How can I ensure that Firefox never (ever) updates itself?
I'm on Ubuntu Linux v16.0.4, and running two versions of Firefox. I need an older version because of an extension that doesn't work with the current version of Firefox, and I've been using v48 for this.
I have gone into the advanced preferences area, and selected to not have Firefox check for updates, but it still does, and updates itself. This means that I have to set it all up again every time it updates.
For reference, I'm installing by downloading the tar.gz from Mozilla. I extract it to ~/Firefox/Firefox48, create a profile for it, and then run it with that profile:
/home/skunkbad/Firefox/Firefox48/firefox -no-remote -P firefox48
All is well, until it updates itself.
I can go to about:config, and it looks like everything is set right so that it doesn't update itself, but it still does. Please help me ensure that Firefox NEVER updates itself.
(I do want my current Firefox install to update itself, just not the old verson 48 that I put in ~/Firefox)
All Replies (7)
firefox is part of the standard package set with Ubuntu 16 and thus be updated any time an update is available. Within the apt-mark command is the ability to stop packages from ever being updated. Firefox is probably two packages. It would include firefox and probably a language package such as firefox-en. To figure out which one is right for you, issue the command apt-mark showmanual When you know which packages you don't want updated, use apt-mark hold to stop updates. In my case, if I wanted FF not to update, the packages would be firefox and firefox-en. Although anyone can issue an apt-mark showmanual, only root (as in sudo) can stop package updates so if your firefox is US English, the specific commands would be
sudo apt-mark hold firefox sudo apt-mark hold firefox-en
To reverse this you would use sudo apt-mark unhold whatever
To see what packages are held (no sudo required) apt-mark showhold
If you dod not get Firefox from Mozilla.org then try Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link}
You should also check out Firefox; Extended Support Release {web link} ESR Notes System Requirements
If you begin with an install of Ubuntu, it probably includes Firefox. Like the other package, the firefox package will attempt to update whenever the distribution has something newer.
If you did apt-get remove firefox then manually install the .tar file, that would keep Ubuntu from updating the package.
apt-mark achieves the same result without actually deleting the current version.
That is easy to achieve on Linux. If you install Firefox in a location that requires root permission and not in your Home directory (~) then Firefox won't be able to update unless you would run Firefox with root permission (sudo).
cor-el said
That is easy to achieve on Linux. If you install Firefox in a location that requires root permission and not in your Home directory (~) then Firefox won't be able to update unless you would run Firefox with root permission (sudo).
What location do you recommend? Couldn't i just chown to root:root with the same effect?
I installed at /opt/Firefox, and by default owner and group are root. Firefox won't let me start it from there unless I use sudo. What should I be doing?
Modified by skunkbad
See also related thread by same OP where multiple installs of Firefox were mentioned.
- How can I automate installation of add-ons in an FF48? /questions/1159030#answer-965606
If you have read access to the installation folder /opt/Firefox then you should be able to start Firefox from a location with only root write access permission. You can try to set the owner to root or disable write access in other install locations like in your home directory, but it is possible that Firefox still tries to download an update, but won't be able to apply it and thus would give a message on each start.