Install Firefox from tar.gz

[LeeBuckley]

Hi

New to Linux as of today and I have tried to find the solutions to this without wasting your time.

I followed the step by step guide on Installing Software in GNU/Linux and still can not get past the ./configure stage.

I download the file (in this instance firefox) and use the "tar -zxvf" command to unzip the file, it then goes downhill from there. I go into what I think is the correct "Firefox" directory and type the "./configure" command this is what I get

debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox# ./configure
bash: ./configure: No such file or directory

I know I am being thick and I have tried to find the answers by reading but I am stuck and I apologise if you have answered this 4,000,000 time.

Lee

[smolloy]

This just means that you haven't changed to the right directory. The directory that "tar" makes normally has the same name as the .tar file (but without the .tar extension). After untarring, use ls to have a look at the contents of the directory -- this will help you figure out the right directory to change to.

I've never used Debian, but I thought there was a package management system you could use to get around these problems. I think apt-get is the package management system for Debian, so try "man apt-get" to see how to use it. It should be as simple as "apt-get mozilla-firefox" to install firefox, but you may have to set up some internet repositories first.

[LeeBuckley]

thanks for the fast reply.

I tried it in the directory with all the files in it. Looked around on the file system for anything else that could be it and there was nothing.

There is a directory on the desktop called firefox, I tried to delete this to start the whole process from scratch and it told me I didn't have the permission to delete!!

[smolloy]

If you become root you can get permissions to delete that folder. Just be careful what you do as root, since it's not very forgiving of mistakes

To become root,

su -
<your-root-password>

Make sure to use the "-" in the su command. Use the "exit" command to stop being root.

Did you try "man apt-get" ??

[LeeBuckley]

tried to run it in the correct way. This is what I got.

debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox# ./configure
-su: ./configure: No such file or directory
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox# ls
browserconfig.properties libnspr4.so mozilla-xremote-client
chrome libnss3.so old-homepage-default.properties
components libnssckbi.so plugins
defaults libplc4.so readme.txt
dictionaries libplds4.so removed-files
extensions libsmime3.so res
firefox libsoftokn3.chk run-mozilla.sh
firefox-bin libsoftokn3.so searchplugins
greprefs libssl3.so updater
icons libxpcom_compat.so updater.ini
libfreebl3.chk libxpcom_core.so xpicleanup
libfreebl3.so libxpcom.so
libmozjs.so libxpistub.so
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox# ./configure firefox
-su: ./configure: No such file or directory
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox# configure
-su: configure: command not found
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox#

[smolloy]

I understand the problem. Firefox must install in a different way. First read the readme.txt,

less readme.txt

There are probably instructions in there, which I think will tell you to run "run-mozilla.sh"

./run-mozilla.sh

This should install firefox for you.

Sorry this took so long. I should have remembered that.

[LeeBuckley]

thanks for your time, much appreciated.

I tried the option you gave me and this is what I got back at me!! I have downloaded 2. Computing Sub-basics and plan on reading it cover to cover.

debian:/home/lee# cd Desktop/Downloads
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads# ls
firefox
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads# cd /firefox
bash: cd: /firefox: No such file or directory
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads# cd firefox
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox# ls
browserconfig.properties libnspr4.so mozilla-xremote-client
chrome libnss3.so old-homepage-default.properties
components libnssckbi.so plugins
defaults libplc4.so readme.txt
dictionaries libplds4.so removed-files
extensions libsmime3.so res
firefox libsoftokn3.chk run-mozilla.sh
firefox-bin libsoftokn3.so searchplugins
greprefs libssl3.so updater
icons libxpcom_compat.so updater.ini
libfreebl3.chk libxpcom_core.so xpicleanup
libfreebl3.so libxpcom.so
libmozjs.so libxpistub.so
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox# ./run-mozilla.sh

run-mozilla.sh: Cannot execute .

debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox# ./firefox
./firefox-bin: error while loading shared libraries: libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox#

[smolloy]

Weird. That should have worked. Try,

ls -l /home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox

Post the results back here. By the way, you should put code inside code tags so that it's easier for us to read.

1/ Was there anything useful in readme.txt?
2/ Did you try apt-get?

[LeeBuckley]

 /home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox
total 13684
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      232 2007-05-15 04:46 browserconfig.properties
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:47 chrome
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:47 components
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:47 defaults
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:46 dictionaries
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:47 extensions
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     5247 2007-05-15 04:47 firefox
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 10541604 2007-05-15 04:47 firefox-bin
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:47 greprefs
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:47 icons
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      476 2007-05-15 04:47 libfreebl3.chk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   231468 2007-05-15 04:47 libfreebl3.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   627612 2007-05-15 04:47 libmozjs.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   176716 2007-05-15 04:47 libnspr4.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   430608 2007-05-15 04:47 libnss3.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   260832 2007-05-15 04:47 libnssckbi.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    15304 2007-05-15 04:47 libplc4.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     8240 2007-05-15 04:47 libplds4.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   138316 2007-05-15 04:47 libsmime3.so
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      476 2007-05-15 04:47 libsoftokn3.chk
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   309624 2007-05-15 04:47 libsoftokn3.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   155560 2007-05-15 04:47 libssl3.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    94924 2007-05-15 04:47 libxpcom_compat.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root   698672 2007-05-15 04:47 libxpcom_core.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     9240 2007-05-15 04:47 libxpcom.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root     8284 2007-05-15 04:47 libxpistub.so
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    10336 2007-05-15 04:47 mozilla-xremote-client
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      112 2007-05-15 04:46 old-homepage-default.properties
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:47 plugins
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      177 2007-05-15 04:47 readme.txt
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    13062 2007-05-15 04:46 removed-files
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:47 res
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    10492 2007-05-15 04:47 run-mozilla.sh
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root     4096 2007-05-15 04:46 searchplugins
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    67496 2007-05-15 04:47 updater
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root      145 2007-05-15 04:46 updater.ini
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    21368 2007-05-15 04:47 xpicleanup
debian:/home/lee/Desktop/Downloads/firefox#

Tried the Help.txt file and it referred me to the webpage where I couldn't find anything.

Trying to do this with a teething 4 month old in my ear, I am impressed by my patience!!

[smolloy]

Trying to do this with a teething 4 month old in my ear, I am impressed by my patience!!

Wow! I'm impressed as well!

I'm really confused now. The following line in the code is the important one,

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root    10492 2007-05-15 04:47 run-mozilla.sh

The x in "-rwxr-xr-x" means that the file is executable, yet you weren't able to execute it.

I assume you tried to run it as root?

Did you try apt-get yet?

I really don't understand this. Installing firefox really should be much easier than this