What existed before I started applying direct updates

The system I'm currently running on was built from scratch using Slackware a little over a year ago.

The ESR versions of both Firefox and Thunderbird are installed as part of the Slackware installation, in /usr/lib/firefox-24.1.0 and /usr/lib/thunderbird-24.1.0 respectively.  The base executables (/usr/lib/firefox-24.1.0/firefox and /usr/lib/thunderbird-24.1.0/thunderbird) are accessed via symlinks in /usr/bin...

/usr/bin/firefox -> /usr/lib/firefox-24.1.0/firefox
/usr/bin/thunderbird -> /usr/lib/thunderbird-24.1.0/thunderbird

The remainder of the firefox and thunderbird packages (additional executables, private libraries and other files required at runtime) reside in the /usr/lib/firefox and /usr/lib/thunderbird directories and various directories inside them, exactly the way you would get them if you unpacked an install/update kit tar archive from Mozilla.

This arrangement of private files in a containing directory around a main executable works well, especially as the main executable can obtain it's location from it's environment, and needs to be left the way Mozilla have arranged it.  Of course, Mozilla may also change the layout and actual files from time to time.

Updating Mozilla Apps in a Linux Environment

This blog is about installing updated versions of Firefox and Thunderbird obtained direct from Mozilla in a personalised Linux environment. The methods described probably aren't suitable for organisational environments containing many systems and where updates are taken from the maintainers of your Linux distribution.


I've performed these updates manually for quite some time, and only got around to scripting the process recently.  In some ways this is a good thing because it allows the process you use to be designed, tested and corrected as necessary before you start implementing an automation script.

To save boring you, I'll divide this blog into multiple posts covering these areas...

• What existed on the system before I started applying updates to it
• What I wanted the update process to achieve
• What you get in an update pack downloaded from Mozilla
• Rolling back an update if necessary
• Automating the process - what I wanted to achieve
• Automating the process - additional actions
• Automating the process - using the script
• Current version of the script
• Future development

Steve
10 June 2015