[namenotfound]

I recently installed Firefox 3.5, but when I click the Firefox icon, it still uses the default Ubuntu-version Firefox 3.0.11

How can I switch to Firefox 3.5?


3.5 installed in: /usr/lib/firefox-3.5
3.0.11 installed in: /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.11

[epicfail101]

Uninstall the older version of firefox, and see if that works. If it doesnt work, uninstall firefox completely and reinstall in from scratch. When you reinstall it it should have the updated version.

[lotuseclat79]

Hi namenotfound,

I happen to have your same setup for Firefox 3.0.11 and Firefox 3.5 in /usr/lib. Here is how I switch between them with just a minor setup in /usr/bin.

First, issue the commands:
$ which firefox
$ ls -lt `which firefox`
$ ls -lt /usr/binf/firefox*

What I do is an initial setup (which can be either Firefox 3.0.11 or Firefox 3.5):
1) Become root:
$ sudo -i
2) Goto /usr/bin
# cd /usr/bin
3) Create symbolic links to both Firefox 3.0.11 and Firefox 3.5:
# ln -s ../lib/firefox-3.0.11/firefox firefox-3.0
# ln -s ../lib/firefox-3.5/firefox firefox-3.5
4) Initialize one of the above as the default firefox executable:
# ln -s firefox-3.0 firefox
This initializes the firefox executable to Firefox 3.0.11
To initialize firefox to Firefox 3.5:
# ln -s firefox-3.5 firefox

Then re-execute the first three commands in this thread.

However, if firefox is already initialized to one or the other, you must first remove the symoblic link to firefox assuming you are located in /usr/bin as root:
# rm -f firefox

In order to switch between the two versions of Firefox, I execute a script to do it for me. There may be a residual bug with the environment variable, but in essence it does the switch between the Firefox versions, and the other aliases can compensate to correct the environment variable to the new version change.

-----------swff.sh------------------------------
#!/bin/bash
cd /home/ubuntu
unset firefox
if [ "$firefox" = "firefox-3.0" ]
then pushd /usr/bin
sudo rm firefox
sudo ln -s firefox-3.5 firefox
popd
elif [ "$firefox" = "firefox-3.5" ]
then pushd /usr/bin
sudo rm firefox
sudo ln -s firefox-3.0 firefox
popd
fi
firefox=`ls -lt /usr/bin/firefox | nawk '{print $10}'`
export firefox
#echo firefox=$firefox
exit 0
--------------------cut here-----------------------------------

I have the following aliases in my .bash_aliases file in my home directory:
alias ffv=''`ls -lt /usr/bin/firefox | nawk '{print $10}'`''
alias setff=''firefox=`ls -lt /usr/bin/firefox | nawk '{print $10}'`''
alias expff='export firefox'
alias swff='/home/ubuntu/Desktop/swff.sh; cd ~ubuntu; . .bashrc; setff; expff'

I then only have to execute:
$ swff
in order to switch between the two different versions of Firefox.

Note: It is important that once you change the .bash_aliases file that you execute the following command:
$ . .bashrc
in order to activate the above aliases.

-- Tom

[namenotfound]

Well I got Firefox 3.5 to be my default when I click the icon

However, I think I'm doing something wrong with your switch script, when I put $ swff in the terminal to switch versions, I get the following

bash: swff: command not found

[lotuseclat79]

Originally Posted by namenotfound

Well I got Firefox 3.5 to be my default when I click the icon

However, I think I'm doing something wrong with your switch script, when I put $ swff in the terminal to switch versions, I get the following

Hi namenotfound,

You have to be located in your home directory to do the following from the end of my previous post:
Note: It is important that once you change the .bash_aliases file that you execute the following command:
$ . .bashrc
in order to activate the above aliases.

Also, you have to make the script, swff.sh, executable with the following command:
$ chmod +x swff.sh

-- Tom

P.S. You do know, don't you?, that when I refer to $ swff, the $ is the prompt for a regular user account, and if you have done everything according to my post, you only need to type: swff

[namenotfound]

Should I be placing the .bash_aliases file in /home? I have it in /home/MYNAME

I had to create one, it wasn't already created (in either directory)

I did the . .bashrc and chmod, and yeah I know about the "$" symbol

I'll try moving the file to /home when I get on my home computer and see if it works

[lotuseclat79]

Originally Posted by namenotfound

Should I be placing the .bash_aliases file in /home? I have it in /home/MYNAME

I had to create one, it wasn't already created (in either directory)

I did the . .bashrc and chmod, and yeah I know about the "$" symbol

I'll try moving the file to /home when I get on my home computer and see if it works

Hi namenotfound,

Yes, the default .bashrc file usually refers to the .bash_aliases file with the following lines:
# ~/.bash_aliases, instead of adding them here directly.
if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
. ~/.bash_aliases

~ is a way to refer to the /home/ubuntu (if you use the default user account) or as in your case since it appears you have setup a user account name MYNAME, to /home/MYNAME. Both the .bashrc file and .bash_aliases files are co-located in your home directory, i.e. in your case /home/MYNAME.

-- Tom