43

This question asks how to install FF32 bit while keeping the 64 bit.

I want the much more simple thing: is there a canonical way to install firefox 52 ESR as "default" firefox in my 16.04?

I found this launchpad team ... but there are no packages; probably no wonder given the fact that the linked blog article dates back to 2012.

So, 2017, Ubuntu 16.04; how to install FF 52 ESR (as I simply need the java plugin to work for me).

( my current solution: I downloaded the TAR file from mozilla, extracted that to /opt; and then changed /usr/bin/firefox to be a link to that ESR version of firefox. works, but ugly )

muru
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GhostCat
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  • I believe there is no official package, if that's what you are after. The custom install in your home (just replace /opt with ~/opt) is the best way to go, so you do not tamper with the system, and if you backup your home, it will be there when/if you need to restore. – Ante Gabrielssen Mar 20 '17 at 12:43
  • I don't backup my home, I backup my /data :-) – GhostCat Mar 20 '17 at 12:47

4 Answers4

54

There is an official Firefox ESR PPA for supported Ubuntu versions: https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox-esr
linux64kb
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ztocir
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    this should be the accepted answer, why using a completely non official ppa when there is a semi official one? But you should still explain why it is only semi-official – Jeno Nov 17 '17 at 08:59
  • I think it's official. If you look at the digital certificate of the website in a browser, you get this: You are securely connected to this site, owned by Canonical group Ltd, London, London, GB, Verified By: DigiCert Inc https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa – linux64kb Nov 29 '17 at 21:30
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    @linux64kb Irrelevant, that's the certificate for launchpad.net, not for the PPA. – Nobody Jan 03 '18 at 16:19
  • @Jeno I thought if it would be fully official it would be part of the Linux official repos, not only a ppa (which stands for Personal Package Archive) – linux64kb Feb 13 '18 at 20:12
  • @Nobody is right, Mozilla does not provide the certificate, it's Canonical. – linux64kb Feb 13 '18 at 20:19
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    @linux64kb I'm not sure I made myself clear. There is a large difference between the certificate for https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa and the certificate for the ppa which belongs to that website. No matter which PPA's launchpad site you open, the website certificate will always be from Canonical, because launchpad is their website. The key for the PPA is linked below "Technical details about this PPA" and has the user id "Launchpad PPA for Mozilla Team" which does not say anything about the official or unofficial status of that "Mozilla Team". – Nobody Feb 13 '18 at 22:48
  • Unfortunately, the above three commands by now apparently install Firefox 60 (no longer Firefox 52). – rookie099 Jan 09 '19 at 10:16
  • @rookie099 Which is probably fair, as it is 2019, and FF ESR is not 52 any more, but 60. Even ESR versions have a lifetime, that ends at some point! – GhostCat May 09 '19 at 14:52
  • This PPA appears abandoned as of 2019-10 – anx Oct 02 '19 at 18:07
29

This firefox-esr PPA works for me on Xenial: https://launchpad.net/~jonathonf/+archive/ubuntu/firefox-esr

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/firefox-esr-52
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox-esr

but please note that you will not get security updates as this version is obsolete.

N0rbert
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galatians
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    Just works. Great, thank you. And kudos to Jonathon F for providing this ppa! – GhostCat Jul 18 '17 at 10:29
  • With Firefox 57 breaking key-binding extensions by not adding the necessary API for WebExtensions (bug 1325692), I expect many users to switch to Firefox 52 ESR just to disable Ctrl+Q. – Damian Yerrick Sep 06 '17 at 23:52
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    Debian has firefox-esr package, but Ubuntu does not. You may want to vote for it on LaunchPad bug 1676164. – N0rbert Sep 10 '17 at 10:32
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    The Mozilla Team has their own PPA for ESR. I would give preference to it https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/ppa – PEdroArthur Nov 05 '17 at 16:05
  • I just did this with the Mozilla PPA. First try, all of my extensions still showed as disabled in Firefox-esr. I ended up deleting one extension and reinstalling it. Then all of them were enabled again. I also uninstalled the regular Firefox. Not sure exactly what fixed it. Recommended reading: http://www.downthemall.net/re-downthemall-and-webextensions-or-why-why-i-am-done-with-mozilla/ – Joe Nov 17 '17 at 04:36
  • But Firefox 52 esr has end of life April 2018. One needs to rather look into getting 57 to do what people want. – GhostCat Dec 16 '17 at 09:52
  • @galatians Thank you for your answer. I have followed these three commands but when typing firefox-esr the firefox-esr browser is not launched. How do you run it? Thanks – Dave Feb 23 '18 at 23:18
  • I tried these commands and updated version of firefox-esr was installed...Is any other way to install firefox-52esr. I downloaded the package and extracted in /usr/local, But it is not getting launched/started. Nothing happens by double-click on firefox. – angelmaria May 02 '19 at 12:27
2

I have added this into my ansible playbooks, thanks for @galatians .

# Firefox ESR.
- name: add apt key of firefox-esr
  become: true
  apt_key:
    keyserver: "hkp://p80.pool.sks-keyservers.net:80"
    id: 4AB0F789CBA31744CC7DA76A8CF63AD3F06FC659

- name: add apt repository of firefox-esr
  become: true
  apt_repository:
    repo: "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonathonf/firefox-esr/ubuntu {{ ansible_distribution_release }} main"
    state: present

- name: install third-party apt packages of desktop
  become: true
  apt:
    name: firefox-esr
    state: present

https://github.com/chusiang/hacking-ubuntu.ansible/blob/develop/tasks/setup_desktop.yml#L27

Chu-Siang Lai
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-1

Try the open source web application I built to generate bash script with installation steps for each application. https://www.ins2all.com/?a=Firefox_ESR

It will generate a bash script with the content:

#!/bin/bash
# Firefox ESR
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/firefox-esr

#Update system
sudo apt-get update

#Installing Firefox ESR
sudo apt-get install firefox-esr

You can run it to install the selected application.

gkvm
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  • Can we see the contents of that link? – George Udosen Dec 16 '17 at 07:28
  • It is an open source web app. You can get a bash script for installing any set of applications. – gkvm Dec 17 '17 at 01:08
  • Is there any good reason to crib from the accepted answer for the same question? If you were trying to improve the accepted answer you should instead suggest an edit. Other wise improve your answer in legitimate ways. Possibly include the contents of the script your site would generate, so that the community could weigh in on its utility. – J. Starnes Dec 29 '17 at 04:40
  • Added the script which will be generated by the application. – gkvm Dec 29 '17 at 04:55
  • It is unwise to lower the barrier to running arbitrary code from an unknown or untrusted source. See Is there any sort of automated scripts for the answer for discussion on this point. Your web site gave me a less useful version than is in your answer, disinclining me to trust it. However one good point the web site does provide the contents of the script for review before downloading it. – J. Starnes Dec 30 '17 at 18:21
  • There was a bug which was detected and fixed right before updating the answer with the script which caused some part of the commands to not be present in the file. Could you please recheck (It is a PWA so the JS file with the bug might have got cached.)? – gkvm Jan 01 '18 at 15:26
  • Also here is the complete data used for creating bash script – gkvm Jan 01 '18 at 15:33