Regarding firefox file labeled: tar.gz
 

This looks like it could be simple, but I'm embarrassed to ask this......I have never done this before:

How do I install the following program:

firefox-2.0.0.1.tar.gz

I have never used a "tar" file before....and though I found some stuff about it on google, I wanted to ask others on this website....how do you do it....is it tough? Does it require lots of command line knowledge?

If I install this newer Firefox (version 2.0.0.1) then how do I uninstall my older Firefox (version 1.5 something)?

Or should I leave my older Firefox version along side the newer Firefox version?

Much thanks from Super N00B !!!!

/ Mepis 6.0 distro

Can you not get the latest version from the Mepis package Manager? The reason I ask is that often mixing source installs and package installs can break things.

If this is the only way to go, on Slackware one would do and then move the new, unzipped directory to /usr/lib. The next step is to remove the link called /usr/lib/firefox and then recreate it pointing to the new Firefox directory. And possibly copy the contents of /usr/lib/firefox/plugins to the new Firefox directory.

When I install something that is not in the repositories, I put it in /opt. I can run both 1.5.X and 2.x on the same machine with no problems.

FF 2.X is not in the Mepis repositories--at least not the ones I have enabled. AND, I have found no advantage in using v.2

Here's the general procedure for installing such files:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=45094

I don't think you will have to compile Firefox. After you have extracted the package, open up the new directory and open the file labeled "firefox" and it should just work. Then you can optionally remove your existing version of Firefox, move the new Firefox, it doesn't have to go where your old version was, as long as you know where it is, and change your links to point to the new Firefox. Easy.

thanx johngreenwood...
 

thanx finaaly my 10mb that i used for downloading firefoxdidnt get wasted...
one more thing do i get free shipment cds of susi linux............

i belive taht suse charge shipping on cd that covers their costs but makes no profit..

however you can download the iso files easially eitehr direct or via bittorrent (recomended)
i find suse isos to be the fastest torrents i have ever downloaded

If you are going to install SuSE, go to the SuSE/Novell forum on this site. There is a sticky on how to add a packman repository to use as a source for programs like xmms, audacity, xine, mplayer or any media related program. The SuSE packages are built without these features enabled do to patent and copyright laws of various countries might not allow it. ( I'm not suggesting you didn't know that, just trying to save you some time if you didn't ).

It is handy in YaST to apply a filter by repository. Then a second filter will appear where you can search by pattern. Entering Xine for example, you can right click on the right-hand side pane and select "update all if newer".

From your experience
 

From your experience, how safe is Firfox 1.5XXX compared to 2.XXXX ???

Internet safety / security is the reason I want to upgrade, because I heard that 1.5XXX will not be supported as of April or May 2007 (though I can't remember where I heard that).

Here are directions I got from Mozzila's site in November last year. I also had to change permissions with command: "chmod -R a+x /usr/local/firefox". Then I created an icon for it on the desktop and put "/usr/local/firefox/./firefox" in the command path of the icon. I did remove the original firefox that came with Mandrake through software removal in MCC but it is not necessary. Also, I agree with pixellany, there is no advantage, as a matter of fact...opening the first Google home page takes longer.


Linux

First, download the latest release to your home directory with your browser or download manager.

bash$ cd ~
bash$ wget http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/.../firefox-<version>.tar.gz


Next, extract the contents with an archiving utility such as Ark or tar.

bash$ tar zxf firefox-<version>.tar.gz


Now you must select the installation directory. If you are the only user, the extracted files could stay where they are, but If this is a multi-user system, the firefox directory must be moved to a publicly accessible location such as /usr/local or /opt.

bash$ su
<password>
bash# mv firefox /usr/local
bash# chown -R root:root /usr/local/firefox


The installation is more or less complete, but it's recommended that the firefox script be available somewhere in your path to avoid the inconvenience of having to enter the full path. This can be accomplished by creating a symbolic link in the relative 'bin' directory.


For the personal installation:

bash$ mkdir bin
bash$ cd bin
bash$ ln -s ../firefox/firefox .


Or the mult-user installation (as root):

bash# cd /usr/local/bin
bash# ln -s ../firefox/firefox .


Many Linux distributions already include /usr/local/bin and ~/bin in their global environment variable path, which can easily be verified by running 'firefox' from the shell or the desktop environment's (run) menu. If execution fails (command not found), you can adjust the path by appending "/usr/local/bin:$HOME/bin" to the existing PATH variable in /etc/profile and/or /etc/bashrc.

Currently, 1.5.0.x is every bit as safe as 2.0.0.x, as the 1.5.0.10 security update was just released. However, security support for 1.5.0.x will be dropped in April.

Why / how would mixing
 

Why / how would mixing source installs with package installs break things? I had the impression that if you installed from source, then it doesn't matter what distro you use.

It doesn't matter which distro you use. BUT, and this is a big but, let's say you decide to install Gtk from source and then you install a program which requires Gtk via the package manager. The package manager is only aware of programs installed using the package manager (or, indeed, the packages - .deb for example). Source installs will be out there on their own.

Unless you are planning to overwrite every package with a source version, I would strongly advise you to avoid mixing the two - it will save you a lot of work further down the line. It will also stop you (as some have done) starting a thread in which "a program I am trying to install is asking for 3 other programs which are definitely installed - what could be wrong?". :)

So if I wanted
 

XavierP:

So if I wanted to "play it safe" and keep it "noob friendly," then I should avoid mixing "source" with "package," correct?

/ want to play safe
// want to keep it noob friendly too
/// just want the simple life