Is anyone on here familiar with Scientific Linux?

I've been trying to install Firefox 3 on a computer with Scientific Linux (I'm not sure which version, or how to check that, that's another thing I'd like advice on). Anyway, when I attempt to use updater, it says I'm missing a library (don't have the info on me here, different computer). I did a few searches for information, and it looks like the most likely reason I'd be missing that library is if I have an old edition of Pango. The Pango site says it's usually shipped with the operating system, and recommends installing it from the operating system vendor rather than trying to install it over the existing OS. So my question: what versions of Pango come with Scientific Linux, and does the vendor provide any updates that I can use? Is there any other way I can update Firefox? I need at least Firefox 2 in order to access my webmail, but I get the same error when I try to install the latest Firefox 2.

I've heard of Scientific Linux but never used it. It's built from the sources of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. As is Cent OS.
Will probably show you what version of Scientific Linux you have.

I'm confused by when you say you're using the updater since the Firefox updater will not update to new major versions, it'll only update to point releases. E.g. Firefox will update itself to 2.0.0.16 but it won't update to Firefox 3. What version of Firefox do you have now? Exactly what are you doing to try and get Firefox 3?

What version of pango you have will depend on what version of Scientific Linux you have. You can find out by doing
If you download a newer version of pango build it and install it in to a different location, e.g. /usr/local, to the one that comes with Scientific Linux. Do not replace the version that comes with Scientific Linux as you risk breakage.

Firefox 3 has a dependency on GTK 2.10 or higher. So check what version of that you have
to check you have GTK 2.10.
If you've got GTK earlier than 2.10 then you'll need to build a new GTK and all it's dependencies.

Alright, I've got more information.

The version of Scientific Linux is 4.4 (Beryllium).

The Firefox on here currently appears to be version 1.8.0.12.

The version of pango I have is 1.6.0-9

What I mean by using the updater is that I've downloaded the .tar file that the firefox website gives you when you click download firefox 3 (firefox-3.0.1.tar.bz2). I then unpacked the folder and put the folder inside onto my desktop, and I've been running a script titled "updater" from there. None of the other scripts in the folder look like they're supposed to install the new firefox, but it could be I'm missing something.

If I download the newer version of pango into a different location, will firefox still be able to access it?

I checked for gtk, and I got these results, not sure which tells me which version of gtk I have:

Update: I just tried running the firefox script instead of the updater script, and it worked...partly at least. I now am using firefox 2.0.0.16.

Either it's version 1.8.0.12 of something else or you're looking at the wrong information. It is impossible for you to have Firefox 1.8.0.12 on account of how it doesn't exist.

What you downloaded is the latest version of Firefox. Therefore attempting to update it is illogical. There is no installation process, you just unpack the .tar.bz2 file. Look in the folder and there's an executable called firefox you're supposed to run that. Try it. Unfortunately in your case all you'll get is an error message about GTK versions and then it'll quit. Firefox will not actually run.


Um, yeah, I should have said 'grep gtk2'. You have GTK 2.4. Firefox 3 requires GTK 2.10 or higher. If you want to use Firefox 3 on that version of Scientific Linux then you're going to have to build a newer version of GTK and all of it's dependencies. This is perfectly doable, but how hard it is for you to do with that version of Scientific Linux I have no idea. It depends on factors such as what packages you have installed, whether you have root to install any packages that may not be installed but are required when building the GTK and it's dependencies and how generally familiar you are with building stuff from source and working around the issues you may encounter.

A guide for getting Firefox 3 going on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 can be found at http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/mikewilli.../of_firefox_3/
which you should be able to use as a guide.

Yeah, I looked at the wrong number, figured that out when I checked again.

[QUOTE]
What you downloaded is the latest version of Firefox. Therefore attempting to update it is illogical. There is no installation process, you just unpack the .tar.bz2 file. Look in the folder and there's an executable called firefox you're supposed to run that. Try it. Unfortunately in your case all you'll get is an error message about GTK versions and then it'll quit. Firefox will not actually run.
[/QUOTE}

There's the problem, I'm just too used to Windows. Running firefox worked, not with Firefox 3 but at least with Firefox 2, which in the end got me what I need for now.

Thanks for the link. While it's not urgent now, I may try later. I'm not very experienced with building stuff from source, so it may be a little tricky. In any case, I'm good for now.