Installing Firefox 6.0 under Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x

28 August 2011

If you’re actually trying to install another version of Firefox, then click on the Firefox tag, as there may be an entry on that other version.

Since I am now principally using Fedora, I'd not planned to continue my entries on installing Firefox on RHEL. But people continue to visit this 'blog for help on just that, and since I do also run Scientific Linux (a close clone of RHEL), I can still investigate what procedure will work (though this entry might more cautiously be entitled Installing Firefox 6.0 under Scientific Linux 6.x). (I don't plan to go back and add an entry on installing Firefox 5.x, but since the procedure for Firefox 6.0 proves to be the same, except for the name of the archive, as that for 4.0, I believe that one can infer that it is likewise the same for 5.x.)

In any case, here are the steps that I recommend:

  1. Download the archive, firefox-6.0[.n].tar.bz2.
  2. The tarball contains a directory, firefox, which should be dropped-in as a sub-directory of something. If you want to ponder where, then study the FHS. As for me, as root, I put it in /opt:
    tar -xjvf firefox-6.0[.n].tar.bz2 -C /opt/

    (Omit that [.n] if it isn’t in the name of the archive that you downloaded. Replace it with the actual number from the name of the archive if such a number was included.)

  3. You’ll need a .desktop file for Firefox (though you may already have one). As root, edit/create /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop, ensuring that it reads
    [Desktop Entry]
    Categories=Application;Network;X-Red-Hat-Base;
    Type=Application
    Encoding=UTF-8
    Name=Firefox
    Comment='WWW browser'
    Exec='/opt/firefox/firefox'
    Icon='/opt/firefox/icons/mozicon128.png'
    Terminal=false

    (If you didn't install in /opt, or changed the name of the firefox directory, then you'll need to change the above accordingly.)

  4. Restart the GUI, by logging out and back in or by restarting the system.

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14 Responses to Installing Firefox 6.0 under Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x

  • Dave says:

    has anyone tried this instruction?
    did not work for me.
    got an error "could not load XPCOM".

    • Daniel says:

      These instructions were fully tested before the entry was posted.

      From a command line, try running

      xulrunner

      and let me know exactly what, if any, diagnostic message is emitted.

  • Dave says:

    thanks, that works for firefox 6.0, not for firefox 7.0

    • Daniel says:

      Ah, well, I've not yet got around to installing Firefox 7.0. I'll probably do that within the next day or so. If I'm successful, then I'll post an entry on how to do it.

    • Daniel says:

      I just tried the procedure in the above entry (changing the filename to firefox-7.0.1.tar.bz2), and Firefox launched, with no diagnostic.

      So my first question is of whether you are in fact using RHEL or one of its clones.

  • Akshay says:

    Hi..
    i fallowed all ur instructions to install Firefox but i cant restart the machine.
    Because its a clients server. To restart we shold have the strong reson.
    Is it restarting is must.
    After Installing if i try to run Firexox its showing error msg :

    libxul.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
    couldn"t load XPXOM.

    But if i locatate libxul.so in the machine
    file is present in
    /usr/lib64/xulrunner-2/libxul.so

    Can u give any suggestion to solve the issue.

    Thanks 🙂

    • Daniel says:

      Is that the only place that you find xulrunner? And which version of Linux are you using?

      In particular, I'm wondering whether you have a mixture of 32- and 64-bit components here.

      As to restarting, all that one should really be needed is to restart the GUI, which could be done just by logging-out and back in.)

      • Akshay says:

        Hi..
        Linux version is RHEL 6.3.....
        xulrunner is only in that location.

      • Akshay says:

        Hi..
        Linux version is RHEL 6.3.....
        and it x86 64 bit machine.
        xulrunner is only in that location.

        About logging out we cant logout also because we are accesing the machine by vpn and the GUI is be VNC.
        If we logout the VNC will be killed.

        • Daniel says:

          Okay, please try

          /sbin/ldconfig -v

          unless you cannot or have some persuasive reason to avoid doing this.

          • Akshay says:

            Hi..
            Nothing is working 🙁
            Is it possible to install the FireFox 14 on RHEL 6.3.
            Where ther is no Internet in that machine.
            If so please give me some steps or tips.

            Thanks a lot for Ur time.

            • Daniel says:

              When you say Nothing is working, does that mean that ldconfig will not execute? (If it does, then did it give any sort of report?)

              As to installing Firefox 14.x on a machine without a 'Net connection, first use some other machine to get the tarball [←this one is 64-bit British English] onto some removable medium (USB drive, CD, SD card, or whatever), then switch the medium to the target machine and follow the same steps as recommended above. But if you cannot restart things, then you may be jammed-up.

            • Akshay says:

              Hi..
              even i restarted the machine.
              but no use. Browser is not starting.

              when give "/opt/firefox/firefox"

              it will show

              libxul.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
              couldn"t load XPXOM.

              wats wrong...?
              is any other way...?

            • Daniel says:

              Okay, now, before we look elsewhere, is the Firefox version that you've installed a 64-bit version? If not, then remove the installed version and replace it with a 64-bit version such as that for British English, that for Hindi, that for Gujarati, or that for Bengali.

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