So far I have used default installation of Firefox that came as a part of install CD. But now that FF3 is out, I would like to install it.

I downloaded the bz2 package, unzipped it, and can run new FF3 from the folder it was installed in. However, is there a proper way to install it in such a way that it replaces existing installation, is available to each user so that when I run a 'firefox' command from a terminal, it actually launches the new version?

I assume you're running Fedora 8 (as indicated by your profile). Since you installed Firefox 2 as a Fedora installable package, there is no easy way to replace it with the generic version of Firefox 3.

What I would do is copy the unzipped firefox directory under /opt (so that the full path looks like /opt/firefox) and, as root, create a symbolic link to /opt/firefox/firefox in /usr/bin as follows.
Once you do that, then all users will have access to the firefox 3 binaries and be able to run it by typing "firefox-3" from the terminal.

Diahard: Yes it worked. Thanks for your reply. I'll now need to figure out how to create a shortcut on the panel as well as the menu.
Billgatus of Borg: I used this command to unzip "tar --use-compress-program bzip2 -xvf firefox-3.0.tar.bz2". This will create a firefox directory in whatever directory you are. You can navigate to that directory and run 'firefox'. Use 'firefox &' instead.

Glad you got it to work.

As for the tar command, you can save your keystrokes by using this instead.

That firefox 3 doesn't install itself system-wide is a serious annoyance to me. I downloaded it promptly because the many memory leaks in FF2 have been causing me grief forever.

I installed it manually. Here is how I did it (note: your details may vary).

I copied the entire new firefox directory to the location /usr/local/firefox3 where it sits alongside /usr/local/firefox (which is firefox2).

I also had to copy the entire new firefox directory to the location /usr/lib/firefox-3.0. This results in the entire installation being present twice in the system, but it is needed because of the way FF handles its library lookups. I am sure this can be tailored, but I am equally sure it would be a PITA so I didn't bother.

Then went into /usr/local/firefox3/plugins and symlinked all my plugins, just as they are in /usr/local/firefox/plugins.

Then, into /usr/bin where I renamed the firefox executable as firefox2. I then created a new symlink (note that I had to symlink it; copying the executable into /usr/bin didn't work - again some path issues):

ln -s /usr/local/firefox3/firefox firefox.

I also created the same symlink in /usr/local/bin though I probably didn't need to.

This then would start the new firefox.

If you wish to run the firefox in your present working directory, you need to type ./firefox without the ./ the system will check your PATH for the binary, which causes the system to launch the old version which is probably located in /usr/bin.



I expect all the distributions are currently working on packaging this to be easily installed system wide for each distro.. I wouldn't be surprised if this even became available for Debian Stable as a Security Update...(3.0rc2 is currently available in Debian unstable) In the mean time I installed it manually and threw a custom launcher up top in the panel.

As far as I can see, copying your firefox directory into /usr/lib/firefox-* is not necessary. I only have /opt/firefox3 and have /opt/firefox3/firefox symlinked to /usr/bin/firefox, and it works just fine.

Likewise, you can specify your own Firefox plugins directory by using the
MOZ_PLUGIN_PATH environment variable.

FYI, Firefox 3.0 GA (final) is the same build as RC2.

On my system, firefox did not work until I copied the installation into /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.

I have not troubled myself to figure out which libraries are loaded from which location, but definitely some of them are not found - on my system - unless they are located there.

"./" wouldn't do it for me with fc6. i did a fully qualifed (/usr/src/firefox firefox) and then cd'ed to /usr/src/firefox and did "./firefox". still shows 1.5. sure don't like the way fedora insulates me from application. can't really figure out the firefox 1.5 file structure.