problem running Firefox after install

Toonses82 · 01-15-2005, 11:54 PM

I am pretty much helpless when it comes to Linux, but I'm learning.

I downloaded a package called "firefox-1.0.installer.tar.gz". I extracted the file and opened up the new extracted folder. I don't know how to install if it's not rpm. So I went to mozilla.org/ products/ firefox/ releases/ #install and followed the directions under the heading: Linux/GTK2.

Per the directions, I opened the terminal while in that folder and typed: "./firefox-installer". This opened up the graphical installer and just followed everything the installer suggested. Everything seemed to go fine.

Now that the program is installed supposedly, how do I run it? There's no icon in the Kmenu (I'm using KDE 3.2 on MDK 10.1). And there's no desktop icon. So I went to the folder it installed into (file:/home/toonses82/Downloads/firefox-installer) and tried to just double click some of the icons that I thought might be the program. I figure once I find that, I can just manually make a link in the Kmenu. But I can't seem to find the program itself.

What am I doing wrong here? My goal is to be able to open the Kmenu and select "Firefox" and have the browser open up. Please let me know where I'm going wrong and have mercy on a recovering Windows user.

Many thanks, -Kris

__J · 01-16-2005, 12:05 AM

Don't worry about being new, you'll learn from experience as it takes time to get the complexity of it all down. As long as you keep putting effort in you'll keep learning.

As for firefox, fire up an xterm/konsole,gnome-terminal or whatever you have handy and execute the following commands:

Code:

cd /home/toonses82/Downloads/firefox-installer

you can use the TAB key to autocomplete words after a few characters have been entered

next:

Code:

./firefox

should start firefox up for you. Notice the "./" before the firefox command. This tells the shell that firefox resides in the directory it is currently in. To add a desktop Icon, right click the desktop and pick create link to application. Fill out the name, enter /home/toonses82/Downloads/firefox-installer/firefox for the command entry and click the icon button, navigate to the firefox-installer directory, choose the icons folder, and pick an icon for your desktop.

Toonses82 · 01-16-2005, 12:12 AM

I opened Konsole and went to that directory successfully. But when I typed ./firefox I got back the following reply:

bash: ./firefox: No such file or directory

I don't think it's a damaged package I downloaded because I downloaded it again and am still getting the same result.

nadroj · 01-16-2005, 12:28 AM

you try just typing 'firefox' at the console? or type 'whereis firefox', which should list a couple folders where firefox installed some files... try typing 'cd ' and the path that shows up from the 'whereis' command, then type as suggested './firefox'. there will probably be 2 or 3 paths that are outputted from the 'whereis' command.

for ex:

Code:

$ whereis firefox
firefox: /usr/bin/firefox /usr/share/man/man1/firefox1.gz
$ cd /usr/bin/
$ ./firefox

i dunno if thatll work, but worth a shot i guess..

detpenguin · 01-16-2005, 12:30 AM

the file you have "firefox-installer" should have a file in it called "firefox-installer"
you should be able to just click on that and it will begin the installation for you...

Toonses82 · 01-16-2005, 12:33 AM

Here's what I got from the whereis command:

Code:

[toonses82@localhost toonses82]$ whereis firefox
firefox:

Doesn't seem to be much help.

__J · 01-16-2005, 12:39 AM

run the firefox-installer again and note where it says it will install it ( I told you wrong as the default is probably /home/toonses82/firefox-installer). the firefox script you need to run is in that directory.

Toonses82 · 01-16-2005, 12:49 AM

The directory it installed into is here:

/home/toonses82/Downloads/firefox-installer

That was the default picked by the installer. It's like the program itself isn't in the folder. I downloaded this tarball from the firefox website.

nadroj · 01-16-2005, 12:54 AM

can u list here all the files in your install folder (firefox-installer or whatever)?

Commando464 · 01-16-2005, 01:00 AM

You seem to be looking in the wrong directory.

The firefox-installer directory is created when you untar your downloaded file.

Once you ran the install, should have defaulted to the /home/user/firefox directory. Look for the that in your home directories, then run the ./firefox.

__J · 01-16-2005, 01:06 AM

it installs it in $PWD, which is firefox-installer.

linux-rulz · 01-16-2005, 01:18 AM

Delete any firefox folders in your home folder, redownload the installer, and when you go through tell it to install to /home/yourname/firefox, not where it defaults to, and then finish the installation. Then close the xterm and reopen it, and then type this.

cd firefox
./firefox

And it should work. That is all!

Toonses82 · 01-16-2005, 03:42 AM

what is the command to make it list the contents of the folder in Konsole?

__J · 01-16-2005, 03:47 AM

Toonses82 · 01-16-2005, 04:19 AM

OK. I removed all the folders and the installer I downloaded. I redownloaded the .tar from here where it says "free download". To install, I do the following:

Code:

tar -xzvf firefox-1.0.installer.tar.gz
 cd firefox-installer
 ./firefox-installer

I tell the installer to install it here:
file:/home/toonses82/firefox

I then tried the ./firefox and ./mozilla-firefox. Neither worked:

Code:

[toonses82@localhost firefox]$ ./firefox
[toonses82@localhost firefox]$ ./mozilla-firefox
bash: ./mozilla-firefox: No such file or directory

So here is the list of what is in the folder:

[toonses82@localhost firefox]$ ls
browserconfig.properties
chrome/
components/
defaults/
firefox*
firefox-bin*
greprefs/
icons/
install.log
libmozjs.so*
libnspr4.so*
libnss3.so*
libnssckbi.so*
libplc4.so*
libplds4.so*
libsmime3.so*
libsoftokn3.chk
libsoftokn3.so*
libssl3.so*
libxpcom_compat.so*
libxpcom.so*
libxpistub.so*
mozilla-xremote-client*
plugins/
res/
run-mozilla.sh*
searchplugins/
xpicleanup*

I don't know what to do. I really appreciate the help though.