What is needed to run Firefox V46 on Debian Wheezy?
I'm running Debian Wheezy and for some time, have linked to the LMDE repository for current versions of Firefox. Firefox V45 ran fine. The system updated to V46 and Firefox wouldn't start (a window pops up asking if I want to send a report to Mozilla, then any attempt to retry produces the message again). The updates are done by the package manager, so I assumed all required dependencies would be satisfied or a message would be generated.
Installing V46 from a Mozilla tarball produces the same result, including starting Firefox with the default new-install profile. I found a Mozilla download for manually installing V45 again from a tarball, which is what I'm currently using.
Looking at the prerequisites, the only thing that changed between V45 and V46 is that the required minimum version of GTK+ went from 2.18 to 3.4. Unfortunately, this information isn't actionable. There is nothing called GTK+ V3.4 in any repository. There are dozens of files (probably over 50), containing GTK or GTK+ or GTK2 or GTK3 in their name. I found a few installed files containing GTK in their names and identified as V3.4:
gir1.2-gtk-3.0, gir1.2-gtksource-3.0, libgtk-3-0, libgtk-3-bin, lib-gtk-3-common, libgtksourceview-3.0-0, libgtksourceview-3.0-common (plus a collection of files with other version numbers). If this dependency is the issue, then apparently, none of these is what Firefox needs.
So my questions:
1. Assuming none of those files is what Firefox needs, what is the exact name of the file (or files) required?
2. If the Wheezy repository doesn't have it, does that mean Firefox V46 can't be used with Wheezy (or is there a tested alternate source for the dependencies, like a Debian backport)?
3. If those files actually are what Firefox needs, is there some other known problem?
Vybrané riešenie
Debian 7.0 wheezy is pretty old for a Linux OS as it was released back in May 2013.
According to distrowatch it looks like it may have GTK 3.4.2 on a fresh install so that or newer should meet the minimum need to run Firefox 46.0.1
One problem these older or LTS Linux distro releases have with Firefox 46 if the user has a Oxygen GTK theme in use then Firefox may have issues like crashing depending on the Oxygen theme version.
Otherwise besides updating to a more current version of Debian 8.0 which came out April 2015) or another Linux distro, you could try using the Firefox ESR branch.
The Firefox 45 ESR is based on the Firefox 45.0 Release so GTK 2 and GTK2 themes works. https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/organizations/all/
The version on ESR channel gets eight updates (unless Mozilla extends it) so when Firefox 53.0 is Released the 45.8.0 ESR will be.
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Vybrané riešenie
Debian 7.0 wheezy is pretty old for a Linux OS as it was released back in May 2013.
According to distrowatch it looks like it may have GTK 3.4.2 on a fresh install so that or newer should meet the minimum need to run Firefox 46.0.1
One problem these older or LTS Linux distro releases have with Firefox 46 if the user has a Oxygen GTK theme in use then Firefox may have issues like crashing depending on the Oxygen theme version.
Otherwise besides updating to a more current version of Debian 8.0 which came out April 2015) or another Linux distro, you could try using the Firefox ESR branch.
The Firefox 45 ESR is based on the Firefox 45.0 Release so GTK 2 and GTK2 themes works. https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/organizations/all/
The version on ESR channel gets eight updates (unless Mozilla extends it) so when Firefox 53.0 is Released the 45.8.0 ESR will be.
James, thanks. Wheezy old? For Debian Stable, three years is practically new. Unlike most of what's in the repository, that doesn't even require carbon dating. :-)
I do have some Oxygen themes installed, so it sounds like that might be it. The 45 ESR sounds like the best solution for my situation, which will buy me almost a year.
I just replaced 45 with 45 ESR and it didn't miss a beat, so it looks like the problem is solved for now, and I know what to look for when 45 ESR hits the end of its cycle. Thanks for your help.
---Solution--- (at least for me) I had the same problem with wheezy updated to the current newest packages. Checked the software requirements and found that my installation actually met all of them, yet couldn't update Firefox the usual way i.e. via the menu help-> about Firefox. So i tried, as a last ditch attempt before taking into serious consideration the hassle of upgrading Debian, a fresh install from scratch downloading the tar.gz of Firefox 46.0.1 , tested it and it works- I'm using it right now.
Hope this helps.
hipsterical, it sounds like you're describing a different problem (that I also had: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1016101 ; that solution failed on V46, leading to this question).
As mentioned in my question in this current thread, installing from a Mozilla tarball didn't work (see James' answer re: Oxygen themes). Like you, I'm in no hurry to upgrade Debian because it isn't a trivial task. Glad you were able to solve your own problem via the tarball route.
Upravil(a) Fixer1234 dňa
The Help > Check for updates in Firefox is only for the official builds from mozilla.org or www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/ and not third-party builds.
The Firefox application folder needs to have user read/write permissions as a easy way around this for the official builds is to have Firefox in a folder in /home if you are the only user.
Upravil(a) James dňa
OK Fixer1234 , I read hastily the description, sry. BTW couldnt read your link content cause it ends up with a 404 error. good luck and all the best