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Updating Firefox/slackware

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  Updating Firefox/slackware The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> - 2026-09-29 13:32 -0700
    Re: Updating Firefox/slackware "Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> - 2026-09-29 16:57 -0400
    Re: Updating Firefox/slackware not@telling.you.invalid (Computer Nerd Kev) - 2026-09-30 09:09 +1000
      Re: Updating Firefox/slackware The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> - 2026-09-29 17:08 -0700
    Re: Updating Firefox/slackware Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> - 2026-10-02 22:08 +0000

#18236 — Updating Firefox/slackware

Being a generally untrusting person, I want to be able to try an update 
and revert to my previous version if I don't like the new one.

I download and untar the new version (157 in this case).
Start it from within its own separate subdirectory and generate a new 
profile.
Shut it down.
Copy (cp -raf *) over ALL the contents of the old profile.
Restart and test.

Looked OK, but I didn't want to deal with making it the current version 
yet.  When I closed 157 and restarted 150 I was told that firefox 
wouldnt work with a profile newer than the version and it demanded that 
I either quit or make a new profile.  I quit.  I tried again.  Same 
thing.  150 worked fine with that profile only half an hour ago.

Tried again:  ./firefox from within the FF150 subdirectory.  This time 
it brought up FF157 with the selected old profile with all my tabs gone.

I find this maddening.  Is there a simple explanation?  Should I have 
done something different?  My procedure has been working for decades -- 
until today :-(

-- 
Cheers, Bev
     It doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in.

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#18238

On 9/29/26 4:32 PM, The Real Bev wrote:
> Being a generally untrusting person, I want to be able to try an update
> and revert to my previous version if I don't like the new one.
> 
> I download and untar the new version (157 in this case).
> Start it from within its own separate subdirectory and generate a new
> profile.
> Shut it down.
> Copy (cp -raf *) over ALL the contents of the old profile.
> Restart and test.
> 
> Looked OK, but I didn't want to deal with making it the current version
> yet.  When I closed 157 and restarted 150 I was told that firefox
> wouldnt work with a profile newer than the version and it demanded that
> I either quit or make a new profile.  I quit.  I tried again.  Same
> thing.  150 worked fine with that profile only half an hour ago.
> 
> Tried again:  ./firefox from within the FF150 subdirectory.  This time
> it brought up FF157 with the selected old profile with all my tabs gone.
> 
> I find this maddening.  Is there a simple explanation?  Should I have
> done something different?  My procedure has been working for decades --
> until today :-(
> 
The first would be "did you backup the profile folder?"  like from the ~/.mozilla folder.
I would have thought it would just run off your old profile and muck it up as if it were 
an upgrade.  Granted restoring you profile backup would be the only option after that.

-- 
Mint 22.3,  Thunderbird 153.3.1esr,  Firefox 156.0.1
     Alan K.

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#18240

The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
> Being a generally untrusting person, I want to be able to try an update 
> and revert to my previous version if I don't like the new one.
> 
> I download and untar the new version (157 in this case).
> Start it from within its own separate subdirectory and generate a new 
> profile.
> Shut it down.
> Copy (cp -raf *) over ALL the contents of the old profile.
> Restart and test.

The profile files are usually created relative to the user's home
directory in Linux, not the installation directory, so I'm not sure
what you were copying where. But note that Firefox might now store
some things under ~/.config and ~/.local rather than ~/.mozilla
since it adopted the "XDG Base Directory Specification":

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Firefox-147-XDG-Base-Directory

I think it only creates the new locations if there's no existing
~/.mozilla directory when it starts up, but maybe you did that at
one point and it switched over to the new paths as a result,
ignoring the old ~/.mozilla directory that you copied back
afterwards?

-- 
__          __
#_ < |\| |< _#

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#18242

On 9/29/26 16:09, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
> The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Being a generally untrusting person, I want to be able to try an update 
>> and revert to my previous version if I don't like the new one.
>> 
>> I download and untar the new version (157 in this case).
>> Start it from within its own separate subdirectory and generate a new 
>> profile.
>> Shut it down.
>> Copy (cp -raf *) over ALL the contents of the old profile.
>> Restart and test.
> 
> The profile files are usually created relative to the user's home
> directory in Linux, not the installation directory, so I'm not sure
> what you were copying where. 

Yes.  Force-copy contents of Profile1 into Profile2.

> But note that Firefox might now store
> some things under ~/.config and ~/.local rather than ~/.mozilla
> since it adopted the "XDG Base Directory Specification":

Not unless it does it secretly.  I just untar the tarball into its own 
subdirectory.  I do NOT install or create symlinks.
> https://www.phoronix.com/news/Firefox-147-XDG-Base-Directory
> 
> I think it only creates the new locations if there's no existing
> ~/.mozilla directory when it starts up, but maybe you did that at
> one point and it switched over to the new paths as a result,
> ignoring the old ~/.mozilla directory that you copied back
> afterwards?
I have always left the previously-current firefox files and associated 
profile alone.  I could go back and run an ancient firefox with its own 
profile.  Old versions had no knowledge of newer versions.  This is 
strange.  If I run a firefox out of a forced location (/FF159/firefox/) 
as ./firefox -P I should get THAT version of firefox and whatever 
profile I choose in the next step. Been that way for a few decades, but 
not today :-(

-- 
Cheers, Bev
   If you have one lawyer in town, he goes hungry.
   If you have two lawyers in town, they both get rich.

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#18284

On Tue, 29 Sep 2026 13:32:45 -0700, The Real Bev wrote:

> I download and untar the new version (157 in this case).
> Start it from within its own separate subdirectory and generate a new
> profile.
> Shut it down.
> Copy (cp -raf *) over ALL the contents of the old profile.
> Restart and test.

I wouldn’t have done that. I would have renamed the old profile to a
backup name, and moved the new one in its place. That way I could
change my mind and go back to the old version afterwards.

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