Guide Install FF 3 alpha 5 on Ubuntu Gutsy as well as feisty

Install FF 3 alpha 5 on Ubuntu Gutsy as well as Feisty Fawn

Gutsy Installation​

Hi all,
FF3 alpha 5 hit the archives yesterday, the way to install in Gutsy is :-

1. Backup .mozilla/firefox to something like .mozilla/firefox-backu-ff(date) (Give date of backup), that is for your own convenience rather than anything else.

2. After updating the archives to the latest, do :-

sudo aptitude install firefox-granparadiso firefox-granparadiso firefox-granparadiso-gnome-support firefox-granparadiso-dom-inspector

You can also firefox-granparadiso-firefox-dev if you want some developer features.

Feisty Installation​

Here there are 2 alternatives. one is through the ´backports' repository which might require updates to other packages also or you can also gnomefreaks repository (a ubuntu developer afaik, maybe mozilla contributor too will need to check) .

Side Note :- The windows installation does have the same thing & point no. 1 is universally applicable. The advantage that it has would be cairo is turned on, and nightly updates are available.

Nightly Updates to FF3 in Feisty and Gutsy​

Dunno if people wanna play with this or not for the simple reason an update can stop you in the tracks unless you are using FF also. in which case you will need to again backup the .mozilla/firefox to something like firefox-3(date) and bring back the old profile with FF2.

The alternative method of using FF3 with nightly updates enabled would be this link :-

Install Firefox3.0a1 in Ubuntu and List of Addons -- Debian Admin

deb [url]http://gnomefreak.youmortals.com/mozilla-testing[/url] feisty main
deb-src [url]http://gnomefreak.youmortals.com/mozilla-testing[/url] feisty main

Just add these two lines to your third party archives. and update the database. Remember to use either backports or his repository, mixing the two would not be recommended. With gnomefreak there is possibility tht you might get packages lot faster than through the official archives.

Using plugins in FF3 alpha 5​

What has happened in this transformation is that the symlinks are broken which will be put right in the next update. Till the time that does happen, here is a work around. Just put the following in the terminal :-

sudo bash
cd /usr/lib/firefox-granparadiso/plugins
for FILE in /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/* ; do
  if [ ! -e `basename $FILE` ] ; then
    ln -s $FILE
  fi
done
exit

VLC player plugin is broken so delete the symlink in /usr/lib/firefox-granparadiso/plugins atleast at this point in time.

The code just symlinks the /usr/lib/firefox-granparadiso/plugins dir to
/usr/lib/firefox/plugins.

The moot points to remember are :-

• Its an alpha release so features are in progress.
  
• Firefox relies on distributions like ubuntu to make their impact felt. While they do like their windows, they believe in the rise of the alternative OSes
  
• There is also a feisty backport of the same, the thing to remember is ¨backports" should be on & updated for firefox-granparadiso to become available.
  
• Cairo, gtk form widgets (big ticket features) seem to be turned off for the moment . Of course one can try turning them on by about:config although how that will behave will be known in a while.
  
• Clear Private Data does clear stored passwords from the Password Manager list.
  
• Users may experience problems when attempting to print complex pages.
  
• Loads of addons may have no FF3 extension so are unusable, while mine went from 7 to 3 I know many people who went from 25 to 3-5 .
  
• Password manager now uses javascript.
  
• Last but not the least XULRunner is in heavy use throughout.

Glitches I noticed :-

• There seems to be a rendering glitch even with cairo & gtk form widgets turned off, atleast on my machine. It renders the page & refreshes for a moment before settling down.
  
• Edit / Preferences / Content / File Types / Manage. this is practically unusable at this stage. No way to add mime types or link actions if more than one application is there.
  
• Default search engines have vanished. Only the ones which I had manually installed are there.

Good points :-

1. Bookmarks :- The Bookmarks manager or Bookmarks shortcut next to history is more freer now. The one in FF2 had some kind of restriction which after adding something like 30-40 addons would not move.

2. The about:config page has a good warning system (which was not there before I believe) :-

Be careful, this gun is loaded

This configuration page allows you to modigy advanced preferences that control this application. It is possible to create harmful side effects by changing the value of these preferences. You should only continue if you know what you are doing or if you are following trusted advice.

Checkbox for I will be careful, I promise

If you attempt to save the page, it will identify itself as an .xul page

3. Some of the characters like ´f´ which appeared to run together in ff2 , atleast in FF3 has smoothed over.

I am sure I will find many more differences as I start to play with it. This is what I found in playing with it for about 30 mins. or so. Good luck with it

Quick tip:-

Make following changes if you have a fast connection but relatively slower
computer (like me)

network.http.max-connections 48
network.http.max-connections-per-server 16
network.http.max-connections-per-server 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy 16
network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server 8

network.http.pipelining true
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests 30

nglayout.initialpaint.delay 0 (this would be a new integer)

This tip has been taken from the last link.

References/ Sources :-

Mozilla FF3 alpha 5 release notes

FF3 Wikipage

Ubuntu teams page of Preview Archives

FF faster tips