1

I installed Firefox 4 from the daily builds PPA, and it doesn't seem to be the latest RC, and tells me that I'd better update to it. How come a daily build is behind snapshot releases like beta or RC?

I used the profile for my Firefox 4 on Windows, I had a few app tabs saved in the profile. What gives? How do I get the Firefox Menu Button to be orange or whatever color it's supposed to be?

Improve this question
12
  • where does it say that you should update?
    – Allan
    Mar 12, 2011 at 13:00
  • Mozilla's start page.
    – Oxwivi
    Mar 12, 2011 at 13:03
  • Mozilla's start page doesn't recognise your version of firefox as it too new they only update the agent script for the site for the normal beta releases not the daily.
    – Allan
    Mar 12, 2011 at 13:07
  • @Allan, but even the about page says 4.0b13pre.
    – Oxwivi
    Mar 12, 2011 at 13:17
  • Not sure about this but the last beta version was b12 the about page on normal beta shows "4.0 Mozilla Firefox for Ubuntu Canonical - 1.0" presumably this is where they ppa's Fork presumably the rc branch will be bug fixing for release while the daily will be bringing in new features ready for 4.01 a1
    – Allan
    Mar 12, 2011 at 13:42

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

Simple Answer:

The Firefox Release Candidate (RC) is a refined build. The nightlies continue to be minefields. I would disable the nightly ppa. Then, download the RC to /opt and symlink /opt/firefox/firefox to /usr/local/bin/firefox. Once there is an official ppa for the RC releases maybe install that, but the RC from Mozilla should auto-update.

RC vs Nightlies/Dailies:

I deduce, since their launchpad has nothing to say for itself, that the Ubuntu Mozilla Daily team pulls source from Firefox and builds it. That source code is the same foundation for Mozilla.org's Nightly Builds, which you can see is currently labeled by Mozilla.org: firefox-4.0b13pre. (Possibly I'm wrong, and the Ubuntu Daily Firefox team actually pulls source from mercurial that has passed basic tests. Regardless, it's in the same category as Mozilla.org's nightlies).

The Mozilla.org Firefox Release Candidate (RC) 1 is a nightly build tested, spit-polished, and renamed. It is not an official 4.0 release, which is why you don't see the nightly builds move from 4.0b13 to 4.01 or whathaveyou. The RC has its own source branch (which I'm sure you can get using mercurial), but really won't be hacked on. You can also find the static source for RC1 at the public ftp site.

The next RC will not be built off of the RC1 code branch. It will be another nightly build tested, spit-polished, and renamed Mozilla Firefox RC2.

More about nightly builds:

Mozilla.org has this to say about its nightly builds (thus also the launchpad-mozilla-daily's daily firefox builds):

We make nightly builds for testing only. We write code and post the results right away so people like you can join our testing process and report bugs. You will find bugs, and lots of them. Mozilla might crash on startup. It might delete all your files and cause your computer to burst into flames. Don't bother downloading nightly builds if you're unwilling to put up with problems.

You'll note that Ubuntu-Mozilla-Daily's last attempt to build Firefox failed.

That said, the nightly builds should be fairly close to the release candidates, for reasons that should now be obvious.

Improve this answer
4
  • But shouldn't the daily build say it's developing the next RC build like it said for the betas?
    – Oxwivi
    Mar 15, 2011 at 10:16
  • Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the nightlies are a different branch from the RCs now. The nightlies continue with normal changes, while the RC is relatively frozen excepting very minor tweaks here and there. In fact it's possible the RC may have tweaks in anticipation of public release that aren't in the nightlies.
    – djeikyb
    Mar 15, 2011 at 11:32
  • If it's as you say, the version numbering should be more than 4.0 unlike what it says in the current about window.
    – Oxwivi
    Mar 15, 2011 at 12:05
  • It shouldn't change until 4 is a public release. There is no 4.0 release, therefore the official development branch should not be beyond 4.0. This is the behaviour I've seen in past Mozilla releases, and this one. BTW, I'm assuming that the daily-ppa is building off the nightlies.. nightly.mozilla.org
    – djeikyb
    Mar 15, 2011 at 19:14

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .