LinuxQuestions.org - Running more than 1 instance of Mozilla

here's the mozilla startup script that comes with redhat, it works likes you described
just change the paths in the variables to your one and put it in save it as /usr/bin/mozilla
note this works with firebird as well

#!/bin/sh
#
# The contents of this file are subject to the Netscape Public
# License Version 1.1 (the "License"); you may not use this file
# except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of
# the License at http://www.mozilla.org/NPL/
#
# Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS
# IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or
# implied. See the License for the specific language governing
# rights and limitations under the License.
#
# The Original Code is mozilla.org code.
#
# The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Netscape
# Communications Corporation. Portions created by Netscape are
# Copyright (C) 1998 Netscape Communications Corporation. All
# Rights Reserved.
#
# Contributor(s):
#

##
## Usage:
##
## $ mozilla
##
## This script is meant to run a mozilla program from the mozilla
## rpm installation.
##
## The script will setup all the environment voodoo needed to make
## mozilla work.

cmdname=`basename $0`

## don't leave any core files around
ulimit -c 0

##
## Variables
##
MOZ_DIST_BIN="/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4"
MOZ_PROGRAM="/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/mozilla-bin"
MOZ_CLIENT_PROGRAM="/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/mozilla-xremote-client"

##
## Set MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME
##
MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME="/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4"

export MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME

##
## Set LD_LIBRARY_PATH
##
if [ "$LD_LIBRARY_PATH" ]
then
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4:/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
else
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4:/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins
fi

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

##
## Make sure that we set the plugin path for backwards compatibility
##
if [ "$MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH" ]
then
MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH=$MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH:/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins:/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins
else
MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH=/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins:/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins
fi
export MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH

##
## Set FONTCONFIG_PATH for Xft/fontconfig
##
FONTCONFIG_PATH="/etc/fonts:${MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME}/res/Xft"
export FONTCONFIG_PATH

# Figure out if we need to ser LD_ASSUME_KERNEL for older versions of the JVM.

function set_jvm_vars() {

# see if the jvm exists in either of the locations
if [ -L /usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so ]; then
JVM_ORIG_LINK=/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
fi

if [ -L /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so ]; then
JVM_ORIG_LINK=/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin_oji.so
fi

if [ -z "$JVM_ORIG_LINK" ]; then
return;
fi

JVM_LINK=`perl -e "print readlink('$JVM_ORIG_LINK')"`

# is it relative? if so append the full path

echo "${JVM_LINK}" | grep -e "^/" 2>&1 > /dev/null

if [ "$?" -ne "0" ]; then
JVM_LINK=/usr/lib/mozilla-1.4/plugins/${JVM_LINK}
fi

JVM_BASE=`basename $JVM_LINK`
JVM_DIR=`echo $JVM_LINK | sed -e s/$JVM_BASE//g`
JVM_COMMAND=$JVM_DIR/java
if [ ! -r $JVM_COMMAND ]; then
JVM_DIR=${JVM_DIR}../../../bin/
JVM_COMMAND=$JVM_DIR/java
# does the command exist?
if [ ! -r "$JVM_COMMAND" ]; then
return
fi
fi

# export this temporarily - it seems to work with old and new
# versions of the JVM.
export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5

# get the version
JVM_VERSION=`$JVM_COMMAND -version 2>&1 | grep version | cut -f 3 -d " " | sed -e 's/\"//g'`

unset LD_ASSUME_KERNEL

case "$JVM_VERSION" in
(1.3.0*)
# bad JVM
export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5
;;
esac
}

function check_running() {
$MOZ_CLIENT_PROGRAM 'ping()' 2>/dev/null >/dev/null
RETURN_VAL=$?
if [ "$RETURN_VAL" -eq "2" ]; then
echo 0
return 0
else
echo 1
return 1
fi
}

function open_mail() {
if [ "${ALREADY_RUNNING}" -eq "1" ]; then
exec $MOZ_CLIENT_PROGRAM 'xfeDoCommand(openInbox)' \
2>/dev/null >/dev/null
else
exec $MOZ_PROGRAM $*
fi
}

function open_compose() {
if [ "${ALREADY_RUNNING}" -eq "1" ]; then
exec $MOZ_CLIENT_PROGRAM 'xfeDoCommand(composeMessage)' \
2>/dev/null >/dev/null
else
exec $MOZ_PROGRAM $*
fi
}

# OK, here's where all the real work gets done

# set our JVM vars
set_jvm_vars

# check to see if there's an already running instance or not
ALREADY_RUNNING=`check_running`

# If there is no command line argument at all then try to open a new
# window in an already running instance.
if [ "${ALREADY_RUNNING}" -eq "1" ] && [ -z "$1" ]; then
exec $MOZ_CLIENT_PROGRAM "xfeDoCommand(openBrowser)" 2>/dev/null >/dev/null
fi

# check system locale
MOZARGS=
MOZLOCALE=`echo $LANG | sed "s|_$[^.]*$.*|-\1|g"`
[ -f $MOZILLA_FIVE_HOME/chrome/$MOZLOCALE.jar ] && MOZARGS="-UILocale $MOZLOCALE"

# if there's no command line argument and there's not a running
# instance then just fire up a new copy of the browser
if [ -z "$1" ]; then
exec $MOZ_PROGRAM $MOZARGS 2>/dev/null >/dev/null
fi

unset RETURN_VAL

# If there's a command line argument but it doesn't begin with a -
# it's probably a url. Try to send it to a running instance.

USE_EXIST=0
opt="$1"
case "$opt" in
-mail)
open_mail ${1+"$@"}
;;
-compose)
open_compose ${1+"$@"}
;;
-*) ;;
*) USE_EXIST=1 ;;
esac

if [ "${USE_EXIST}" -eq "1" ] && [ "${ALREADY_RUNNING}" -eq "1" ]; then
# check to make sure that the command contains at least a :/ in it.
echo $opt | grep -e ':/' 2>/dev/null > /dev/null
RETURN_VAL=$?
if [ "$RETURN_VAL" -eq "1" ]; then
# if it doesn't begin with a '/' and it exists when the pwd is
# prepended to it then append the full path
echo $opt | grep -e '^/' 2>/dev/null > /dev/null
if [ "${RETURN_VAL}" -ne "0" ] && [ -e `pwd`/$opt ]; then
opt="`pwd`/$opt"
fi
exec $MOZ_CLIENT_PROGRAM "openurl($opt)" 2>/dev/null >/dev/null
fi
# just pass it off if it looks like a url
exec $MOZ_CLIENT_PROGRAM "openurl($opt,new-window)" 2>/dev/null >/dev/null
fi

exec $MOZ_PROGRAM $MOZARGS ${1+"$@"}