[SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

rediflex · 2011-05-19 00:50:32

Well, I've finally gone and done it. I've broken something and I can't figure out how to fix it. I've googled and searched through the forum and can't find anything like this:

I downloaded Firefox 4.0 from mozilla and placed the files in /usr/bin. I added the program to my menu and made it default. Everything was beautiful until it was update time.

The good news is that Firefox has updated, but the bad news is that it will no longer run from menu or super+w. What I did was the same update procedure I used to great success om my laptop (running antiX though), I just dropped the new folder in and let it replace the old files....

I can go to the file through the file manager, and run it that way, and it is the updated version. Hitting Alt+F2 and typing in firefox gives "ERROR: Permission Denied".

I have removed it from x-www-browser, tested that it defaulted elsewhere (it chose my midori installation), then installed it again (via update-alternatives), still nothing.

I'm pretty new to all this, so I do not understand what has gone awry. I've always used debian-based distros, but have never encountered the update-alternatives script before #!. This is the first problem I've encountered so far, and any help would be appreciated beyond belief!
PS, I'm running Statler 32-bit.

Last edited by rediflex (2011-05-19 11:15:09)

anonymous · 2011-05-19 01:19:23

First when you download Firefox from the Mozilla website I would NOT place it in /usr/bin. Copy the entire folder into say /opt/.

Anyways try this:

sudo chmod 755 /usr/bin/firefox

corenominal · 2011-05-19 03:26:14

I have been using Mozilla's Firefox 4 binaries myself and I have been placing them in my home directory under '~/.firefox'. They have been working well and I have had no issues with the updates. Unless you are running a multi-user system, there really is no need to place Firefox outside of your home directory.

rediflex · 2011-05-19 11:19:39

@anonymous: I did as you suggested, and we're back! Thanks lots! I had chosen /usr/bin because it seemed like when I went poking around that was where all of the files for installed programs were, so I assumed that was where I should put FF's files too. It was working up until my attempt at updating. Chalk it up as a lesson learned, which is one of the reasons I use linux in the first place!

@corenomial: is your installation of Firefox 4 updating itself? If so, would you care to share how you set it up with the new kid?

Thorny · 2011-05-19 16:06:56

rediflex wrote:

...
I had chosen /usr/bin because it seemed like when I went poking around that was where all of the files for installed programs were, so I assumed that was where I should put FF's files too.
...
Chalk it up as a lesson learned, which is one of the reasons I use linux in the first place!
...

Cool, in my opinion, people who want to learn have the best chance of success with GNU/Linux. With that in mind, I'd suggest opening a terminal and entering the command, man hier, that will display the manual page for the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy. (There are lots of websites too that might be easier to read.) That standard can be useful for figuring out "locations" (at least what is recommended). I don't mean this to be a RTFM comment but sometimes reading the manual is the correct thing to do in one's quest for knowledge. As you have discovered to this point, one can choose to put things in a lot of non-standard places and still have functionality as long as one takes care with pathnames and links.

corenominal · 2011-05-19 16:13:07

rediflex wrote:

@corenomial: is your installation of Firefox 4 updating itself? If so, would you care to share how you set it up with the new kid?

Yes, it is updating itself. I simply extracted the tarball provided by Mozilla to the directory '~/.firefox' and then created a menu link and keyboard shortcut to '~/.firefox/firefox'. I do not have it set as my default browser, but this could be accomplished with the command:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/x-www-browser x-www-browser /home/username/.firefox/firefox 200

^ change 'username' to suit wink

Again, this is really only good for single user systems.

rediflex · 2011-05-20 00:32:26

Thanks @Thorny! I tend to forget to read things like manuals and go blundering about until I blow something up. Then I RTFM, if I remember to. This is just the way I do things/learn. Fortunately, I have more than one computer so it's okay, haha. roll
That man page is rather informative and I shall have to file that away for use in future!

@corenomial: I am running multi-user, but do you suppose this could work if I set up each user their own firefox in the home directory? Also, did you put the "." in "/.firefox"? Mine has no punctuation, is that perhaps the difference?

corenominal · 2011-05-20 00:46:55

rediflex wrote:

@corenomial: I am running multi-user, but do you suppose this could work if I set up each user their own firefox in the home directory? Also, did you put the "." in "/.firefox"? Mine has no punctuation, is that perhaps the difference?

Yes, it will work, but it is not overly efficient; however, having said that, if your system has plenty of free disk space, it should not matter.

And yes, I put the period in the name, just to make it a hidden directory. Just a personal preference, not a requirement. smile

rediflex · 2011-05-20 01:16:27

I'm going to play wait-and-see on the current setup to see if it autoupdates, if not I may go to that sort of setup. Disk space isn't an issue on this machine. Just because this box *can* run, say, Mint + tons of eyecandy, etc, doesn't mean I want that. I'm loving the minimal feel of #!

P.S. Good luck finding new employment! (Your CV should read "Master of #!, need we say more?")

anonymous · 2011-05-20 01:33:00

If autoupdating is really important, you could considering installing Firefox through the Linux Mint repo:

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … n-statler/

This way, you have Firefox installed to the system (and not one copy per user) and you can update it like any other package.

rediflex · 2011-05-20 01:49:18

I could do that, but the whole point of not using Mint on this machine is to get my hands dirty and learn how to make things work without using Synaptic. If all else fails, then this will be backup plan #2. I've used mint on other machines for some time now, and felt kinda like it was holding my widdle hand too much. That's what I get for being an insatiable tinkerer. (things going crunch! bang! is the other thing I get.)

chillicampari · 2011-05-20 04:25:42

This is just one package that Mint has put together for Debian Edition but you can use it in CrunchBang with the instructions anonymous linked to. So you don't need (and won't get) all of Mint, you'll just be using the LMDE version of Firefox (there's compatible stuff between and LMDE).

But if you want to avoid Synaptic or Apt and get the updates, I'd probably just stick it off home like corenominal posted.

Thorny · 2011-05-20 14:56:09

rediflex wrote:

...
I am running multi-user, but do you suppose this could work if I set up each user their own firefox in the home directory?...

I see this has been resolved to your satisfaction, just one more comment.

If you choose to do it that way, something you might want to consider is that each user would have to upgrade because each would have their own directory for the firefox (not to be confused with the mozilla directory which has userspace configuration information for the browser). On a multi-user system, /usr/local, might be a better choice with an appropriate path statement in the launchers you create for your users.

As previously, as long as you take care with links; path; and permissions, you have considerable freedom as to where you locate things physically.

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2011-05-19 00:50:32

[SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#2 2011-05-19 01:19:23

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#3 2011-05-19 03:26:14

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#4 2011-05-19 11:19:39

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#5 2011-05-19 16:06:56

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#6 2011-05-19 16:13:07

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#7 2011-05-20 00:32:26

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#8 2011-05-20 00:46:55

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#9 2011-05-20 01:16:27

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#10 2011-05-20 01:33:00

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#11 2011-05-20 01:49:18

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#12 2011-05-20 04:25:42

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

#13 2011-05-20 14:56:09

Re: [SOLVED]Firefox update gone horribly! wrong!

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