I was surfing the web today and noticed that there is a 1.4rc3 release of mozilla out. Out of curiosity I checked what version I have. 1.2.0, hmmm fresh out of a RH9 install too and I'm already 2 micro version releases off. The crazy freak I am, always having to have the newest and latest, I decided to download it. Got to the site and saw something ALL TOO FAMILIAR, to anyone who uses windows. An installer to add an 'automatic feedback feature', can anyone say IE!!! So 2 lines down I see a regular tar file without any Talk Back feature seamingly associated with it, hmm I wonder. I download it, unzip it, and follow the instructions.. just use ./mozilla in the unzipped directory to run it. Sure enough it loads right then and there. I check my bookmarks, all there how strange. Check help, about. Verion 1.4 hmm, guess that was it. So is this really all there was to installing the new version of Mozilla? Or is the about tab lying to me? I wish IE was this easy. But how are my bookmarks still here when the old mozilla was installed in the default , /usr/bin/ or whatever directory?

Yes, its that easy because you downloaded a precompiled tarball. Compiling from source is not so easy.

Your settings are there, because preferences are stored in a directory called ".mozilla" in your home directory. the "." means its hidden.

Most settings are stored in a hidden directory or file in your home directory. Makes backing up your settings easy.

All I can say is, "WOW!!". I'm now in love with linux. Thanx for the info too about hidden directories, didn't know that. Hmm.. so would all I have to do is move my home directory to a backup parititon and reinstall and reinstate that directory and ALL my settings would be there? Or am I pushing it? For the last 4 days I've been trying to figure out how and what to backup in case I needed a fresh install.

No, that would work fine. Not EVERY setting is stored there, but if you save your home directory and the /etc directory, you should get 99% of them. BUT, make sure when you move the directory, it moves the hidden directories as well. Not everything will do that.

Ok thanx... LOL, btw just noticed your signature. Niiiicce. I'll be laughing about that for a bit. *thinks about how many times he's seen the word user in these forums today*

Although I'm rather paranoid about it, myself, Mozilla *is* a release of development builds ahead of the Netscape releases, which are what are actually intended for the public. The developers do need to gather crash data - basically what they offer the downloads for *is* "testing purposes" so that the Netscape releases are pretty bug free for Joe User. And to fully play the game, you're supposed to enable those data reports as well as provide feedback personally in the newsgroups and forums. So it isn't really all that evil.

That being said, I don't enable talkback, either.

mozilla isn't just a testing build of Netscape, its a seperate project all together. One is open source, one is not. Thats a big difference.

Sounded like an MS rep right there until...

you said that.

MS rep? I wish I could be. They'd go bankrupt in days.

contrasutra, maybe I overstated it - I don't know the details of the association. But the way I understand it, Netscape *did* release their code and partly sponsor a bunch of freelance developers who produce Mozilla. Mozilla development reached a stable level with 1.0 and then forked to produce a more experimental line, while Netscape 7.0 is essentially Mozilla 1.0 with branding slapped on and AIM built-in. Maybe the changes do "re-proprietarize" the whole browser package, but they are related. And now that Mozilla is heading for a change, the 1.5 release may be the last and, in turn, will be the sign for Netscape to switch to that trunk with their next browser. While the unstable split-Phoenix *cough* excuse me - "Firebird" junk will be the new developmental line that Netscape may or may not incorporate later. I dunno about all that, though. I've never been happy with any browser except Mozilla 1.0-1.3 beta. I don't want an IE knockoff like Phoenix *or* a Netscape logo.