How to downgrade firefox to 3.6.15?

Question

I have the source code in tar.bz2 but when I tried these instructions on http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/install-firefox-4-0-tar-bz2-in-linux/ it's just opening Firefox 4 (this instruction is to install firefox 4 but I changed 4 to 3.6.16).

Thanks.

Solution

You probably meant 3.6.x, 3.6.17 is the latest version in the 3.6 branch.

1. Firefox 3.6.x can be downloaded from http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/all-older.html

2. Extract the compressed tarball by executing:

   tar xjf firefox-3.6.17.tar.bz2 -C ~
   

   The directory ~/firefox will be created. Note that the Cyberciti guide extracts it to /opt, which requires root permissions but breaks the Firefox updater.

3. To run firefox now, issue:

   ~/firefox/firefox
   

Only your account will be able to run Firefox 3.6.17 (since it's now installed in your Home directory). And if you haven't removed Firefox 4, then the latest latest version will be in the system and available to all users, including you.

Comments

[Javier Rivera]

Is this safe?. Is there no risk that the older version will mess the newer profile?.

[Lekensteyn]

@Javier: not safe, to have simultaneous Firefox 4 and Firefox 3.6 profiles, please see How to install Firefox 3.6 and 4.0 in parallel?

[naizheng TAN]

thanks very much , but its launcher not the orgiginal app and the icon does not shown.(i changed icon to firefox).

[Lekensteyn]

@Cutiyar: if you want to run firefox 3.6 when executing firefox, create the dir ~/bin and make a symlink to your Fx36: ln -s ~/firefox/firefox ~/bin/firefox. You need to re-login for the changes take effect.

[Knowledge Cube]

@Cutiyar If this answer resolved your question, it would be nice you marked it as accepted so we know the issue has been taken care of. Thanks!

[Lekensteyn]

@Cutiyar saying so does not mark the answer as accepted, please read meta.askubuntu.com/q/1137/6969