Hello all,

I am trying to start firefox with the -profilemanager option but I cannot start the program from the command line.

How would I launch firefox from the command line?

Firefox starts when I double click on the "firefox" application/x-shellscript file from a file browser window but when I cd to that directory and type "firefox" from the command line I get the return:
bash: firefox: command not found

Are x-shellscript files only for starting programs from the GUI and not from the command line?

try ./firefox --options from the directory

Courthold,

Thanks. It worked.

./firefox -profilemanager worked also.

Is the period slash preceeding the shellscript filename required to execute all shellscripts from the command line?

The ./ is required for running scripts/programs unless you add that directory to what is called the PATH or Environment Variable. ./ tells bash to look for the program/script you want to run in your current working directory.

The PATH variable names what are essentially global folders, folders that you can run programs from without having to be in them to do so.

You can add Firefox to the PATH Variable for the current session by running the command :
export PATH=$PATH:[PATHTOFIREFOX]

If you want to add it to the PATH variable permenatly there is a guide on how to do that here. This guide refers to commands that you would use in a Perl Script but farther down it has instructions on how to modify your Bash Startup Script so that a directory is added to the PATH Variable.

damicatz,

Ok. Great. Thanks for the explanation, very helpful.

Linux is awesome.

just as a FYI, you can also create a symbolic link to firefox. Something like
ln -s /path/to/firefox /usr/bin/firefox

this basically makes a shortcut in /usr/bin/ to wherever you installed firefox. Since /usr/bin/ is definitely in your path, you'll be able to type "firefox" from anywhere.