1

I have downloaded the firefox (quantum) .tar.bz2 , how to replace (not use side by side),the older version of firefox (which is there by default) with the downloaded firefox executable?

Ashish Kumar
  • 111
  • Doing so is not a good idea as you would be replacing system files outside of apt. This can result in conflicts with system libs, especially with a large package such as firefox, and / or , less likley, break apt. Use a ppa https://launchpad.net/~mozillateam/+archive/ubuntu/firefox-next (I believe this is quantum) . If not, just wait for the release and I am sure there will be a ppa soon enough. – Panther Nov 08 '17 at 16:16

2 Answers2

2

I would extract the .tar version in /opt/ and then edit the launcher to point to the binary inside /opt/firefox/. The launcher is probably in /usr/share/applications/desktop.firefox.

Make a local copy (that one takes precedence) en edit it from command line with:

cp /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/firefox.desktop

Replace firefox in the Exec to /opt/firefox/firefox and the launcher icon will start the new version.

If you rename the launcher to firefox2.desktop you can have 2 launchers for firefox and start both ...

cp /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/firefox2.desktop
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/firefox2.desktop
Rinzwind
  • 299,756
1

If you like the beta, Firefox quantum is in the firefox-next ppa

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

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

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade firefox

Installing from the ppa is better , IMO , than manually replacing system files. It is easily reversed and will not cause system conflicts.

Quantum

Panther
  • 102,067