I junst installed Firefox and I can run it as non-su (that took a little doing), but I cannot change the preferences. I to to Edit --> Preferences, then try to change something like the opening page, click OK, but nothing happens. The dialogue box just stays there. I suspect this has something to do with permissions, but even though I have read quite a bit about file permissions, I must have a brain block about them. I am a bit confused about when and what permissions should be granted.

This Firefox problem also might have something to do with where I installed it. Right now, it is in /usr/bin/firefox, but I have read that it should be in in /usr/local Would that be where I am going wrong. I installed it according to some directions I found on the Mozilla site (at least I think that is where I found them) that said to install where I installed it. However, this may be wrong.

I use Firefox almost exclusively on my Windows machine at work, and I really like it so I would like to get this working on my Linux machine.

well, i have it on /usr/local/firefox/ with a link on /usr/bin
try to remove all the files and copy them again there, then make a symbolic link as root in /usr/bin like this:
cd /usr/bin
ln -s /usr/local/firefox/firefox .
(notice the .......... at the end!!!!!!!!)

i have the folder .mozilla in my home, where i have write acces (of course)... try it, maybe it would work


have a while,


leg

I've got to say I'm a bit confused; doesn't Fedora have pre-compiled Firefox binaries available? I'm 99% certain that Debian does (though admittedly you'd likely have to get them from Sid).

Or are said binaries so broken that when installed, a regular user can't use them? I can't imagine that the necessity for all this copying of core files can be "normal" for the distribution's binaries. I can imagine it being normal if one used the installer on the Mozilla site, but then again, if the distribution provides precompiled binaries (*.rpm or *.deb), then you wouldn't be using the installer on the Mozilla site anyway.

I told you I'm confused (clearly)... .

legolin,

I'm really new to linux, so this may be a stupid question, but how did you get the .mozilla directory into your home and get firefox to recognize that it's there? (I'm on fedora 2, and I have installed firefox into both /usr/local/firefox and my home, to no avail)

silverw

Disreguard my previous post, I figured it out. I deleted firefox then installed it from an RPM (as su) I found on http://dag.wieers.com/packages/firefox/
I could still not save the settings (one setting in particular--the homepage). After I logged out and logged back in as non-su, everything worked. I won't pretend to understand why, but i'm happy!

silverw

Why don't you try creating a new profile.

Start firefox by

firefox -P

Use your new profile then try saving some changes e.g. your home page and see if it works.