Install a specific version of Firefox (or other package)?

LoneCrusader · 2020-08-20 06:09

What's the best method for installing a specific version of Firefox (in this case 52.9.0esr) or some other package, and if possible, prevent Synaptic from offering/attempting updates for it?

I've never cared for Chrome, and these days Firefox is diverging far from what it should be as well, IMO. Pale Moon is the last best hope... but I like to keep this version of Firefox installed along with it.

I'm using the latest Centaurus 3.11r2 Trinity (installed from LiveCD) release.

Thanks for any help!

bin · 2020-08-20 06:33

It depends how you install it.

If you have Firefox in the download form of a .tgz or .bz2 file then you'll just be unpacking it and running it. In that case you need to turn off any of the update processes in Preferences.

If you are installing from a deb file then after installing you need to tell apt to keep that version

Use

sudo apt search firefox-esr

to determine the name by which your software is known to apt.

You're looking for the line that says 'installed' at the end

robin@flopsy:~$ sudo apt search firefox-esr
Sorting... Done
Full Text Search... Done
firefox-esr/stable,now 68.11.0esr-1~deb10u1 amd64 [installed]
  Mozilla Firefox web browser - Extended Support Release (ESR)

firefox-esr-l10n-ach/stable,stable 68.11.0esr-1~deb10u1 all
  Acoli language package for Firefox ESR

firefox-esr-l10n-af/stable,stable 68.11.0esr-1~deb10u1 all
  Afrikaans language package for Firefox ESR
.............

then

sudo echo "firefox-esr" | sudo dpkg --set-selections

followed by

sudo apt-mark hold firefox-esr

which should tell you it is already held.

Repeat for any language file you have installed from apt

Depending on how you look at it your system may still present it as upgradable.

For example I have a held package on my system and this is what I see

robin@flopsy:~$ sudo apt list --upgradable
[sudo] password for robin: 
Listing... Done
master-pdf-editor/core 5.6.29 amd64 [upgradable from: 4.3.89]
N: There is 1 additional version. Please use the '-a' switch to see it

However if I try to upgrade it says

robin@flopsy:~$ sudo apt upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
The following packages have been kept back:
  master-pdf-editor
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.

Hope that makes sense

LoneCrusader · 2020-08-23 08:17

Well, installing it is turning out to be a real pain. At least it looks like holding it afterward won't be so difficult based on what you said.

Synaptic (and apt-get) refuses to find version 52.9.0esr; I assume this is because it doesn't exist in the default repositories.

Downloaded 52.9.0esr .deb packages from this link that Dai_trying gave me here some time ago.
http://snapshot.debian.org/binary/firefox-esr/

Once again the package managers refuse to install them; claim there are missing dependencies and/or the packages are broken. I finally was able to force the installation with "dpkg -i --force-depends". But the resulting install just crashes when I run it.

I figure some dependencies are missing; thought I would try to use Synaptic to find any missing dependencies (current versions) and install them if missing; see if this would correct the issue. But it looks like newer versions of most of these packages are already installed. I tried adding "recommended" packages to install, but then Synaptic complains about 52.9.0esr being broken, and refuses to do anything unless this is "corrected" first.

Did some searching online; tried manually adding repositories for an older version of Debian (archive.debian.org) to Synaptic; it complains about the age of the release file and refuses to use them.

This is maddening. I figure that I'm most likely doing something wrong here, and there has to be a simpler way...

(I'll state for the record, if it's not blatantly obvious from my lack of experience on the subject, that I'm not accustomed to running Linux in an everyday environment. I'm usually a Windows user. I have a love hate relationship with Linux, lol.. situations like this infuriate me and make me crave the simplicity of Windows. On Windows, if you want a specific version, you just save a copy of the installer, and use it whenever you like. Doesn't work in Linux; things break and you end up in dependency hell or suchlike.)

Dai_trying · 2020-08-23 08:49

You should use apt to install deb files, it will install dependencies too (if available) and give better information on failure, and if that still fails you could install aptitude which can often offer better options for dependency resolution.

sudo apt install /path/to/package.deb

aptitude why-not /path/to/package.deb

note: I don't use aptitude much but have read many package problems being sorted out by using it.

bin · 2020-08-23 11:19

snapshot.debian.org

I've only been using Debian since Potato and I never came across this!!!!

Last edited by bin (2020-08-23 17:02)

LoneCrusader · 2020-08-24 05:18

Sometimes a picture is necessary... ...lol

Q4OS Forum

#1 2020-08-20 06:09

Install a specific version of Firefox (or other package)?

#2 2020-08-20 06:33

Re: Install a specific version of Firefox (or other package)?

#3 2020-08-23 08:17

Re: Install a specific version of Firefox (or other package)?

#4 2020-08-23 08:49

Re: Install a specific version of Firefox (or other package)?

#5 2020-08-23 11:19

Re: Install a specific version of Firefox (or other package)?

#6 2020-08-24 05:18

Re: Install a specific version of Firefox (or other package)?

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