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Thread: firefox on fedora
firefox on fedora
country flaguser name
United States		 2007-03-21 07:08:23 
How do I update or install firefox version 2, oh yes just
want to
mention I started on linux yesterday, literally. Finding it
very
confusing, why can't I just download a setup.exe, double
click,
Done!!!.

This is the kinda stuff that puts me off linux. Can anyone
change my
mind?
Re: firefox on fedora
user name
 2007-03-21 10:25:20 

  


  

    The Firefox install might seem a little confusing but it has some really nice upsides.  

If you installed Firefox when you installed Fedora or by RPM afterwards you can update it if the new version is on Yum right now. I highly recomend getting either yum extender or gnome yum.  Easiest way to install software in the world. You might want to look at the Fedora FAQs also. They have step by step installation instructions on plugins and other common annoyances such as getting mp3s working under Fedora. You can thank RIA and Microsoft for that bit of hassle. 


The other way to install Firefox and the way I do it so that I can have multiple versions installed at the same time is download the tarball  it will have a tgz extension. 
Open a  console window and type 
su - 

Enter your root password. 
cd to the dir you downloaded Firefox too. Normally your home dir by default. So it'd be cd ~yourusername if you normally log in as bob then cd ~bob  if you have a longer user name just type in the first few chars and hit the tab key. It will try to autocomplete the rest of the path. 

then type mv fire and hit the tab key. It should autocomplete the rest, if you hit tab twice it will show you all the potential matches if there are more than one. So if you have multiple versions of Firefox installed for example. 

mv firefox-2.0.0.2.tar.gz /usr/local 
cd /usr/local
mv firefox firefox15
tar -xzvf firefox-2.0.0.2.tar.gz

And your done. 

What you did was rename the old firefox so that you can create a link to run it. I suggest using a seperate user ID if you are going to do that. Plugins are not compatable between firefox versions. If you use one version from one user id and another version from your normal user id you'll avoid plugin issues. There are lots of reasons why you might want to do this. If you are a web developer and want to make sure that your pages still support the older Firefox versions, if you want to try out beta versions of Firefox and still have a known working version, rhapsody is one of several web sites that does not work with newer Firefox versions as another example. By renaming it all you have to do is create a shortcut on your desktop, in your taskbar or a symbolic link and you can run both versions quite easily. 


NEVER NEVER NEVER login as root and run things like web browsers. Always use a seperate ID for that. If you need to be root for a task most GUI tasks will ask you for the root password when you launch them or you can open a seperate X session by using switch user if you have it installed or just su from a consol window and run the apps that way. 


To create a new user depending on whether your using KDE or Gnome go to your admin tools. I personally recommend KDE but try both. If you don't have KDE installed do so. You will at the least want to be able to run KDE apps like K3b which is by far a better burner than anything offered under Gnome. Install gnome yum and you can easily add tons of software without little effort and pain. Or from a command line as root

adduser somename
passwd somename

Then when you want to launch an app under that user name you can easily launch it from a command line. Just put an & at the end and it will leave the console free to launch other apps if you are launching gui apps. 


You can get gnome yum from here. 
http://gnome-yum.sourceforge.net/

You can get yum extender from here. 

https://sourceforge.net/projects/yumex/

i personally like the interface for Gnome yum better but the reliability issues drive me nuts so I use yum extender instead. Gnome apps are too fragile in my opinion. I break them all the time, one reason I use KDE is that it's apps are more robust, almost never crash. The only thing that crashes on my system normally is Firefox. I got 3-5 months at a time between apps crashing that are not named Firefox and when they do it's a gnome app that crashes like gphoto or gnome extender. 


You have to have gnome installed to use gnome yum, KDE installed I think to use yum extender. Might be desktop independent. 

As root in a console windos do 
yum update 
at least once a month. Better if you do it every couple weeks.  You can do updates in the GUIs but it's faster and easier from a command line. Less than a minute to start your updates. You can also configure your system to automatically update. I personally don't do this. Sometimes I don't want to update programs and auto updates do not give me that option. I want to eyeball everything being updated before it's updated. So I manually update every couple weeks or on the rare occasions there is a serious security update that affects me i update soon as a patch is availible. 


checkrootkit is a service you want to install and enable. Snort is another. By default it is installed but you have to configure it for it to do you any good. 

Another security measure is to edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config  and disallow root logins. The only reason to EVER have that enabled is if you use some kind of Plex like web gui that requires ssh as root. If you need to SSH into your machine just do so as a user then su to root once you are ssh'd in. If you never plan to SSH in then take the ssh deamon completely down. ; Make sure these lines in your /etc/ssh/sshd_config reads like this. 

Protocol 2
Never never never enable protocol 1. It is insecure. By default it will be disabled in modern distros. 

Make sure that this is ALWAYS set to no unless you use something like Plex to access the system remotely.


PermitRootLogin no

Generally you want to make sure this is set to yes.
X11Forwarding yes

You can do this using chkconfig or through the GUIs. Other services to take out are Bind if your machine is not a DNS server make very sure this service is not running. If you are not using Bluetooth turn that off. If you are not using a web server make sure httpd is turned off. If you leave mysql running make sure you change the default password for admin. NEVER run mysql with the default password in place. If you do not have nfs shares with other machines turn that service off. postgresql same as mysqld make sure you change the default admin password or turn it off.  Turn off sendmail. It is the most targeted attack point second only to brute force attempts to crack your root password through SSH and attacks on httpd. Instead use postfix or xim (sp) if you need to send mail directly from your machine. Most people do not. Most people will log into their providers mail server or use web front ends to send mail. The average home user has no use for sendmail.  Unless you have windows machines and are using Samba to allow shares turn smb off it it's on. If you want to create a share on your machine that windows machines can access then turn smb on. Make sure you configure smb first. 


DO NOT run an ftp server on your machine. There is very very rarely a need to use ftp any more. It is insecure and ftp servers are a major security problem. If you want to share files with another computer allow them to ssh in instead. You can create an ssh jail as easily as an ftp jail and with ssh they won't be broadcasting their password in the clear to the whole world. An excellent windows client for scp is winscp  If they need a console session use putty to ssh in. Repeat do NOT use ftp. That is ancient obsolete and insecure software. Never run an ftp site off your machine unless you REALLY know what you are doing security wise and have no other choice. That goes for any operating system. If Microsoft wasn't stuck in the dark ages FTP would not even exist today. 


Last Google is thy friend. Not much that you cannot find an answer too with some determined searching on Google. When it comes to Linux questions use Google. MSN intentionally distorts/hides Linux searchs. Yahoo will stack so many comercial results that you have to wade through a couple pages to get to real answers on Linux quesitons. With Google I rarely have to go more than the first few entries to find an answer.  You will also find quite a few Linux communities. People are almost always glad to help. What you will find is that what is best is muchly personal choice. Linux is about freedom. As such there are usually a dozen good ways to do any desired task. Which is best for YOU is often different than what is best for even Linux gurus. So don't be afraid to try things out. Worst that can happen is you learn something by messing your system up and the cussing that goes on while you figure out what you broke and how to fix it. Me I prefer to spend time doing stuff WITH my machine rather than on it. So I spend about 2 hours customizing my machine soon as I install and after that I might spend an hour a month maintaining it. I reboot when I upgrade the kernel or if the power goes out. Often 6 months or more between reboots. I have found utils for almost everything I do that fit what and how I work. I still try out new apps from time to time and occasionally find one that's even better than what I used to use. If you get stuck feel free to ask people questions. Most Linux users are friendly people who'll try to help. just remember they have thier way of doing things and will naturally recommend those ways. That might not be what is right for you. So collecting several opinions is never a bad idea when you have a question. Then try different solutions, find what fits you best. Windows is a one size fits all solution. Linux is an individual's OS. Software that fits you and what you do instead of trying to make you fit what the software can do. Linux comes in different shapes sizes and varieties and you can further customize from there and should. 


Hope this helps. 
Drac


On 3/21/07, ACE < kevininatrice.co.za">kevininatrice.co.za> wrote:


How do I update or install firefox version 2, oh yes just want to
mention I started on linux yesterday, literally. Finding it very
confusing, why can't I just download a setup.exe, double click,
Done!!!.


This is the kinda stuff that puts me off linux. Can anyone change my
mind?




  

  
  
   
     
    

  

    Re: firefox on fedora
  


  

     user name

     2007-03-21 10:42:06
  


  

    

  


  

    Couple addiitions/corrrections. 

Fedora FAQs are located at 
This one will be the most useful.
http://www.fedorafaq.org/
Still lots of useful info at the official FAQ as well. 

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FAQ

chkconfig is for setting run levels such as taking services up or down. It sounds like you could edit files with it the way I wrote my reply. You can't. There are GUI ways to do this. I've been using chkconfig for years so that's what I use. I can be done before the GUI finishes launching. Both KDE and Gnome have GUI admin tools. Make sure you install the admin tools packages for both. 


Gnome and KDE are not the only desktops availible. Many Linux power users go with very light weight desktop managers or experimental desktop managers. I'd suggest sticking with KDE or Gnome until your more comfortable then trying out the other desktop managers. You might really like one of them. It's all a matter of personal taste and what you do with your machine. 






  

  
  
   
     
    






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