Installing Firefox dev edition

Question

I'm trying to install Firefox Browser Developer Edition (.tar.bz2 file). I've followed a guide and it works, just doesn't seem to operate as a browser (or an app), it doesn't have a logo (default cog thingy) I can't favorite it in the task bar and it doesn't come up in the list when trying to choose a default browser either. would love some help fixing it or reinstalling it in a different way, thanks!

Answer 1

2024 NEW ANSWER

This is the most sane and simple way to install firefox dev edition it is install the firefox dev-edition using official APT repository and apt command

to do that you just need to do these simple steps

steps below are taken and modified from here

FIRST. Create a directory to store APT repository keys if it doesn't exist:

sudo install -d -m 0755 /etc/apt/keyrings

SECOND. Import the Mozilla APT repository signing key:

wget -q https://packages.mozilla.org/apt/repo-signing-key.gpg -O- | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc > /dev/null

If you do not have wget installed, you can install it with: sudo apt-get install wget

THIRD. The fingerprint should be 35BAA0B33E9EB396F59CA838C0BA5CE6DC6315A3. You may check it with the following command:

gpg -n -q --import --import-options import-show /etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc | awk '/pub/{getline; gsub(/^ +| +$/,""); if($0 == "35BAA0B33E9EB396F59CA838C0BA5CE6DC6315A3") print "\nThe key fingerprint matches ("$0").\n"; else print "\nVerification failed: the fingerprint ("$0") does not match the expected one.\n"}'

FOURTH. add the Mozilla APT repository to your sources list:

echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/packages.mozilla.org.asc] https://packages.mozilla.org/apt mozilla main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mozilla.list > /dev/null

FIFTH. Configure APT to prioritize packages from the Mozilla repository:

echo '
Package: *
Pin: origin packages.mozilla.org
Pin-Priority: 1000
' | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla

SIXTH. Update your package list and install the Firefox .deb package:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox-devedition

Answer 2

If you want to use the Firefox tarball from from Mozilla website as a regular app, then you will have to create a .desktop file with the following contents, and save it in /home/your-username/.local/share/applications, with the filename firefox-beta.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Firefox Developer Edition
Comment=Browse the World Wide Web
GenericName=Web Browser
Keywords=Internet;WWW;Browser;Web;Explorer
Exec=/path/to/firefox-beta-binary %u
Icon=firefox
Terminal=false
Type=Application
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;text/mml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;application/x-xpinstall;application/pdf;application/json;
StartupNotify=true
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
Actions=new-window;new-private-window;profile-manager-window;
StartupWMClass=firefox
[Desktop Action new-window]
Name=Open a New Window
Exec=/path/to/firefox-beta-binary --new-window %u
[Desktop Action new-private-window]
Name=Open a New Private Window
Exec=/path/to/firefox-beta-binary --private-window %u

You will have to replace /path/to/firefox-beta-binary with the actual path where you saved the developer edition.

---

You can also use the official Firefox Beta PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next

Then, copy and paste the following code in a terminal in one go (don't copy-paste line by line) to prioritize the beta version of firefox over the snap version.

echo '
Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam
Pin-Priority: 1001
Package: firefox
Pin: version 1:1snap1-0ubuntu2
Pin-Priority: -1
' | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozilla-firefox

Next, remove the snap version of firefox

sudo snap remove firefox

If you see this error,

error: cannot perform the following tasks:
- Remove data for snap "firefox" (1943) (unlinkat /var/snap/firefox/common/host-hunspell/en_ZA.dic: read-only file system)

Then run the following commands (source) to disable the hunspell service, and try removing Firefox snap once again.

sudo systemctl stop var-snap-firefox-common-host\\x2dhunspell.mount
sudo systemctl disable var-snap-firefox-common-host\\x2dhunspell.mount
sudo snap remove firefox

Install Firefox the beta version of Firefox from the PPA.

sudo apt install firefox