How do I install the latest stable version of Firefox?

Question

I want to install the latest Firefox on my Ubuntu (64bit) box.

What is the best way to do this? Is there a specific update site or should I download the binaries manually? If doing manually, in which directory should I put the files? In my home directory, or is there a better place?

Answer 1

The latest version of Firefox is available for as a security updates in all supported releases of Ubuntu, just doing a normal update will pull it in.

Usually it's available within a few hours of Mozilla's announcement, sometimes faster, depending on the archive builders, and the speed of your local mirror, etc.

Answer 2

There is 2 ways to install the Firefox 4 beta version. But first, here are a few points to learn before entering the beta:

A. Prior to test the Firefox 4 beta

1. Firefox Sync

If you are using Firefox Sync (previously called Weave). It is integrated in the beta. So you do not need the add-on. What does it implies to early adopter? Some glitches that the user of the final release won't notice.

Mozilla needs to enhance the scalability of the Sync architecture, as this is going to be directly incorporated in the Firefox 4 release, the number of user is going to grow. So they change quite a few bit of the Sync architecture, that's why you probably saw an new update of the add-on if you're using it with the current stable release. Now this add-on is in version 1.5 (incompatible with add-on of earlier release, which means if you've updated this add-on on one of your Firefox, you have to do it on all the other).

As far as I know the current beta of Firefox (beta 6) is "compatible" with the Sync 1.4 protocol, so Sync will not work any longer with the beta if you have updated your add-on to the 1.5 release. However, as soon as beta 7 is out (should be days now), this will work.

On the other side, if you're still using the 1.4 version of the Sync add-on on your stable Firefox release, then it should work with the beta 6, and as soon as you upgrade to beta 7, it will migrate your Sync data to the new architecture. So if you want to still use Firefox 3.6 on other machine, you will have to upgrade the add-on.

If you are definitively using Firefox 4 on a machine, you can uninstall the Firefox Sync plug-in, as it is not needed anymore.

2. Warnings

This is still a beta, so things don't work always. They are still numerous slowdown, site that don't work (e.g. one.ubuntu.com is partly broken, I cannot upload file, or publish them from the web interface).

B. A generic way, that work on all Linux distribution

You can either go to Firefox Beta page and download the latest beta. But this will download the 32bit version of Firefox, which is buggy on a 64bit system. Or you could go to Firefox Repository page where you can find the link for the latest beta (currently 4.0b6) then choose linux-x86_64 for the 64bit version, then select your language or en_US for English. And there you can download the file ending in .bz2

Then you could create a directory where you're going to test this release of Firefox, unpack the downloaded package (I assume it is in your $HOME/Downloads folder) and launch it:

cd $HOME
mkdir Apps
cd Apps
tar jxf ~/Downloads/firefox-4.0b*.tar.bz2

To launch it, it's probably more interesting to create a "Launcher" (Gnome specific), an icon on your desktop to launch the beta. I guess there are similar steps for KDE. For this:

1. Display your Desktop
2. Right click and choose Create launcher... from the popup menu
3. Type Firefox 4 beta for the name
4. Next to Command click on the "Browse" button, and browser through to the Apps -> firefox and select firefox
5. Click on OK and double-click the Launcher :-)

C. An Ubuntu specific way

You just have to add the Mozilla Firefox-Next PPA to your list of sources. There is a really good answered question about what is a PPA and how to add one, so I'm not going to repeat it here, just check the answers here: What are PPAs and how do I use them.

The PPA name to add (you will need it when you will follow the answers) is: ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next And Install Firefox 4 Beta as instructed in the same answered question.

Answer 3

Read Firefox 4, 5 & Beyond Mega Thread or my tutorial:

Answer 4

step 1 : Setup the Mozilla - Ubuntu daily PPA and update your package list using the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa && sudo apt-get update

step 2: After the repository gets updated, you can install Firefox-4.0 on your Ubuntu system using the following command:

sudo apt-get install firefox-4.0

Answer 5

If you want the Beta you can use this PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next

Source - Firefox Next

If you want the Bleeding Bloody Edge Next 2.0 Experience (Firefox 11.x now) then use this PPA:

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

Sources - Firefox Daily Builds (WARNING - Very unstable and you get several updates a day)

Answer 6

Here is what I found works best:

Download it from mozilla.com and extract it (to wherever you want). It creates a folder called "firefox" and in that folder there is a file called "firefox". Drag this file onto your panel, and it asks you to give the new launcher a name (call it Firefox, but it doesn't matter), and you're done. To open Firefox just use the new launcher on the panel (the correct icon should be there automatically).

Be wary though that the firefox command still opens your old installation.

Answer 7

You can add the ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next PPA which holds the Release builds(alpha, beta, RC) of the current development version of Firefox which currently is rc1.

Firstly add the PPA ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next(How to Add a PPA) then install firefox-4.0 from the software center.

Answer 8

right now I suggest you not to install the firefox. Just download the tar file from

Download firefox 4

Untar this tar file in your home and double click the file run-mozilla.sh and you will have your firefox 4. If you want you can create a shortcut to the home folder for instant access.