I let synaptic update firefox. It stated it was 2.0.0.8+2nobinonly-0ubuntu1. The description also warned it was a trunk build meant for preview and not production use. When I ran firefox it identifies itself as 2.0.0.7, not 2.0.0.8.

I then installed firefox using ubuntuzilla. It identifies itself as 2.0.0.8.

1. Why isn't the ubuntu package a 2.0.0.8 release?

2. I noticed the firefox and firefox.ubuntu "link to shell script" files in /usr/bin. The first has a target of /opt/firefox/firefox while the second has a target of /usr/lib/firefox/firefox but both seem to launch 2.0.0.8.

I'm getting real confused how to control what executable you run since there are no *.exe's you can just click on, both shell scripts seem identical, and no matter how I try to launch firefox it identifies itself as 2.0.0.8.

I tried to resolve it using the system monitor but it just said "/bin/sh /usr/bin/firefox" for the location. But there is no executable there - just the two links to shell scripts. That seems to imply that after installing the ubuntuzilla copy of firefox the ubuntu version can't ever be run.

Generally speaking, anything tagged with the words "not for production use" indicate it's not a ready-to-go release i.e. it's a testing/development version and/or meant to be used as a placeholder in the repositories.

I don't know about using ubuntuzilla, so I'm not sure what it might do to your system insofar as paths to the firefox executable etc.

Can you remove the ubuntuzilla package/install and try updating from the official ubuntu repos?

"Can you remove the ubuntuzilla package/install and try updating from the official ubuntu repos?"

Yes, but it would not accomplish anything since I started without ubuntuzilla, using a copy of firefox installed from a ubuntu CD, and then updated it using synaptic from the official ubuntu repository.

I understand what "not for production use" means, I'm used to the tradeoffs of nightly Thunderbird builds under XP for example. I don't understand why a official repository would provide such a build instead of 2.0.0.8. I have security and recommended updates enabled in synaptic - pre-released updates and unsupported updates disabled.

However I'm mainly confused how to control which executable I actually run given that I can't uninstall the ubuntu repositories copies of firefox and thunderbird without serious side effects (since it insists on uninstalling ubuntu-desktop etc. if I do that).