Robster400

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Hiya, i'm looking for help updating firefox on Mandriva 2007.0. My online depository only has 2.6 and i would like 2.10 due to better plugin support.

i have downloaded the tarball (unless anyone knows of a RPM?) to my home folder, but don't really know where to go from there, as the info in the tar is very limited.
So... how do i replace old firefox??

Many thanks for any help received!

pixellany

some distros disable the Firefox automatic update feature. In my PCLOS system, it's enabled.
If you install it separately, I would put it in /opt and not remove the other version.

From a tar.gz, I think you simply extract and then enter the folder and run ./firefox

You can change any shortcut icons to point to the version in /opt

Robster400

Many thanks, thats got ver 2.10 in and running, But,(theres always a but, heh!) I lost all my original plugins, so i went back to mozilla to re-install them, (ad block+, Video downloader, pdf downloader to name a few).
Now, they came up in my Firefox Tools/add-on/extension list, but the usual toolbar icons to go with the plugins are missing, and if i attempt to configure the plugins from the Tools/add-on/extension/config button, nothing happens. Also the plugins are not listed if i type 'aboutlugins' in the address bar.
And!!... if if type firefox from a root shell, it always runs the 2.6 version, how do i redirect it to the newer version?

Thanks again

pixellany

mozilla things have a quirk in how the .file is created in your home directory. Do ls -al and look for ".firefox" and/or ".mozilla-firefox". If there are 2 there, then one is likely for 2.0.0.6 and the other for .10. The trick is to rename (or link) the .6 one so that .10 will use it.

Backup both of them before starting to tweak.

Robster400

Right, I've removed all traces of 2.6, (and 1.6 that i found) in /usr/lib/ as well, so now all i have is 2.10 on the system. i placed all the unpacked files in /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox-2.0.0.10/ being as that is adjacent to where the old Firefox was.

I've copied over the startup script to /usr/bin/ and modified the script to point to the right directory /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox-2.0.0.10/

I've also redirected all the shortcuts to /usr/bin/firefox

Now, if i run Firefox from a shell as root,it works a treat,all plugins installed and working, no problems.
However, if i run it as normal from a desktop shortcut, or from a shell under my normal login (rob), i have broken plugins again, even if i try re-install plugins under the 'rob' user.
Also, I've discovered if i have a root launched Firefox running, and then launch Firefox again under my normal login (rob) i have all plugins working. i don't know if this is relevant at all, or just a 'quirk' ?

I've checked that the plugins are in the /home/rob/.mozilla/firefox/ directory & also checked the firefox launch script (/usr/bin/firefox) to make sure it points it in the right place MOZ_USER_DIR=".mozilla/firefox" (< is that correct?)

Being a complete n00b to linux, i'm kinda wandering aimless, and guess its gonna be something very simple, but i've no idea why it runs ok as root, but not under my normal login. its not a major issue as it will run fine as root, but i believe for security reasons its favorable to run with less privileges?

Again, many thanks for any help!

xweb

If you installed the plugins as root they might be owned by root. cd to your home/rob/.mozilla/firefox/
cd /home/rob/.mozilla/firefox/
do:
ls -al

if you see any files owned by root.
do:
sudo chown rob:<your group> *
this should give you ownership of all the files in that directory.