Posts Tagged ‘Firefox’

Installing Firefox 3.5 under Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x

Tuesday, 4 August 2009

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.

Firefox 3.5.2 has been released. I imagine that someone will soon provide an .rpm; but, for now, Red Hat users will have to install things from a tarball. Since a fair number of the hits to this 'blog are from searches as to how to install Firefox 3.0 under RHEL 5.x, I'm going to infer that people are and will be surfing the WWWeb for instructions on how to install Firefox 3.5 under RHEL 5.x.

My first piece of advice is that one not install Firefox 3.5.1. When I tried using it, it would do something that caused the Linux user account to be logged-out. However, I've being trying version 3.5.2, and so far I've not had that problem with it. [Up-Date (2009:08/17): Unfortunately, I have since had some problems with version 3.5.2 logging me out of the system, and on one occasion it screw-up the display resolution. But these problems have not been so frequent as to move me to stop using this version.] That said, here are the steps that I recommend:

  1. Download the archive, firefox-3.5.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-3.5.n.tar.bz2 -C /opt/
    (Replace that n with the actual number from the archive that you downloaded.)
  3. Make sure that you have compat-libstdc++-33 (a Gnome C++ compatibility library):
    rpm -qa | grep compat-libstdc++-33
    If not, then as root install it:
    yum install compat-libstdc++-33
  4. To avoid conflicts with SELinux, as root run
    chcon -t textrel_shlib_t /opt/firefox/libxul.so
    (If you didn't install the directory in /opt, or renamed the firefox directory, then you'll need to modify the above final argument to chcon accordingly.)
  5. 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
    (Again, if you didn't install in /opt, or changed the name of the firefox directory, then you'll need to change the above accordingly.)
  6. Log out and back in or restart the system (to up-date the GUI).

Drive, I Said

Sunday, 24 August 2008

In the interval since I installed a new Linux driver for my AMD ATI video adapter, I have had fewer incidents of being logged-out when using Firefox, but there were still a few pages such that I would be logged out of my Linux session when I attempted to scroll through them with Firefox.

Yester-day or to-day, AMD ATI released a newer version of the driver, which seems to have resolved the remaining problem.

[Addendum (2008:08/27): Ah, I wrote too soon. The frequency of the problem has dropped further, but Firefox will still cause me to be logged out of the linux session when I scroll at least one of those pages.]

Driven to Destruction

Thursday, 24 July 2008

Yester-day or the day before that, AMD made available a new version of their Linux driver for the graphics adapter in my note-book computer. I was pleased, as I hoped that it would eliminated the logging-out problem that I've been having. (This problem did not go away when I up-dated my driver on 6 July.)

Well, things have changed with the new driver, but seemingly for the worse. I'm still logged-out when using Firefox with some webpages, but now the display ends-up blanked and effectively disabled, so that I have to completely restart the system. (Perhaps the frequency of being logged-out has been reduced.)

Oh well. I will hope that the next driver up-date resolves the problem.

Installing Firefox 3.0 under Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

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.

[Update (2 Jul): Red Hat has released a Firefox 3.0 .rpm, and I would recommend now using it.]

Firefox 3.0 has been released. I imagine that someone will soon provide an .rpm; but, for now, Red Hat users will have to install things from a tarball.

  1. Download the archive, firefox-3.0.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-3.0.tar.bz2 -C /opt/
  3. Make sure that you have compat-libstdc++-33 (a Gnome C++ compatibility library):
    rpm -qa | grep compat-libstdc++-33
    If not, then as root install it:
    yum install compat-libstdc++-33
  4. To avoid conflicts with SELinux, as root run
    chcon -t textrel_shlib_t /opt/firefox/libxul.so
    (If you didn't install the directory in /opt, or renamed the firefox directory, then you'll need to modify the above final argument to chcon accordingly.)
  5. 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
    (Again, if you didn't install in /opt, or changed the name of the firefox directory, then you'll need to change the above accordingly.)
  6. Log out and back in or restart the system (to up-date the GUI).