Ubuntu
software-center package

need to revert from FF 4.0 to FF 3.6

Asked by Michael Blum

Update manager "updated" FF from 3.6.x to 4.0 which I hate. I uninstalled 4.0 and then couldn't find a deb pkg for 3.6.
I tried both Ubuntu Package Manager & Synaptic, as well as the Mozilla site..
I did find a tarball and extracted it to a directory but now I can't get FF to respond when I click a link in another program such as TBird or evince, etc.
I tried placing FF in different directories and even tried to change the path so that FF directory is on the path. Still no joy.
How can I get 3.6 reinstalled correctly & then prevent update manager from ever "updating" it again.
I know it is my fault for letting Pkg man do it, but now I need to back track. Any help for me here?
I tried the FF help page but all I got is how to compile FF. I don't want to do that & if I did, how would that help with the linking problem?
Seems to me the tarball had all the stuff I need to get FF to run, I just need to find the right Directory or how to point to it. I get an error message in evince; "unable to open external link" "Failed to execute child process "usr/lib/firefox-3.6.17/firefox" (permission denied) I set up "preferred applications" so that FF is the browser of choice and set up the directory as /usr/lib/firefox-3.6.17/firefox. I tried with and without %u after the path, but that doesn't seem to matter.
I made sure I am owner of the directories involved and also changed mode to rwxrwxrwx, but still nada.

Thanks for any help you can provide
Michael

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Michael Basse (michael-alpha-unix) said : 		#1

what ubuntu-version?

normally 11.04 is installing ff5 as a security-update. the other ubuntu-versions will not upgrade firefox through the main-repos (if i am correct)

you can see what version you are running with "cat /etc/issue"

also please NEVER install software by hand which is also in the repos. if you are using the repos you will get security-updates. if you are not using the repos you are only getting security updates if the software can auto-update itself

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Michael Blum (mikeb3809) said : 		#2

I'm running 10.10 Ubuntu and the update manager did upgrade FF. I didn't want the upgrade, I didn't realize what it was installing when I clicked ok. I couldn't find 3.6.17 anywhere so I d/l the tar.gz from Mozilla as that was all they had. How do I find it in the repos? I am relatively new to Ubuntu so am ignorant of many things although I have learned a lot. I did not get ff5, I got ff4 which I detest.

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Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#3

Maybe also verify gconf-editor value.
/desktop/gnome/url-handlers/http/command
firefox %u
enabled

> prevent update manager from ever "updating" it again

Synaptic allows lock to current version or force installation of different version.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto#Status%20Icons
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticHowto#How%20to%20force%20the%20installation%20of%20a%20package%20version

Config symlinks
sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

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