Installing firefox

Joost Kremers wrote:

> John Culleton wrote:
>> Firefox 1.5 seems to be tricky to install. I downloaded the Linux
>> version, untarred it in /usr/local, and tried to run it from that
>> directory. Wouldn't start, claimed it couldn't find the Mozilla runtime.
>> So then I downloaded the same package but in Slackware format. Installed
>> it using pkgtool and then restarted my KDE session.
>
> i doubt the latter was necessary...
>
>> It was there in the kicker menu
>> but when I clicked on it it want through a similar routine the icon
>> bounced for about 15 seconds and then I got the same message.
>
> have you tried starting it from the command line? what message do you get?

Cannot find mozilla runtime directory. Exiting.
>
>> The instructions on the Mozilla site are so sketchy as to be useless.
>> They say download the gzip file and unzip it. Golly, I was smart enough
>> to get that far without instructions. The readme that comes with the
>> software refers you to the online instructions. There is no apparent
>> install script. No makefile. No nuttin.
>
> because nothing else should be necessary...
>
>> Currently I run Slack 10.1.Mozilla is installed and works OK except for
>> the usual Mozilla nonsense about "choose another profile." As I recall
>> Firefox doesn't have that step.
>
> it used to, in 1.0, i don't know whether it's been removed. but normally,
> firefox shouldn't ask you for this, unless it notices there is already an
> instance running.
>
> i had a similar problem a while ago: firefox wouldn't start, but when i
> tried to start it again, it would pop up the "choose/create another
> profile" box. ps showed there was a firefox running, it just wasn't
> showing any windows.
>
> so do 'ps -ef | grep firefox' and see it it says anything other than 'grep
> firefox'. if you find any processes, kill them.
No such processes.
> then rename your
> ~/.mozilla/ directory (or the ~/.mozilla/firefox/ directory) to something
> like ~/.mozilla.save, and restart firefox. in my case, it was some setting
> or something saved in that directory that caused the problem.
>
Killed all the contents of~/.mozilla/firefox. Same reaction as before. From
a command line I get "cannot find mozilla runtime" From the icon I get the
bouncing ball and then nothing.
> never did find out why, though. i copied over the bookmark.html file
> (close firefox first, as IIUC it will rewrite the bookmarks.html file when
> it closes) and was happy.
>

I'm going to try the extensive changes suggested by another person in this
thread. Surely all this needs to be in a readme somewhere.
--
John Culleton
Able Indexers and Typesetters

John Culleton wrote:

> Firefox 1.5 seems to be tricky to install. I downloaded the Linux version,
> untarred it in /usr/local, and tried to run it from that directory.
> Wouldn't start, claimed it couldn't find the Mozilla runtime.

There's a Slackware package at http://www.linuxpackages.net/

It installs and runs fine.

Ian

On 2005-12-14, John Culleton <john.DeleteThis@wexfordpress.com> wrote:
> Firefox 1.5 seems to be tricky to install. I downloaded the Linux version,
> untarred it in /usr/local, and tried to run it from that directory.
> Wouldn't start, claimed it couldn't find the Mozilla runtime. So then I
> downloaded the same package but in Slackware format. Installed it using
> pkgtool and then restarted my KDE session. It was there in the kicker menu
> but when I clicked on it it want through a similar routine the icon bounced
> for about 15 seconds and then I got the same message.
>
> The instructions on the Mozilla site are so sketchy as to be useless. They
> say download the gzip file and unzip it. Golly, I was smart enough to get
> that far without instructions. The readme that comes with the software
> refers you to the online instructions. There is no apparent install script.
> No makefile. No nuttin.
>
> Currently I run Slack 10.1.Mozilla is installed and works OK except for the
> usual Mozilla nonsense about "choose another profile." As I recall Firefox
> doesn't have that step.
>
> Any suggestions please? Is this a permissions thing?

Just out of curiosity, how are you starting it....

as firefox or as /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox...the last one is correct, at
least on earlier versions of firefox.

ken

No_One wrote:

> On 2005-12-14, John Culleton <john RemoveThis @wexfordpress.com> wrote:
>> Firefox 1.5 seems to be tricky to install. I downloaded the Linux
>> version, untarred it in /usr/local, and tried to run it from that
>> directory. Wouldn't start, claimed it couldn't find the Mozilla runtime.
>> So then I downloaded the same package but in Slackware format. Installed
>> it using pkgtool and then restarted my KDE session. It was there in the
>> kicker menu but when I clicked on it it want through a similar routine
>> the icon bounced for about 15 seconds and then I got the same message.
>>
>> The instructions on the Mozilla site are so sketchy as to be useless.
>> They say download the gzip file and unzip it. Golly, I was smart enough
>> to get that far without instructions. The readme that comes with the
>> software refers you to the online instructions. There is no apparent
>> install script. No makefile. No nuttin.
>>
>> Currently I run Slack 10.1.Mozilla is installed and works OK except for
>> the usual Mozilla nonsense about "choose another profile." As I recall
>> Firefox doesn't have that step.
>>
>> Any suggestions please? Is this a permissions thing?
>
> Just out of curiosity, how are you starting it....
>
> as firefox or as /usr/bin/mozilla-firefox...the last one is correct, at
> least on earlier versions of firefox.
>
> ken
That didn't work but /usr/bin/firefox did. I got some nonssense about
sometthing called Chrome but the thing started. It still won't start from
the icon.



I put the icon on the kicker, then looked at its properties. I changed the
executable from "firefox %u" to "/usr/bin/firefox %u" and reaccessed the
correct icon. Now it works form the kicker.

I won't go into the Java etc. gyrations described elsewhere unless I run
into another problem. It may be my problem was two conflicting versions
installed. In any case I have it working now. I'll fuss with it for a
while to get all my preferences brought over from Mozilla.

Thanks to all who replied.

John Culleton
--
John Culleton
Able Indexers and Typesetters

John Culleton wrote:
> Firefox 1.5 seems to be tricky to install. I downloaded the Linux version,
> untarred it in /usr/local, and tried to run it from that directory.
> Wouldn't start, claimed it couldn't find the Mozilla runtime. So then I
> downloaded the same package but in Slackware format. Installed it using
> pkgtool and then restarted my KDE session. It was there in the kicker menu
> but when I clicked on it it want through a similar routine the icon bounced
> for about 15 seconds and then I got the same message.
>
> The instructions on the Mozilla site are so sketchy as to be useless. They
> say download the gzip file and unzip it. Golly, I was smart enough to get
> that far without instructions. The readme that comes with the software
> refers you to the online instructions. There is no apparent install script.
> No makefile. No nuttin.
>
> Currently I run Slack 10.1.Mozilla is installed and works OK except for the
> usual Mozilla nonsense about "choose another profile." As I recall Firefox
> doesn't have that step.
>
> Any suggestions please? Is this a permissions thing?
Oh, it's not all that hard -- log in as root, startx, open a terminal
and use the Firefox from Mozilla.com, unpack it into /usr/local.

Edit /etc/profile and stick an entry in it (after the system PATH is set)

export PATH="${PATH}:/usr/local/firefox"

Log out (close the konsole window), log back in (so the PATH will be there).

Get into /usr/local/firefox/plug ins and make a symbolic link for Java:

ln -s /usr/lib/java/jre/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so .

In your terminal window, start Firefox:

firefox &

Ought to work -- unless you forgot to "removepkg mozilla-firefox*" in
/var/log/packages (I don't remember if it's there in 10.1)? You must
start Firefox as root whenever you install it or make changes to it (you
can install all the plug ins you want at one go, then start it).

You really need to do this as root, and, when you add plug ins (like
Acrobat Reader, RealPlayer, Flashplayer, Mplayer etc.), follow the
instructions on the Mozilla.org site
http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/linux.html. If you do the plug ins in
/usr/local/firefox/plug ins (and components!) they're available
system-wide and you don't have to muck around with your local profile.
By the way, do the same for Mozilla plug ins (they're all the same
except for Mplayer that has to be built with GTK1 for Mozilla and GTK2
for Firefox).

Good luck!

--
Everything works -- if you let it.

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 16:04:34 -0500, John Culleton wrote:

> Firefox 1.5 seems to be tricky to install. I downloaded the Linux version,
> untarred it in /usr/local, and tried to run it from that directory.
> Wouldn't start, claimed it couldn't find the Mozilla runtime. So then I
> downloaded the same package but in Slackware format. Installed it using
> pkgtool and then restarted my KDE session. It was there in the kicker menu
> but when I clicked on it it want through a similar routine the icon bounced
> for about 15 seconds and then I got the same message.
>
> The instructions on the Mozilla site are so sketchy as to be useless. They
> say download the gzip file and unzip it. Golly, I was smart enough to get
> that far without instructions. The readme that comes with the software
> refers you to the online instructions. There is no apparent install script.
> No makefile. No nuttin.
>
> Currently I run Slack 10.1.Mozilla is installed and works OK except for the
> usual Mozilla nonsense about "choose another profile." As I recall Firefox
> doesn't have that step.
>
> Any suggestions please? Is this a permissions thing?

I read on the Mozilla website that there is a glitch in Firefox 1.5 that
requires it to be run *at least once* by a privileged user. I believe it,
because I spent half this afternoon and evening trying to get the pdf
plugin to work. It was impossible for me to understand why it was not
working.

Long story short, running the browser *once* as root solved the problem
and without doing anything else, I was suddenly able to open pdf files
inline, inside the browser.

I wouldn't have hung in there if it wasn't worth it. Firefox 1.5 is nice.
I don't know what the glitch is, but I recommend that you humor it and run
it once as root.

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 02:31:07 +0000, John wrote:

> On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 16:04:34 -0500, John Culleton wrote:
>
>> Firefox 1.5 seems to be tricky to install. I downloaded the Linux version,
>> untarred it in /usr/local, and tried to run it from that directory.
>> Wouldn't start, claimed it couldn't find the Mozilla runtime. So then I
>> downloaded the same package but in Slackware format. Installed it using
>> pkgtool and then restarted my KDE session. It was there in the kicker menu
>> but when I clicked on it it want through a similar routine the icon bounced
>> for about 15 seconds and then I got the same message.
>>
>> The instructions on the Mozilla site are so sketchy as to be useless. They
>> say download the gzip file and unzip it. Golly, I was smart enough to get
>> that far without instructions. The readme that comes with the software
>> refers you to the online instructions. There is no apparent install script.
>> No makefile. No nuttin.
>>
>> Currently I run Slack 10.1.Mozilla is installed and works OK except for the
>> usual Mozilla nonsense about "choose another profile." As I recall Firefox
>> doesn't have that step.
>>
>> Any suggestions please? Is this a permissions thing?
>
> I read on the Mozilla website that there is a glitch in Firefox 1.5 that
> requires it to be run *at least once* by a privileged user. I believe it,
> because I spent half this afternoon and evening trying to get the pdf
> plugin to work. It was impossible for me to understand why it was not
> working.
>
> Long story short, running the browser *once* as root solved the problem
> and without doing anything else, I was suddenly able to open pdf files
> inline, inside the browser.
>
> I wouldn't have hung in there if it wasn't worth it. Firefox 1.5 is nice.
> I don't know what the glitch is, but I recommend that you humor it and run
> it once as root.

The other "gotcha" you might encounter if you try to install the pdf
plugin off the Firefox site is that you *must* make the link from the
"nnpdf.so" file in the acrobat installation to the plugins directory of
the Firefox 1.5 installation a HARD link. Soft links don't work. Grrr.

John <John.RemoveThis@somewhere.com> trolled:

> The other "gotcha" you might encounter if you try to install the pdf
> plugin off the Firefox site is that you *must* make the link from the
> "nnpdf.so" file in the acrobat installation to the plugins directory of
> the Firefox 1.5 installation a HARD link. Soft links don't work. Grrr.

With all due respect, I have made a softlink from nnpdf.so to the
Firefox 1.5 plugins directory and I also copied the file directly,
just to see if it works. And both ways, it works ok. I do get an
error about a missing ppklite.api, though, which is a minor bug and
the kind of thing a reasonable person comes to expect from a free
Operating System, running a free browser that calls a free pdf
reader.

You get what you pay for. I guess you get a bit more of that with
linux.

cordially, as always,

rm

Realto Margarino wrote:


> With all due respect, I have made a softlink from nnpdf.so to the
> Firefox 1.5 plugins directory and I also copied the file directly,
> just to see if it works. And both ways, it works ok. I do get an
> error about a missing ppklite.api,

From what I understand, you have to install the OpenLDAP libraries or remove
PPKLite.api. PPKLite.api depends on cryptographic stuff from OpenLDAP.


http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=330506

or
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/archive/index.php/t-54362.html

might help.

Al

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 04:34:41 +0000, Realto Margarino wrote:

> John <John.DeleteThis@somewhere.com> trolled:
>
>> The other "gotcha" you might encounter if you try to install the pdf
>> plugin off the Firefox site is that you *must* make the link from the
>> "nnpdf.so" file in the acrobat installation to the plugins directory of
>> the Firefox 1.5 installation a HARD link. Soft links don't work. Grrr.
>
> With all due respect, I have made a softlink from nnpdf.so to the
> Firefox 1.5 plugins directory and I also copied the file directly,
> just to see if it works. And both ways, it works ok. I do get an
> error about a missing ppklite.api, though, which is a minor bug and
> the kind of thing a reasonable person comes to expect from a free
> Operating System, running a free browser that calls a free pdf
> reader.
>
> You get what you pay for. I guess you get a bit more of that with
> linux.
>
> cordially, as always,
>
> rm

I stand corrected. I must have changed more than one thing I guess.
Linux has a few rough edges, that's for sure. Its progress has been very
impressive over the last couple of years though. I am hugely impressed
with all the people doing the spade work - for their belief that it's
worth doing.

Microsoft has an entrenched monopoly position through effective business
practices. I remember though, when IBM had the same market position -
early 80's I think. They almost lost their whole business through the
same kind of overconfident attitude that Microsoft has *now*. Microsoft
charges a huge amount for the sloppy software they publish. If they went
down the toilet it wouldn't upset me at all - they can take ActiveX with
them as they go. They lost my loyalty when they went the "eye candy"
route with Windows XP instead of fixing the flawed but basically solid
Windows 2000.

I consider them thieves now - for sitting on their hands rather than
fixing up the mess they created.

John wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 16:04:34 -0500, John Culleton wrote:
> I read on the Mozilla website that there is a glitch in Firefox 1.5 that
> requires it to be run *at least once* by a privileged user. I believe it,
> because I spent half this afternoon and evening trying to get the pdf
> plugin to work. It was impossible for me to understand why it was not
> working.
The instructions for installing the Mozilla suite, Firefox, Thunderbird,
and, since forever, Netscape have always noted that the installing user
must run the browser or client after installation to "register" things.

Go look at http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/releases/1.5.html:

* If Firefox 1.5 is installed on a multi-user system in a location
which is not writable by users, Firefox must be run once by a
privileged user. If this is not desirable, an empty file must be
created in the following directory:
<install-directory>/extensions/talkback@mozilla.org/chrome.manifest

Funny thing about instructions, always read 'em as a last resort...

--
Everything works -- if you let it.