974
Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 11:15 am
Location: Vermont
Contact:

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by kmb42vt »

GoranI wrote:I installed Linux Mint Debian with Cinnamon desktop 32bit. It came with Firefox 19. Now there is Firefox 20 available, but It can'upgrade/update to this version. I have this repository lines in my sources.list:
deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport romeo
deb http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/latest testing main contrib non-free
deb http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://tux.rainside.sk/mint/debian/latest/multimedia testing main non-free

I tried with
# sudo apt-get update
# sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

but it not update Firefox on latest version.
How to do this. Is there a deb repository to add to automatically update Firefox ?
Warning: Long explanation for something that's relatively easy to do. It's also a "beginners" explanation--I can't help it, I used to write tech manuals. :wink:

This is rather easy to do in LMDE once you know how, and it's due to Debian and Debian based distros having the actual application like Firefox, Thunderbird, etc installed in the /opt/ directory rather than in various places throughout the system as Ubuntu does.

Note: Your Firefox profile is still stored in your Home directory in the ".mozilla" directory as it is in Ubuntu and Linux Mint main edition and will not be touched during this procedure.

First you need to download the Firefox ".tar.bz2" file from Mozilla. Since you're running the 32 bit version of LMDE you can download directly from the Firefox download site itself.

http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

However, just for information sake, if you're running the 64 bit version of LMDE you'll need to download the 64 bit version of Firefox from Mozilla's FTP site (direct link to version 20 FTP directory):

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/ ... ases/20.0/

Make sure you click on the "linux-x86_64/" directory, then you can download the 64 bit version in your language.


Once the file is downloaded, close Firefox.

Next, open your file manager, select "File system" from the left sidebar. Now right-click the /opt/directory and select Open as administrator. In the new (root) file manager window (the /opt/ directory), you'll see both Firefox and Thunderbird folders. Since you just want the latest Firefox, rename the current Firefox folder to "firefox.bu", "firefox.orig" or some such thing (always back up the original install). Now, in the first file manager window, find your downloaded Firefox ".tar.bz2" file and drag it into the /opt/ directory window. Once the file is copied into /opt/, right-click it and select "Extract here" from the menu. Once the extraction is complete you should have a new "firefox" folder in /opt/.

At this point just start Firefox as you normally would and if all went well, you're latest version of Firefox should come up, check add-ons for compatibility and bring up the browser. If so, then Delete (not "Send to trash") the .tar.bz2 file from /opt/, close down the file manager windows and you're done.

To update Firefox at this point, just open Firefox and go to "Help/About". If it shows that an update is available, close Firefox, open a terminal and type:

Code: Select all

sudo firefox
Firefox needs root access in order to update

Once Firefox comes up again (it will appear as if you just installed it...no add-ons), navigate back to "Help/About" and click the update button if it doesn't start updating automatically. Once the update is complete it should ask you to restart the browser, do so. Once the browser restarts, close it back down (and you'll see the terminal return to the command prompt). Close the terminal and you can now start Firefox normally.

Okay, as I said, long explanation for something that's easy to do once you know. One caveat is that once the "official" upgrade comes through the repositories, it will happily overwrite the "firefox" folder in /opt/. This really won't affect you until the next version of Firefox is released then you'll have to repeat the above procedure. Or, you can just "Ignore" the "official" upgrade via MintUpdate and continue upgrading Firefox within the browser itself. :D

Hope this works for you.
"Humph. Choice, it is the quintessential Linux delusion, simultaneously the source of it's greatest strength, and it's greatest weakness." (All apologies to The Architect)
lKingjr

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by lKingjr »

A very good explanation of how to install Firefox as if it came with the distro. However, my way is much easier and you don't need root access to update it.
revelationman
Level 1
Level 1
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2013 7:59 am

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by revelationman »

That worked brilliantly thanks for that, I remember this now for the next update, I am just getting back into Linux, so a bit rusty on the commands and all that


:wink:
robertb

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by robertb »

Just a follow-up: if you try to install Firefox 20 from Linux Mint Debian Edition's import repository, it won't even start up. I had to revert back to Firefox 19. I think there's some sort of a missing dependency issue on the Firefox 20 debian package.
zerozero

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by zerozero »

robertb
can you please share with us the output of

Code: Select all

inxi -r; apt policy firefox; dpkg -l | grep firefox
robertb

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by robertb »

zerozero wrote:robertb
can you please share with us the output of

Code: Select all

inxi -r; apt policy firefox; dpkg -l | grep firefox
Note that the below is also subject to apt pinning preferences.

Code: Select all

Repos:     Active apt sources in file: /etc/apt/sources.list
           deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import backport
           deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
           deb-src http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib non-free
           deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://ftp.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free
           deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://ftp.debian.org/debian testing main contrib non-free
           deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
           deb-src http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
           deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
           deb-src http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main contrib non-free
           deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/multimedia testing main non-free
           deb-src http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/multimedia testing main non-free
           deb [arch=amd64,i386] http://www.deb-multimedia.org stable main non-free
           deb-src http://www.deb-multimedia.org stable main non-free
firefox:
  Installed: 19.0~linuxmint1+lmde
  Candidate: 19.0~linuxmint1+lmde
  Version table:
     20.0~linuxmint1+lmde 0
         90 http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/import amd64 Packages
 *** 19.0~linuxmint1+lmde 0
         90 http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian/main amd64 Packages
        500 /var/lib/dpkg/status
ii  firefox                                       19.0~linuxmint1+lmde              amd64        The Firefox web browser
ii  firefox-l10n-en-us                            19.0~linuxmint1+lmde              amd64        American language packs for Firefox
zerozero

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by zerozero »

i won't even comment in that repo layout, you surely know what you are doing.
but regarding FF (and because you have a odd 90 pin preference on it) you have also to install the language-pack else it won't start.
robertb

Re: Firefox 19 don't update

Post by robertb »

zerozero wrote:i won't even comment in that repo layout, you surely know what you are doing.
but regarding FF (and because you have a odd 90 pin preference on it) you have also to install the language-pack else it won't start.
You're right. If I remove the apt pinning and also use --full-resolver for aptitude, Firefox 20 installs and runs just fine.

Thanks!
Locked

Return to “LMDE Archive”