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Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#101

Post by thorvaldsson »

lolinder wrote: post #10

> Getting the latest version with features and security fixes is key to having a good experience whenever you use Firefox. Now, our new APT repository is directly connected to the Firefox release process, so you will receive the latest updates whenever we make them available. Tip: you will still need to restart Firefox for the latest version. In the past when I've installed Firefox through a .deb, it has had this ann…

This behaviour can be disabled by blacklisting Firefox from APT's unnattended upgrades. I wrote[0] something up on this last year if anyone is interested.

[0]: https://hth.is/2023/01/10/blacklist-firefox/

Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#102

Post by fransje26 »

amiga386 wrote: post #95

I was already using the ~mozillateam PPA, because fuck Snap, but it'll be great to have an offical Firefox repository. Ubuntu, if you're listening: fuck Snap. I'm never going to use it. I stripped from all my Ubuntu machines. If you try and force it upon me, I'm moving to Debian, no matter how much hurt that causes me.

You could also switch to Linux Mint, they have a very definitive anti-snap position. I would really like them to bring back an official KDE spin though..

Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#103

Post by thejsa »

declan_roberts wrote: post #71

This is a great update from the Mozilla team! Please continue the hard work. The only thing missing is a continued commitment to privacy and liberty. What has changed since the infamous “We Need More Deplatforming (2021)”[1] article by CEO Mitchell Baker? I absolutely can not move past this and I think Mozilla needs to make a strong commitment to our civil rights. 1. https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/we-need-more-t…

> the infamous “We Need More Deplatforming (2021)”[1] article

That seems a misquote; the title of the article you link is "We need more than deplatforming", and it isn't apparent to me that it advocates for deplatforming at all.

Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#104

Post by figomore »

cricalix wrote: post #96

Huh. I just migrated off of the Flatpak to the .tar.bz2 version because I ran into the fact that the Flatpak version has no functioning mDNS resolution. The impact of that is all the stuff that expects .local to work.. doesn't. Can ping etc from shell, but Firefox just goes "Nope, no idea, doesn't exist, give up now". Lots of discussion on multi-year old bugs, but no fix that I could find. I generally solved it by do…

I did a testing here and it’s working now.

Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#105

Post by lolinder »

pmontra wrote: post #46
lolinder wrote: post #10

> Getting the latest version with features and security fixes is key to having a good experience whenever you use Firefox. Now, our new APT repository is directly connected to the Firefox release process, so you will receive the latest updates whenever we make them available. Tip: you will still need to restart Firefox for the latest version. In the past when I've installed Firefox through a .deb, it has had this ann…

I remember that it required me to restart whenever I opened a new tab, or I wouldn't be able to use that tab. Anything in already opened tabs still worked. Then I switched from Ubuntu to Debian and I also installed the tar.gz from Mozilla. As you wrote, it updates itself. As a welcome coincidence I checked the version right now and the Help, About Firefox dialog showed me an updating status. There is a updates/0/upda…

> I remember that it required me to restart whenever I opened a new tab, or I wouldn't be able to use that tab. Anything in already opened tabs still worked.

That might have been the case. I almost invariably open every link in a new tab, so for my use case it would have felt the same as nothing working.

Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#106

Post by mderazon »

m45t3r wrote: post #31

This is a welcome addition for Chromebooks, because now you can install latest Firefox (not ESR) in Crostini without using Flatpak. Sadly Mozilla still doesn't offer `aarch64-linux` builds for Firefox in their official channels, so for those that have a ARM64 Chromebook will still need to use something else to get Firefox running (I use Nix, but it needs some complicated setup to work with hardware acceleration, for…

How's your experience with Firefox in ChromeOS compared to Chrome ? Doesn't it feel second class ?

Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#107

Post by butz »

fransje26 wrote: post #102
amiga386 wrote: post #95

I was already using the ~mozillateam PPA, because fuck Snap, but it'll be great to have an offical Firefox repository. Ubuntu, if you're listening: fuck Snap. I'm never going to use it. I stripped from all my Ubuntu machines. If you try and force it upon me, I'm moving to Debian, no matter how much hurt that causes me.

You could also switch to Linux Mint, they have a very definitive anti-snap position. I would really like them to bring back an official KDE spin though..

With KDE Plasma 6 release just around the corner, it would be great to see more distributions providing KDE desktop environment as equal to GNOME, instead of "spin".

Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#108

Post by wkat4242 »

Symbiote wrote: post #47
wkat4242 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does that on FreeBSD as well yeah. Not a huge deal for me as I only install updates when I'm not in the middle of things. I love an OS that doesn't force me to do anything <3

Disabling auto-updates on Ubuntu/Debian is, obviously, just a configuration option.

True, I was thinking more of Windows and MacOS.

I chose FreeBSD for a few things like jails, ZFS as first class citizen and no corporate "invented here" crap like snaps.

But I really hate coming back to my pc after a few days and find that it has rebooted to install an update, all my open work be damned. There's no good way to turn that off, nor the telemetry.

Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#109

Post by dotancohen »

lolinder wrote: post #105
pmontra wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember that it required me to restart whenever I opened a new tab, or I wouldn't be able to use that tab. Anything in already opened tabs still worked. Then I switched from Ubuntu to Debian and I also installed the tar.gz from Mozilla. As you wrote, it updates itself. As a welcome coincidence I checked the version right now and the Help, About Firefox dialog showed me an updating status. There is a updates/0/upda…

> I remember that it required me to restart whenever I opened a new tab, or I wouldn't be able to use that tab. Anything in already opened tabs still worked. That might have been the case. I almost invariably open every link in a new tab, so for my use case it would have felt the same as nothing working.

Tree Style Tab user?

Re: Mozilla's new Firefox Linux package for Ubuntu and Debian derivatives

#110

Post by dTP90pN »

kbrosnan wrote: post #29
lolinder wrote: post #10

> Getting the latest version with features and security fixes is key to having a good experience whenever you use Firefox. Now, our new APT repository is directly connected to the Firefox release process, so you will receive the latest updates whenever we make them available. Tip: you will still need to restart Firefox for the latest version. In the past when I've installed Firefox through a .deb, it has had this ann…

I expect this would still be a problem for this .deb. The package manger is doing the updating which is what causes the problem for Firefox. The restart notice provides a way for Firefox to signal to the user that the binary on disk doesn't match the binary running. Without the warning Firefox used to randomly crash when creating new processes. The warning allows the user to perform an orderly restart (not great but…

Mozilla implemented a fork server to fix this issue. It is enabled in the new deb packages, but not yet in "normal" Firefox:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1609882

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1850026

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