>How To Install Firefox From bz2 File in Linux With Desktop Icon
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How To Install Firefox From bz2 File in Linux With Desktop Icon

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I’ve been using Firefox for a long time, and I love it. However, sometimes it doesn’t update to the latest version quickly through package managers like APT or DNF, or through the software center. I wanted to install Firefox from a .tar.bz2 file on Linux, but it doesn’t come with a desktop file for the icon, which can be time-consuming to set up. So, here’s a solution.

Download Firefox

First, you’ll need the .tar.bz2 file to install Firefox. Visit the Mozilla Firefox website and download the appropriate file for your operating system.

Extract Firefox on Linux

To extract the contents of the downloaded Firefox file, use the following command:

sudo tar jxvf firefox-*.tar.bz2 -C /opt

This command extracts the contents to the /opt directory, and you’ll need sudo permissions to do this.

Install Firefox

Now that Firefox is extracted, you can start it by running /opt/firefox/firefox from your terminal. However, this isn’t the most convenient way to launch Firefox, so let’s create a desktop icon for easier access.

Create Desktop Icon

To create a desktop icon for Firefox, run the following command:

nano ~/.local/share/applications/firefox.desktop

This opens the firefox.desktop file in the nano text editor. Add the following lines to the file:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Firefox Web Browser
Comment=Browse the World Wide Web
GenericName=Web Browser
Keywords=Internet;WWW;Browser;Web;Explorer
Exec=/opt/firefox/firefox %u
Terminal=false
X-MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Icon=/opt/firefox/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png
Categories=GNOME;GTK;Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;x-scheme-handler/ftp;x-scheme-handler/chrome;video/webm;application/x-xpinstall;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=firefox
NoDisplay=false

Save the file and exit the editor. Now, you can easily start Firefox from your application menu or app finder.