Running Firefox 52.0.2 (64-bit) in Slackware64 14.1 (Amended)
Posted: 29 March 2017 Filed under: Browsers, Linux, Slackware | Tags: browsers, Firefox, Internet, Mozilla 7 CommentsToday I noticed that FF was starting up slowly and loading web pages like walking through liquid tar. I did the usual troubleshooting steps to see if any recently updated addons, extensions, or services were creating this issue. Sadly, nothing was jumping out at me.
I thought, “What the Hell. I’ll install the current release of FF instead of the ESR version in the Slackware repos. Installation was easy-peasy. The new version doesn’t seem to be having any of the issues the ESR version was having; using the exact same profile.
YAY!
Interested in running the newest FF in your Slackware? Just d-load the tar.bz2 package from Mozilla in your flavor and unpack in /opt. Create a launcher from your panel (Xfce for me), and away you go.
Of course, you’ll have to keep track of new FF updates from Moz and install manually. But what the hey…
Later…
~Eric
Amended 033017-1609hrs
Wow! What a dumbass mistake I made here!
Thanks to a comment by +Jennifer Doering (friend from G+) posted below, I realized that I had made a small boo-boo by installing FF 52.x above on my Slack64 14.1. The mistake was that the newer FF is compiled from the source to be compatible with PulseAudio. I’m NOT using PulseAudio (can’t stand it, actually) in my 14.1. That means… UH-OH! No sound. No YouTube. NO METAL! ARRRRRRRGH! Can’t have that.
But to compound the above error, I did a truly Slacker newbie faux pas. I did not run an update (#slackpkg update) before doing all this crap. It turns out that just the day before Slack had released a patch update for FF taking it to — you guess it — 52.0.02 ESR (64 bit). I’m so embarrassed. The Nocturnal Slacker fscks up and posts all about it to the world. Ain’t the Internet grand?
The lesson here is that before you start installing from sources other than your distribution’s repos, check to make sure that the maintainers (the ones a helluva lot smarter than you) haven’t already solved the problem you’re trying to resolve by installing out-of-repo software.
Thanks again, Jen. 🙂
~Eric, the forgetful and occasionally dimwitted Slacker.
Nocturnal Slacker v1.0 
FYI, if you aren’t using pulseaudio, you’ll have to compile it with ALSA support. The Slackware-current build directory is configured to do this already. I haven’t recompiled firefox because I’m a bit lazy. 😛
You know what? I had forgotten all about that. I’m using ALSA on all my systems (running 14.1). This machine at my office desk doesn’t have speakers connected, but my main system on the other desk does. I’ll have to check and see what’s up with that.
I’m too lazy to compile. I’ll just pull the newest FF from the Current repos if there does turn out to be an audio issue. Gonna’ fire the other machine up and check right now. Thanks the tip/reminder.
~Eric, the forgetful Slacker. 😉
Huh. Let me know if it works. It would save a ton of time. Although would it be compiled against glibc for current?
*sigh* Jen, see the Amendment to the article above. 🙂
Oh cool. I normally don’t install the ESR because it’s older than the current firefox. I’ll have to actually update it. 🙂
And there it is. Once again our BDFL saves us time and energy.
Absolutely! 🙂