Is there a Mageia repository that includes a modern Firefox?
 

So getting tired of not having the new features of Firefox 20 now that I'm getting used to them from every other OS I have. Is there a way other than a manual installation that I can get a modern version of Firefox and have it kept updated?

Starting in Mageia 3, the "firefox-aurora" package in the Core repository should give you the latest stable release (currently 20).

The "firefox-beta" package will let you in on version 21. :) hope it helps.

Yes it does, since I'm getting ready to upgrade to 3 sometime this week. Just need to find the time to set down and run the upgrade. Thanks!

FWIW, I've had the best luck using the firefox-beta release channel in Cauldron. I believe VoodooDali may be mistaken, as Aurora has been the alpha release channel as far back as I can remembe. It is currently at v22.

So as of today (May 1st, 2013), the firefox release channels contain the following:
Stabile: v20
Beta: v21
Aurora (Alpha): v22

I might have had that wrong; sorry. However, at the time of the initial writing, the "aurora" package in Mageia's repositories was using Firefox v. 20, and the "beta" package was using FF v. 21, while the simply "firefox" package was using the Extended Service Revision of FF v. 17.

(May be some disparity in the naming conventions, between the FF releases and the Mageia repositories. Hm.) :/

Unless your rolling FF out in a comercial environment, I would stay clear of the ESR release channel. I am not at all a fan.

Ok, so got Mageia 3 rc installed. Firefox 17.0.5 is still the default. So...I tried firefox-aurora, and it gave me a choice of installing the BETA version even though it was listed as version 20. I just want to install a non-archaic released version of Firefox but don't want BETA versions...is there any way to do this without a manual installation? Or is Mageia just not going to be something I can use as an every day system?

Ok, installed firefox-aurora. It's not Firefox current. It's the ALPHA release of current (20.0a2 at this moment), and so doesn't work with many plugins. So my original question still unfortunately stands. Is there any way to get a repository that has the CURRENT, RELEASE version of Firefox, not an alpha, beta, or a moldy oldy?

I'll ask around and see what I can find, but it may be difficult to get answers this weekend as the Mageia servers are undergoing maintenance.

I'm sorry to have given you a bum steer, and I want to make this right for you. :(

I'm not opposed to adding 3rd party repos, I just want a stable version of my personal favorite browser. I really like Mageia, but honestly, not having my personal favorite browser with a current version without doing a manual install is to me a deal-breaker. I know it sounds whiny, but I choose distros based on small things like that. WHy I love Debian as my main repo. Add Liquorix sources (modern kernels), add experimental repos (modern firefox and thunderbird), add deb-multimedia repos (modern multimedia programs), and it's awesome. Mageia seems to make a lot of that more simple since it's got modern stuff in MOST of the repos, but the whole defaults to an archaic browser with no ability to get a stable modern browser is a killer to me.

That and for whatever reason if aurora WAS the stable version, it also for some odd reason depends on the firefox-beta version, which I have no desire to have installed. Not sure why the devs decided to reuquire the beta for it, that simply makes no sense.

Here is the magical website where you can always find the latest Firefox: http://firefox.com

FF 17 was released less than 6 months ago and is 100% fully currently supported. If that's your definition of "archaic" then what does that make me? ;)

I'll never understand the mentality that not having everything spoon-fed would be a "deal-breaker." That's a very "Windows way" of thinking about things, IMHO. :( Open source means empowering the user to be in control of their system! :)

Yes, and IMO, I'd rather use a distro that has a REPOSITORY with the latest version of something is better than installing manually. It's not spoon fed, I'm simply asking if there is a repository somewhere. If there isn't, I'll simply move on and put Mageia on my list of "decent OS, but too much work for my tastes to have it working the way I want". If I wanted to install everything manually, I'd run LFS. There's a reason I run only distros that have good package managers, and good repositories available. I don't WANT to do everything manually, that's one of the reasons to NOT run windows.

So no, wanting an os that has a repository that has the software in it that I want to use is most definitely a linux way of thinking about things. The Windows way is manually installing anything that isn't available preinstalled. On of my primary reasons after being open source for running linux is having an up to date OS. There's a reason I don't care for RHEL, or CentOS, or Debian "stable". The software is simply old. I like latest and greatest STABLE versions of software. Having a 4 version old browser isn't up to date to me. It's archaic.

Well, snowpine beat me to the answer, but indeed it turns out the way to get the latest non-beta FF is to manually install. :( very sorry for the incorrect info I gave out at first.

That being said, I am having a very good run with the v.21 beta...

Bummer, I liked Mageia other than that. Thanks for the clarification that noone has created a 3rd party repo.

Which of the following is "too much work"?

Type 7 linuxquestions.org posts over 2 weeks complaining how hard it is to run the latest Firefox; delete Mageia; download, install, and configure a different distro
or
Click to download Firefox, double-click to extract tarball, double-click to lauch Firefox executable

Clearly we have very different definitions of "work"! ;)

Yes. My definition is manually installing software. Installing (most) a new distro = 6-10 clicks one time. Then (if it's debian based), apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade every week or 2. Boom, with apt pinning everything I want installed is installed (if Debian, Kubuntu no need for pinning since they have the release versions in the base repos). No manual installs ever (well, skype but that's EVERY distro so no choice there if I want to webcam with my wife).

If Arch based, Pacman -Syu and it's updated with all the latest versions, don't even need to worry about pinning or anything since it uses the latest versions. Arch even has a AUR package for Skype.

If Fedora (not that I'd ever use fedora) Yum update and it's all updated. Again, use the lastest versions so no manual installations beyond the aforementioned skype.

etc. etc. etc.

8 posts and counting. ;)

You could submit a package request that separates ESR from latest stable via Mageia's bugzilla system. I would just use beta though, works great.

Kind of off topic but as I mentioned betas is at 21 Aurora at 22, but Mozilla looks to have added yet another Firefox alpha release cycle called ionmonkey which is at 23. Anyone try it yet?

Bottom line is Firefox currently has so many release options, and Mageia has chosen to include 3 of which in their media. That's pretty good if you ask me. Also Mozilla is pushing the ESR line hard now and I have a feeling the channels may soon change.

Also as snowpine has mentioned, FF is doesn't even really have to be installed, if you want a version not included in MGA media, just download and run! That is to say no configuration scripts or compiling with gcc and the likes are involved.

Firefox22 for Mageia 3
 

It's not hard to get firefox-22 for Mageia 3.
Add 1 of the latest PCLinuxOs repositories to your system or download the file form the repositories
Then urpmi Firefox.

It will download and install 2 files Firefox-22 and one other.
Then remove the repository.

This is what I did and Firefox-22 works fine.

Or just install Debian, add the experimental repository, and it auto-updates every time Firefox releases a new version. Since there are no repos that include a modern browser, I just dumped Mageia. Nice OS, but 90% of my usage is on the internet, so I want the most modern release browser. I don't mind adding repositories to do so (such as the experimental), but if it's not possible in an OS, then it's just easier to not use the OS.

No need to switch distros.
 

90% of my usage is also on the internet. That's not a reason to dump a distro.
Beside it didn't ask what distro to switch to!
I'm still on Mageia and I using Firefox 22 and that much easier than switching.

Different strokes for different folks. If an OS doesn't have the software I want, it is a good reason not to use it to me.

Why is the answer to how do I fix a problem is switch to this or that distro?
Would you throw the baby out if it a cold? By your standard you would.

Please just answer the relevant question.

Because an OS isn't a baby.

If I bought a wrench to tighten bolts, and it would pound nails into wood pretty good, but didn't work on bolts, I'd throw it out. Most of the usage I want from it isn't there. Same thing. I use the internet 90% of the time on any OS. Mageia lacks a browser that I want to use. To me, what's the point of it? Sure, I can MANUALLY install a modern firefox, but then, I might as well use Windows that was preinstalled. So that's out the window. So, instead, use an OS that has the features I want. Chakra, Debian, Ubuntu, etc etc etc. It's not like I'm looking for some OBSCURE feature, a majority of the fairly modern OS'have this feature. I don't see a point in wasting my time using an OS where 90% of what I do, it doesn't have satisfactory tools to accomplish.

The thing is I have Mageia 3 with the latest Firefox 22 installed which is a lot easier than switching the distro.
What if the one asking the question really likes Mageia than your reply of switching distro might just piss them off.
A few years ago I asked a question and someone said switch to their distro
I did try it. I only traded 1 problem for another and got pissed off. What a waste of time. I then made the switch back.

2 answers later I got the answer I was looking for.
A lot of wasted time people can cause when they can't answer the real question.

It's my thread, saying to switch distros isn't going to piss myself off. If it does someone else, oh well, it's my thread, if they're that thin skinned, they should probably not be on the internet.

And for me, it's simply easier to switch distros than to use a distro that doesn't have the MINIMUM software that I want. The biggest reason I left Windows was because of constantly having to manage every application manually. I was more concerned with that then with their horrible licensing, their flaky OS, etc. Why would I then want to run an OS that I would get to manage like Windows, manually installing and updating software, when that was the very thing I wanted to get AWAY from? Be kinda dumb of me, IMO.

Ok lets try this another way.

Can you say that they will use every program and features exact same way you do! I'll bet not.
Have you every asked a question and got the replay to switch to thier distro and made the switch to fix your problem?

What if he has already tried it and found their is some other feature that he reburies that that you don't use and it's not their or broken?
Then he back to asking how to fix that problem.

That the problem I ran into. They said switch to their distro and it didn't meet my requirements as the one I was already using. Yes I had a problem
but it was a very simple fix! The same as upgrading Mageia 3 to Firefox 22

I'll assume that was a rhetorical question since, as you point out, this is YOUR thread and you can say anything you want. ;)

Again, I'm the OP. Suggesting to myself to switch distros means I'm auggesting switching to a distro I'm already intimately familiar with.

I'm not suggesting to anyone ELSE to switch. In fact, I've suggested Mageia to people before when asking what distro would work for them. While it doesn't work for me, if you don't mind having an outdated browser, it's not a bad OS. I just can't bring myself to use it with an outdated browser, or manage it like Windows with manual installations of software. That goes against the very reason I want to use linux. Same reason I don't use Slackware. I think it's a great OS, just it doesn't fit MY preferences. Lack of dependency resolution means I don't like managing it. Doesn't mean I don't suggest it for people who don't have that preference.

I don't understand why this thread has turned into an attack on a users choice. The OP asked if there was a way to obtain the lastest firefox via the repos in Mageia. The answer is 'no'. The OP decides to change to another distro that gives him that functionality and is berated. This is why there are so many flavours of GNU/Linux out there. Some provide functionality that others don't. Some provide a convenience that others don't. Some provide the latest stable releases of software that others don't, and the list goes on. For the OP, convenience, ease of use and current versions of software available appear to be a major factor in his choice of what to run. He has every right to jump to any distro that fulfils his need. I don't see why he should be attacked for that.

First off I didn't realize that Tim was the OP. Sorry Tim.

My grip is with when someone try's multiple Linux distros and then settles on one. Ask a question
and someone answers try this or that distro. Thats exactly what happened to me.

I tried Mint, Ubuntu, PcLinuxOs (My second favorite and a fork of Mandriva or Mageia), Mandriva, SUSE, Fedora
CentOs (Which I have to use at work) and Debian. They all much better than Windows but they all had different issues.

I asked a question a few yeas ago and was told to switch to Ubuntu. Which I already tried and didn't like the single user and other issues.

From not having all Perl modules available to not detecting all my hardware to Just didn't like their default package selection to menu layout.

Instead of answering the real question it's try their distro! Which doesn't help with the real problem and plus they may have already tried
that distro (like I had) and found other issues which were even bigger than the one in question.

By the way since PcLinuxOs is so close to Mageia and it has Firefox 22 in their repository's.

I have been running every system update and my ff is at 17.0.7

Yeah, I've used PCLOS before. Nice distro, but it has 1 fatal flaw. It uses apt as it's package manager. Which, some might say, is a great thing, apt is fantastic. And it is. So much that most of my pc's use an OS that uses apt (debian, either testing or unstable). So on my remaining few pieces of hardware, I try to avoid anything that uses apt. Right now, I'm failing, I have siduction, debian testing (debian kernel, this is what replaced Mageia) and Chakra. So only 1/3 of the machines I want to avoid Debian on are managing to do so.

The only thing I didn't like about apt was when I would try to instal multiple packages and if it couldn't find one of them it wouldn't install any of them.
I have a file with all the kids games and all on 1 line. urpmi from Mandrake and then Mandriva and now Mageia had no problem install what it could find. With apt I had to break each package into it's own line.

My only issue with apt is that it's one of the SLOWEST package managers. But, the repositories IMO make up for it, because you can find pretty much ANYTHING packaged for Debian.

I have rebuilt Firefox 23 from cauldron for Mageia 3.
Please send a private message if you want to test it.

Unless it's available in a repository so that it continues to autoupdate when I do a urpmi --auto-updates, then there's no reason to use it. This is the whole thing I want. I want to be able to use standard Mageia, but have a repository so that when I update, Firefox AUTOMATICALLY updates to a current version instead of ESR.

I notice that the alpha for Mageia 4 includes FF 23. I hope that means they're getting away from ESR.

Alpha releases are based on cauldron, which usually has the latest version of Firefox. So far as I know there is no plan to depart from using the ESR versions for stable releases. When Mageia 4 is officially released it will probably have the latest ESR version (likely to be 24).

Jim

The futur ESR is Firefox 24, so I think the inclusion of FF 23 in the alpha1 is to prepare the integration of FF24.

However, as already said, I backported Firefox 23 to Mga3, and I understand the 2 points of view (ESR vs last FF).

A way to resolve that would be to use backports from Cauldron to last stable.
I asked for a backport process since Mga1, and even if the repository is here (empty), nothing has changed as we have Mga3 now.

So the only way to go is 3rd-party repositories.
I made mine here : http://ofaurax.free.fr/repo/mga3/

$ sudo urpmi.addmedia 'ofaurax repo' http://ofaurax.free.fr/repo/mga3/

There is no warranty, I'm not even sure if I will maintain it for long.
The rpms are suffixed with .ofa3 so that you can easily the rpms that come from me with : $ rpm -qa | grep ofa3

For now there are firefox (old in stable) and gajim (crash in stable !!!)

Confirmed, the next ESR edition will be FF 24. But I don't see why the Alpha would need to maintain a current Firefox until its release. If they were going to stick with ESR, wouldn't they just maintain FF 17 in the Alpha?

Just wondering :)

Perhaps all the work done to integrate FF23 will help integrate FF24.

Its always possible to manually install Firefox by downloading it from www.mozilla.org and then just unpack it and run it from the /home/user/folder folder.

That way you can always have the newest version, for any distro :D

Already been mentioned. That doesn't auto-update via the package manager. If I wanted to do full manual updates, I'd still run Windows.

True.. And funny :)

Firefox was updated to version 24.0 a day ago.

And current Firefox is 25.0 as of last week.

Don't have that one, yet.

So the real problem here is that the Mageia repo maintainer and package maintainers on an extremely small team don't immediately get the newest version in when available from upstream.

This is reasonable. You could, however, offer to build the package, test the package, maintain the package and present it to the repo maintainer for inclusion.