Great news for Linux users, after months of testing, Mozilla released today a new package for Firefox on Linux (specifically on Ubuntu, Debian, and any Deb
Mozilla now has an official Debian repository for running the latest Firefox releases.
It’s also for Debian Stable/Testing users who only have ESR in their repos.
You can set up APT pinning and pull it from Sid, but I prefer not to fuck with official repos other than Backports. Even then, only if I really need to.
I agree. There should have been an official Firefox repo from the beginning.
I do remember twenty years ago, Firefox development was incredibly Windows-centric. At one point it felt as though Firefox for Linux was a second class citizen. This was a radical departure from the Mozilla Suite which was maybe the first major desktop software to go from close to open source. For many years afterward, as a BSD/Linux user, I continued using SeaMonkey for that reason.
I assume having an official repo was just never a priority in the early days.
Why not sooner? And what about RPM based distros?
This is specifically to provide a native package that isn’t a snap. RPMs are not the hell that is snaps.
I switched over immediately on my in work machine
Great to hear! Snaps are a really bad approach to universal packaging from canonical.
I hate snaps and flatpacks equally. They really cause more problems than they solve for new users.
It’s also for Debian Stable/Testing users who only have ESR in their repos.
You can set up APT pinning and pull it from Sid, but I prefer not to fuck with official repos other than Backports. Even then, only if I really need to.
Fair point! I really wish there was a native Firefox build for Arm too.
I agree. There should have been an official Firefox repo from the beginning.
I do remember twenty years ago, Firefox development was incredibly Windows-centric. At one point it felt as though Firefox for Linux was a second class citizen. This was a radical departure from the Mozilla Suite which was maybe the first major desktop software to go from close to open source. For many years afterward, as a BSD/Linux user, I continued using SeaMonkey for that reason.
I assume having an official repo was just never a priority in the early days.