Friday, 22 January 2010

How-To: Install Firefox 3.6 in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic

Firefox 3.6 was released yesterday, after over six months since the last major release, version 3.5. Firefox 3.6 ships with versions for over 70 languages, support for Personas, an add-on allowing you to change the appearance of the tab bar and choose from thousands of themes, improvements to the open video support (like the fullscreen mode), improved JavaScript performance and start-up time, support for the new DOM and HTML5 specs.

This is a short tutorial which will show how to install Firefox 3.6 in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala from the Mozilla Daily PPA.

First, open the terminal and add the necessary repository addresses to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Or, for a GUI editor:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following two lines:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

Notice that the second line is only needed if you plan to fetch the source code for Firefox. Make sure to save the file and proceed to the next step.

Now, add the trusted key for this repository:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 247510BE

Update your packages list:

sudo apt-get update

Remove the current Firefox installation:

sudo apt-get remove --purge firefox

And now install version 3.6:

sudo apt-get install firefox-3.6

Now you may want to create a new profile for the new 3.6 version. To do this, run Firefox with the -P parameter:

firefox -P

To run two different instances of Firefox and different profiles you can use:

firefox --no-remote -P

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

followed your steps, now i have namaroka web browser, not ff.

going back to ff 3.5.

thanks, mozilla, for not providing a simple deb install

Anonymous said...

"namaroka" is code name build ff 3.6

Craigevil said...

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ubuntuzilla/index.php?title=Main_Page#Installation

or just use the mozilla package much simpler, since it updates whenever Mozilla releases a new version.

Anonymous said...

how do I place ff 3.6 on the Applications menu?

JeffHoogland said...

It really is a shame Mozilla refuses to provide simple .deb package (or heck even .bin) for Firefox - as such it is more difficult to get a new version installed on Ubuntu than it is on Windows - this is just one of many reason Google's Chrome is my default browser.

~JEff

Yfrwlf said...

It's really a shame that Linux distros don't offer an intelligent cross-distro standardized easy installation method to allow users to do things like install the next major version of something easily. They shouldn't have to provide a package specifically for Ubuntu, they should only have to release a single package for all Linux distros, and Linux distros should all support some package standard so that this is possible. I don't care if they keep their silly proprietary package formats, just make yourselves compatible with a standard package format too that works so that users and developers alike don't have this lame headache to deal with when thinking about Linux support.

Anonymous said...

I saw similar recipes elsewhere, tried them, but had no luck with my flavor of x64 'buntu (Crunchbang), probably in result of some previous fumbling of mine.

But if you gonna get your Firefix off a ppa, why not go for Mozillateam's Stable Release instead (you'll get regular FF, not Namoroka):

https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/firefox-stable

Hey (although it required some further fuggling from my part) it worked for me -- I am using the result as I type...

Anonymous said...

easier method:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily

then follow the rest of the instructions starting with

sudo apt-get update

cheap ds r4 said...

Installed…..and it’s fast although not as fast as Chrome. 36% faster than Firefox 3.5.7 when benchmarking using Peacekeeper Browser Benchmark.
Love it…

Anonymous said...

I m using Firefox 3.6 in Ubuntu and its an incremental improvement that introduces a modest assortment of new features and expands the browser's support for emerging Web standards. It adds fuel to the fire as the flame-throwing fox continues to scorch Internet Explorer's declining market share to bring more choice and openness to the Web.

ibd magazine

Akhil said...

Good post Thanks

Anonymous said...

Has anyone got the Java plugin to work with the Firefox 3.6 browser? I'm having no success in getting this browser version Java enabled!

Unknown said...

if you have issues with Java Plugin check out this:
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ubuntuzilla/index.php?title=Main_Page#Java_plugin_not_showing_up_.28on_Ubuntu_Karmic.29

Anonymous said...

if you have issues with java plugin checkout

http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ubuntuzilla/index.php?title=Main_Page#Java_plugin_not_showing_up_.28on_Ubuntu_Karmic.29

Cordless Screwdriver said...

I still can't install this Version of Firefox in to my Karmic. Don't know why.

Unknown said...

Awesome & Informative article regarding two of the best browsers one is chrome & second is firefox browser performance. Thanks to share...

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