"Installing" my first application
Well, really, all I was wanting to do was upgrade. Go from Firefox 1.0.6 (that came with the linux installation) allllllll the way up to Firefox 1.5.0.4. Simple right? Well, yah, I guess it is if you know what you're doing! Or, no, not so simple if you really just want to go 'click, click, ok' like in some other OSes, or if you get to use a "package". Well, I'm sort of somewhere in between, but still not really confident about knowing what I'm doing!
I logged in as "root" and downloaded the tarball to my home directory. Then I found a little (and I mean little) blurb on the Firefox site about untarring the download where you want the app installed within linux, which is (sort of) great, except: (a) I didn't know where it ought to be installed; and (b) I was hoping that I was upgrading, not really installing. I know how to untar something... I'm not a complete Linux n00b, but in Linux I've only ever done what I've had to do. It's a whole other ballgame to do the things I want to do, as well.
Anyway, I did some googling and poked around my filesystem trying to figure out what's up. Things started coming back to me, things long lost since my school-related linuxing days. I managed to track down where all the application files seem to be. A mysterious place called: /usr/lib/ -- this place contained a directory full of Firefox 1.0.6 files, so I know I was on to something, no matter how small that something was.
I tried to "install" 1.5.0.4 by untarring into /usr/lib/ but all that did was attempt (and fail) to overwrite the symbolic link called "firefox" with a directory full of stuff also called "firefox". OK, fine. I get that... well kind of. What the heck is a symbolic link, anyway?
Actually, I knew I used them all the time. I knew they were handy little pointers to big ugly long pathnames, making life much easier in general. But I had never actually had to create or destroy them. I'm sure any experienced linuxer reading this (I'm sorry!) is laughing at me by now, since symbolically linking files is absolutely no big deal. But isn't it quite normal to be afraid of the unknown? ;)
Anyway, I deleted the old Firefox directory and the symbolic link that linked to the "firefox-bin" file within in... after taking careful note of what it was linking too. After all, I want to be like all the cool kids who use symbolic links to run Firefox. Then, it was time to start fresh. The idea of simply upgrading -- as I had always thought of it, I mean -- had totally flown out the window by this point. This was essentially a fresh install... only my settings saved elsewhere were safe. (I hoped.)
Here's what I tried, from within /usr/lib/:
mkdir firefox-1.5.0.4
cd firefox-1.5.0.4
tar -xvzf ~/firefox-1.5.0.4.tar.gz
cd ..
ln -s /usr/lib/firefox-1.5.0.4/firefox/firefox-bin firefox
By the end of all that, I had myself the new Firefox files all laid out AND a symbolic link to firefox-bin, just like I saw was there before. Now it should work, right??
WRONG!
Ouch. With the old version completely deleted and the new version not being happy with me I had no working Firefox anymore. :( Now what? Open up one of the other million browsers that got installed (I chose Mozilla) and do some more googling, that's what! That in itself didn't solve my problem, but having my Google powers back made me feel better.
I poked around the filesystem a little while longer. IF I had been brilliant, I would have typed: whereis firefox and learned where all "firefox"-es lived. Instead I kept poking until something finally felt sorry for me and told me that there was also something I should be looking at in /usr/bin/. Off to /usr/bin/ I went, called up the directory listing and scrolled WAY up to find a very firey red looking "firefox" ... a symbolic link that got busted when I did my rash of deletions, no doubt.
I put my new symbolic linking skills to work, first examing what the broken link was supposed to be. Then deleting it completely. Time to link again! Wuhhoo!
ln -s /usr/lib/firefox-1.5.0.4/firefox/firefox firefox
Although that just looks like I keep repeating myself, having acquired some kind of repetitive word typing disorder during this time of Firefox-less stress, I bravely called on Firefox to load up again... and...
IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!
Amazing how little things (that seem so huge at the time) can be so rewarding. So steps similar to these will I follow to "upgrade" Thunderbird and Gaim. And I'm sure they'll come in useful for first time installs too! That is, unless I'm missing something and don't know it yet. But, guess what? I'm typing up this blog post using Firefox 1.5 within Slackware 10.2 and so far it goes quite well. :)
It's amazing what a little time and determination can accomplish.
I logged in as "root" and downloaded the tarball to my home directory. Then I found a little (and I mean little) blurb on the Firefox site about untarring the download where you want the app installed within linux, which is (sort of) great, except: (a) I didn't know where it ought to be installed; and (b) I was hoping that I was upgrading, not really installing. I know how to untar something... I'm not a complete Linux n00b, but in Linux I've only ever done what I've had to do. It's a whole other ballgame to do the things I want to do, as well.
Anyway, I did some googling and poked around my filesystem trying to figure out what's up. Things started coming back to me, things long lost since my school-related linuxing days. I managed to track down where all the application files seem to be. A mysterious place called: /usr/lib/ -- this place contained a directory full of Firefox 1.0.6 files, so I know I was on to something, no matter how small that something was.
I tried to "install" 1.5.0.4 by untarring into /usr/lib/ but all that did was attempt (and fail) to overwrite the symbolic link called "firefox" with a directory full of stuff also called "firefox". OK, fine. I get that... well kind of. What the heck is a symbolic link, anyway?
Actually, I knew I used them all the time. I knew they were handy little pointers to big ugly long pathnames, making life much easier in general. But I had never actually had to create or destroy them. I'm sure any experienced linuxer reading this (I'm sorry!) is laughing at me by now, since symbolically linking files is absolutely no big deal. But isn't it quite normal to be afraid of the unknown? ;)
Anyway, I deleted the old Firefox directory and the symbolic link that linked to the "firefox-bin" file within in... after taking careful note of what it was linking too. After all, I want to be like all the cool kids who use symbolic links to run Firefox. Then, it was time to start fresh. The idea of simply upgrading -- as I had always thought of it, I mean -- had totally flown out the window by this point. This was essentially a fresh install... only my settings saved elsewhere were safe. (I hoped.)
Here's what I tried, from within /usr/lib/:
mkdir firefox-1.5.0.4
cd firefox-1.5.0.4
tar -xvzf ~/firefox-1.5.0.4.tar.gz
cd ..
ln -s /usr/lib/firefox-1.5.0.4/firefox/firefox-bin firefox
By the end of all that, I had myself the new Firefox files all laid out AND a symbolic link to firefox-bin, just like I saw was there before. Now it should work, right??
WRONG!
Ouch. With the old version completely deleted and the new version not being happy with me I had no working Firefox anymore. :( Now what? Open up one of the other million browsers that got installed (I chose Mozilla) and do some more googling, that's what! That in itself didn't solve my problem, but having my Google powers back made me feel better.
I poked around the filesystem a little while longer. IF I had been brilliant, I would have typed: whereis firefox and learned where all "firefox"-es lived. Instead I kept poking until something finally felt sorry for me and told me that there was also something I should be looking at in /usr/bin/. Off to /usr/bin/ I went, called up the directory listing and scrolled WAY up to find a very firey red looking "firefox" ... a symbolic link that got busted when I did my rash of deletions, no doubt.
I put my new symbolic linking skills to work, first examing what the broken link was supposed to be. Then deleting it completely. Time to link again! Wuhhoo!
ln -s /usr/lib/firefox-1.5.0.4/firefox/firefox firefox
Although that just looks like I keep repeating myself, having acquired some kind of repetitive word typing disorder during this time of Firefox-less stress, I bravely called on Firefox to load up again... and...
IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!
Amazing how little things (that seem so huge at the time) can be so rewarding. So steps similar to these will I follow to "upgrade" Thunderbird and Gaim. And I'm sure they'll come in useful for first time installs too! That is, unless I'm missing something and don't know it yet. But, guess what? I'm typing up this blog post using Firefox 1.5 within Slackware 10.2 and so far it goes quite well. :)
It's amazing what a little time and determination can accomplish.
posted by olivepeople at 7:45 PM
1 Comments:
I did the same and was stuck executing v1.0.6. Your post, and a quick edit to /usr/bin, and all was well. Didn't know about whereis command either. Thanks!
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