How do I install Firefox from a tar?

banker64 · 09-08-2009, 06:46 PM

First of all I would like to thank everyone that responded to my first question. Y'all were a great help. I have downloaded F9 and have gotten it to work. I will have F11 up and working soon.

My current problem is this. I have downloaded Firefox 3.5.2. This is a tar file. I have done some research but I am stumped. I have used the "yum update firefox" command and this has worked. I was able to install FF3.0.11. But I am unable to update to the most current version. I have looked on the various forums for answers. My problem is that the people responding to the questions assume that the questioner has some in depth knowledge. Right now I do not fall into this category. Can anyone give me a straight forward approach on how to accomplish this. Please keep in mind that you are dealing with someone that is very new to this and be as detailed as possible.

Thanks.....

metrofox · 09-08-2009, 07:06 PM

I think that you should remove firefox 3.0.xx and with yum you should install firefox 3.5 just type:

Code:

yum install firefox-3.5

This one might work, now I don't use yum as default package manager so that package may not exist

However when you extract firefox from a .tar.* this extracts the binaries that you should be already able to run.

Nothing to compile

Let me know if it works.

John VV · 09-08-2009, 07:11 PM

firefox 3.5 will not run on fedora 9 without some hacking
it can be a pain to get running on fedora 9
install fedora 11 and use that firefox 3.5

banker64 · 09-08-2009, 10:37 PM

Thanks guys. I think that I will wait till I get F11. I just have gotten F9 to work and I don't want to mess anything up right now. John does the same hold true for Thunderbird?

Thanks....

knudfl · 09-10-2009, 06:53 AM

Firefox 3.5.x worked in first try on my Fedora 9.
No hacks.
Easy to try out : Unpack in /home/'username'
cd firefox
./firefox
... or just click the 'firefox' script.

Same method for the latest Thunderbird.
( I haven't tested Thunderbird.)
.....

mejohnsn · 09-11-2009, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knudfl

Firefox 3.5.x worked in first try on my Fedora 9.
No hacks.
Easy to try out : Unpack in /home/'username'
cd firefox
./firefox
... or just click the 'firefox' script.

Same method for the latest Thunderbird.
( I haven't tested Thunderbird.)
.....

When I type (from superuser prompt): "yum update firefox*" or "yum upgrade firefox*", I get only Firefox 3.5.2. But Mozilla is already up to 3.5.3 and recommending that. So why doesn't yum catch this? Do I really have to download from Mozilla direct? What are we supposed to do with a tar.bz2 file? I hope they don't expect us to do a build.

knudfl · 09-12-2009, 03:08 AM

@ mejohnsn

The 3.5.3 firefox : like all other through the years,
it's a stand alone, mostly self contained binary package.

See what you got with yum : the command : rpm -ql firefox
: a folder and a link to /usr/bin/ + a Desktop Icon.

So what you get with the tar.bz is basically the same
as already installed. Text in # 5 indicates no build.

The package is to be unpacked anywhere with the
command : tar xvf firefox-3.5.3.tar.bz2
and click firefox.
.... get it from e.g.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html
> > http://www.mozilla.com/products/down...nux&lang=en-US
.....

Or wait some hours , and the repo has it.
EDIT EDIT : Is in the Fedora 11 repo now.
Got 3.5.3 with # yum install firefox .
.....

Wim Sturkenboom · 09-12-2009, 03:27 AM

@knudfl, I think your tar command in previous post is missing a flag (-j) for the decompression

knudfl · 09-12-2009, 04:36 AM

@ Wim Sturkenboom

Redhat EL 4.7 , Slackware 9.1 and similar age :
yes to ' -jxvf ' or ' jxvf '. ( and zxvf )

All later and current Linux's : No.

file.tar file.tar.gz file.tgz file.tar.bz2 :
' tar xvf ' will do. .. > > please try with Slack 10.2

I don't know, when the change was made in tar ...
... EDIT ... from /usr/doc/tar-1.15.1/NEWS , slack 10.2

Quote:

version 1.15 - Sergey Poznyakoff, 2004-12-20

* Compressed archives are recognised automatically, it is no longer
necessary to specify -Z, -z, or -j options to read them. Thus, you can
now run `tar tf archive.tar.gz'.

And when did I find out the change was made .... 2 years ago, may be.
So I also used -jxvf all these years ...

.....

mejohnsn · 09-12-2009, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knudfl

@ mejohnsn

The 3.5.3 firefox : like all other through the years,
it's a stand alone, mostly self contained binary package.

See what you got with yum : the command : rpm -ql firefox
: a folder and a link to /usr/bin/ + a Desktop Icon.

So what you get with the tar.bz is basically the same
as already installed. Text in # 5 indicates no build.

The package is to be unpacked anywhere with the
command : tar xvf firefox-3.5.3.tar.bz2
and click firefox.
.... get it from e.g.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/personal.html
> > http://www.mozilla.com/products/down...nux&lang=en-US
.....

Or wait some hours , and the repo has it.
EDIT EDIT : Is in the Fedora 11 repo now.
Got 3.5.3 with # yum install firefox .
.....

I've been pinging back and forth between yum and System:Administration:Software Update so often, I'm not sure how I got it, but I finally got Firefox 3.5.3. I think it was Software Update that did it.

Why am I pining back and forth so much, you wonder? It is because my first attempt to update, using Software Update from the GUI, looked like it hung. I eventually gave up on it completley, and did "yum upgrade" as root. That took a long time too, but at least it gave plausible progress indications, and I was pleased to find Firefox 3.5.3 intact, and even Software Update agreeing that everything was up to date -- after I rebooted Fedora.

So thanks for the clarification, but I did not need to use the tarball after all.

Wim Sturkenboom · 09-13-2009, 02:35 AM

Thanks knudfl, learned something again.