safest way to update firefox

Forum: Apps
Topic: safest way to update firefox
started by: I went to bed very late

Posted by I went to bed very late on Mar. 30 2006,11:21

hi,
i'm using dsl 0.9.2 "HD-Install" with an ancient version of firefox <1.x.
I want to update it, if possible, to 1.5 because it has a built-in update function, right?

v. 1.071 would be fine, too.

Would you risk an apt-get or what to do?

The last time I tried the firefox1.04 in my /opt directory it installed but still the old version started.
After tweaking around the OS was ready for reinstall and I went to bed very late, again.

Any ideas would be great. thanks

Posted by mikshaw on Mar. 30 2006,15:57

Quote (I went to bed very late @ Mar. 30 2006,06:21)

The last time I tried the firefox1.04 in my /opt directory it installed but still the old version started.

This is because applications installed to /opt are not in your executable path by default, so running the command "firefox" will use whatever firefox executable it finds first....and it turns out to be the original. You can avoid this in several ways:
1) Add the directory which contains the new firefox executable to the beginning of your PATH variable. Appending it will not work, as it will still find the original first.
2) Create a symlink to the new firefox in a directory which is before /usr/local/bin (if one exists), or relace the current /usr/local/bin/firefox symlink.
3) Create an alias for the firefox command.
4) Use the mydsl icon or menu item to start firefox, if one exists.
5) Edit the original firefox command in your menu to use the full path to the new firefox.

Posted by I went to bed very late on Mar. 31 2006,11:01

cool there are so many ways