Why Firefox is more that just the browser

As I commented in the last post, I could not see any reason why the new Ubuntu version would use the new Firefox beta.

I've since read peoples suggestions that it was a good decisions because Ubuntu 8.04 will be supported for several years because its a long term support (LTS) version. This means they will support it for three years, and it will be two years before the next LTS release. Over that period of time Firefox 3 which is currently a beta will be the main release and Firefox 2 will disappear. So it makes sense to include v3 not v2 in the new Ubunutu release.

This is a reasonable argument. And I have to say that Firefox 3 appeared finished and stable even if its still a beta.

However this ignores the fact that addons mean that Firefox is more than just a browser in a way thats not true of say Internet Explorer (because their addon market is less mature and crucially its mostly commercial whereas the Firefox market is mostly free). The fact that there is a healthy use of addons in the tech savvy Firefox user base, and that this is going to be even more widespread in the even more tech savvy Ubuntu/Firefox user base, means that the maturity of these addons are almost as important as the browser itself. If you upgrade the browser and this breaks the addons this effectively breaks browser for a large number of users.

I think the Ubuntu decision to include the beta browser is wrong for this reason. They have forgotten that Firefox is more than just the browser, its now a platform of sorts and you cant upgrade a platform until the stuff that runs on it is broadly ready.

Ubuntu 8.04: Downgrading Firefox and Enabling Extensions

Using Ubuntu had been a painless experience until I upgraded to 8.04 (codenamed: hardy). This new version uses Firefox v3 rather than v2 which is a strange decision by Ubuntu in my opinion. Firefox 3 itself is working fine but I think they forgot that a lot of firefox users use add-ons (also known as extensions). Just because Firefox 3 is working well does not mean add-on authors have updated these extensions yet.

Most of mine stopped working and resisted my efforts to get them going again. I uninstalled firefox 3 and installed v2 thinking this would solve the problem. But, although I could click the enable button on each add-on it did not actually enable it. Then I read Firefox extensions errors - Howto fix. The solution is to remove the extensions.rdf file. Its as simple as that.

WARNING: other people have posted that removing firefox 3 and then installing version 2 will drop all the extensions. All I can say is it worked for me.

And please don't do as some have suggested and delete your entire profile and configuration with rm -rf ~/.mozilla

Anyway here's what I did:

Remove Firefox 3

• Start the package manager (menu > System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager)
• Search for 'firefox'.
• Mark the old firefox for uninstall. I removed: firefox, firefox-3.0, firefox-3.0-gnome-support and ubufox. Apply those changes.
• At this point I also removed the shortcut I has on my ubuntu shortcut bar which had just turned from a firefox icon into a black box that did nothing. I right clicked on it and chose Remove From Panel.

Install Firefox 2

• Return to the package manager and mark firefox 2 for installation. I marked: firefox-2, firefox-2-gnome-support, firefox-2-dom-inspector and ubufox.
• Including the packages already installed the full list is: firefox-2, firefox-2-dom-inspector, firefox-2-gnome-support, firefox-themes-ubuntu, flashplugin-nonfree, libmozjs0d, libxul0d, libxul-common, mozilla-firefox-locale-en-gb, mozill-plugin-vlc, openoffice.org, totem-mozilla, ubufox, xulrunner-1.9. Some of them are not essential and others not relevant, but thats what the search for 'firefox' shows.
• I did NOT mark firefox, thats the version 3 install thats now the standard in ubuntu 8.04.
• Apply the changes.
• Open a terminal and run firefox by typing firefox-2.
• Firefox should open and Help > About should confirm its version 2. However the addons still wont be enabled.
• Close firefox.

Reregister the extensions to enable them

• Go to /home//.mozilla/firefox and rename extensions.rdf to something like extensions.rdf-old (you could delete it but this way is a bit safer - just in case).
• Restart firefox. It will re-register all its addons.
• Firefox appeared with all the plugins back including the buttons I had placed on my toolsbars.

Phew!

Add Launch Icon
You might want to add a launch icon to the Ubuntu desktop toolbar.

• Right click on the toolbar and select Add To Panel.
• Pick Custom Application Launcher, the command should be firefox-2.

You should now have a firefox icon on the desktop toolbar.