How do I install FF DE on Linux?

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CBI Web
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How do I install FF DE on Linux?

Post by CBI Web »

I've moved over to Linux, and want to install Developer Edition on it, specifically on MX Linux (if anyone happens to be familiar with that distro).

DE doesn't come in the available packages for MX, so I need to install it manually.

As a newbie to Linux, I could use some direction on how to do that. I've found a couple sites that give instructions, but they seem to conflict with each other in some respects. what supposedly worked in 2016 was different in 2019, and here we are in 2022.

I don't want to bork anything that would make me have to reinstall, so if anyone can help it would be much appreciated. :)
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WaltS48
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Re: How do I install FF DE on Linux?

Post by WaltS48 »

On Fedora 35 Workstation, Gnome desktop, I just download the tarball file, then right-click on it, select "Extract to" from the context menu, select a location, and it is installed.
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CBI Web
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Re: How do I install FF DE on Linux?

Post by CBI Web »

WaltS48 wrote:On Fedora 35 Workstation, Gnome desktop, I just download the tarball file, then right-click on it, select "Extract to" from the context menu, select a location, and it is installed.
Interesting, So when you say "select a location", you can put it anywhere? Windows wants everything in Program Files. Linux (or at least your distro) doesn't require a specific location?
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therube
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Re: How do I install FF DE on Linux?

Post by therube »

Is "nightly" the same as "Developer Edition"?
If so (& not that I know Linux) but I'd think if you download the latest .tar.bz2, unpack it, someplace, & run unpackDir/firefox...

Something like, firefox-102.0a1.en-US.linux-x86_64.tar.bz2, from http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/2022/05/.

(Seemingly "Developer" is [currently] 101, so then maybe, http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/cand ... es/build1/.)
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ElTxolo
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Re: How do I install FF DE on Linux?

Post by ElTxolo »

CBI Web wrote: [....] so I need to install it manually.

As a newbie to Linux, I could use some direction on how to do that. I've found a couple sites that give instructions, but they seem to conflict with each other in some respects. what supposedly worked in 2016 was different in 2019, and here we are in 2022.

I don't want to bork anything that would make me have to reinstall, so if anyone can help it would be much appreciated. :)
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James
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Re: How do I install FF DE on Linux?

Post by James »

therube wrote:Is "nightly" the same as "Developer Edition"?
If so (& not that I know Linux) but I'd think if you download the latest .tar.bz2, unpack it, someplace, & run unpackDir/firefox...
Firefox Developers Edition is basically the same as Beta but with additional developer features.

Release < Beta b# < Nightly a1

If you are an only user then a easy way for the user to have read/write permissions for Firefox folder is to have Firefox folder in /home/ in order to get internal updates.
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Re: How do I install FF DE on Linux?

Post by CBI Web »

Thanks, though unfortunately I looked at those articles previously and they didn't work out. They seem to be outdated or not easy for a Linux newbie to understand well. However, I did figure it out from another site.

In a nutshell, this is what worked for me (and it can actually be used for any application, not just FF DE):
  1. Download the application file, usually a .tar file
  2. Extract it to /home/[username]/bin (create the bin directory manually if necessary).
  3. Create a .desktop launcher file
Done!

I found what I needed at this site. Scroll down to the heading "Application Directory" for complete details on how to do the above steps, especially for how to create a .desktop launcher file.

Note: For step #2, if other people are using the same machine and need access to the application, it's best to place it in the /opt directory.

I'm new to Linux, so there may be other or more 'proper' ways to accomplish the same thing, but this is what worked for me, and is quite simple compared to some of the instructions that are out there.

Hopefully this will be useful for other new Linux users in the future. :)
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Re: How do I install FF DE on Linux?

Post by WaltS48 »

CBI Web wrote:
WaltS48 wrote:On Fedora 35 Workstation, Gnome desktop, I just download the tarball file, then right-click on it, select "Extract to" from the context menu, select a location, and it is installed.
Interesting, So when you say "select a location", you can put it anywhere? Windows wants everything in Program Files. Linux (or at least your distro) doesn't require a specific location?
All the instructions say to install it to the /opt directory.

I'm a rebel and created an Apps folder in my Home folder. Works for me when I was using Ubuntu, Gnome, and now Fedora Gnome. Can't remember what I did when using Linux Mint, Cinnamon, Kubuntu, or openSUSE.

I have Firefox Beta and Nightly, Thunderbird Release, Beta and Daily installed there, along with the Fedora supplied Firefox and Thunderbird releases wherever Fedora puts them.
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