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

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.

How to update to latest version

When it comes to updating firefox from tar file its a bit tricky, but don’t worry i have created an script file that will help you to easily update your Firefox. just copy paste the script and update as your needs.

#!/bin/bash

# Set temporary directory and the destination directory
TEMP_DIR="/tmp"
INSTALL_DIR="/opt/firefox"

# Download the latest version of Firefox
echo "Downloading the latest version of Mozilla Firefox..."
LATEST_FIREFOX_URL="https://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-latest&os=linux64&lang=en-US"
wget -O "$TEMP_DIR/firefox-latest.tar.bz2" "$LATEST_FIREFOX_URL"

# Check if the download was successful
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
    echo "Failed to download Firefox. Exiting..."
    exit 1
fi

# Remove the old Firefox installation if it exists
echo "Removing old Firefox installation from $INSTALL_DIR..."
sudo rm -rf "$INSTALL_DIR"

# Extract the downloaded tar.bz2 file to /opt/firefox
echo "Extracting Firefox to $INSTALL_DIR..."
sudo tar -xjf "$TEMP_DIR/firefox-latest.tar.bz2" -C /opt

# Check if the extraction was successful
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Firefox has been successfully installed in $INSTALL_DIR."
else
    echo "Failed to extract Firefox. Exiting..."
    exit 1
fi

# Clean up the temporary downloaded file
echo "Cleaning up temporary files..."
rm -f "$TEMP_DIR/firefox-latest.tar.bz2"

echo "Installation complete."