Mozilla firefox esr linux

How To Install Firefox ESR In Ubuntu Or Linux Mint (PPA Or Snap)

Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release) is an official version of Firefox that doesn’t come with the latest features, but instead focuses on security and stability fixes. These ESR Firefox builds are intended for organizations like universities, governments, businesses, and others who need mass support deployment.

Firefox ESR releases are maintained for more than one year, and only receive point (minor) releases containing security updates, coinciding with regular Firefox releases.

These Firefox builds are not only targeted at organizations, but also at individuals who prefer stability over new features, or who prefer a UI that doesn’t change between releases and extensions that don’t break upon upgrading Firefox.

The latest Firefox ESR version is currently 60.3.0, released on October 23, while the latest regular Firefox release is 63.0.3. Since Firefox ESR is focused on security and stability, rather than new features, the next major version (68.0) will be released in September, 2019.

For more about Firefox ESR, see this page.

While Firefox ESR is not available in the Ubuntu and Linux Mint repositories, it’s easy to install it in both, either by using the Snap Store or by using the Mozilla Team Firefox ESR and Thunderbird stable builds PPA.

Install Firefox ESR In Ubuntu or Linux Mint (PPA or Snap)

Using either the PPA or the Snap package to install Firefox ESR, your current Firefox installation will not be overwritten, so you can continue to use both the latest Firefox release, as well as Firefox ESR. Also note that using either the PPA or Snap package, a new Firefox profile will be used.

You will get multiple Firefox entries in your application menu though, because Firefox ESR does not use a different name or icon in the menu. It’s best to either remove the latest Firefox build from your system (you can remove it using: sudo apt remove firefox ) if you plan on using ESR, or create a custom menu entry for Firefox ESR so you can easily differentiate between it and the default Firefox builds.

There’s also an unofficial PPA that contains the previous Firefox ESR version 52.9, in which legacy extensions (non-WebExtension API add-ons) still work, but this Firefox version is no longer supported, so it won’t receive security updates. I’m not including instructions in this article for using this unofficial PPA due to the security risks related to using an outdated Firefox version.

Install Firefox ESR in Ubuntu or Linux Mint using a PPA

One way of easily installing Firefox ESR (version 60 when this article is posted) in Ubuntu or Linux Mint is by using the Mozilla Team Firefox ESR and Thunderbird stable builds PPA. You can add it and install Firefox ESR using the commands that follow:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt install firefox-esr

Install Firefox ESR in Ubuntu or Linux Mint using Snap packages

A couple of notes about using the Firefox ESR snap package:

• Using Firefox ESR Snap, the application will not use your system Gtk+ and cursor theme. If you want it to integrate properly with your system, use the PPA package instead of Snap.
• On Linux Mint I had to logout and login to get the newly installed Firefox ESR Snap to show up in the applications menu.
• The first time you run an application installed as a Snap, it may take a while until it starts — this should only happen the first time you run it.

After installing this package, log out and in again to complete the installation.

Ubuntu already has Snap enabled by default.

For enabling Snap support in other Linux distributions, see this page.

Now you can install Firefox ESR as a Snap, by using this command:

snap install --channel=esr/stable firefox

You can also use Gnome Software app to install Firefox ESR as Snap: search for Firefox, find the Snap package, scroll down and change the Channel from stable to ESR/stable, then install the application.

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How to Install Firefox ESR via PPA in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) via PPA in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 16.04.

Firefox ESR:

Mozilla Firefox has 2 release series: Rapid and ESR. The rapid release updates every month with new features, and it’s default in Ubuntu. Firefox ESR moves slowly. It receives major updates on average every 42 weeks, but includes security fixes and policy updates as need every month.

Firefox ESR is an official version that does not come with the latest features but has the latest security and stability fixes. It is useful for business or school use, or those who don’t want to update the browser quite regularly that might break specific extension/addon.

Install Firefox ESR via PPA:

Ubuntu Mozilla Team, the packaging team for Ubuntu’s official Firefox package, maintains a PPA repository that contains the latest Firefox ESR packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

1. Add the PPA

To add the PPA, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Refresh package cache:

Ubuntu 20.04 and higher will update the package cache automatically after adding PPA. Though, Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04 need to manually run the command below to do it:

3. Install Firefox ESR:

Finally, install the Firefox Extended Support Release via command:

sudo apt install firefox-esr

The ESR package won’t replace the system default Firefox package. So, you may have duplicated app icons afterwards.

Check the about page for Firefox edition and pin it into dock (left panel), or you may remove the rapid release if you don’t need it anymore.

How to Remove Firefox ESR:

To remove the Firefox package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove firefox-esr

And run command to remove the Ubuntu PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:mozillateam/ppa

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What is Firefox ESR? How to Install it in Ubuntu?

Want a more stable and streamlined experience with Firefox? Use Firefox-ESR, which is trusted by Debian stable.

The snap version of Ubuntu is not to your liking? Don’t like constantly changing things with every Firefox release? You can try the Firefox ESR version if you value stability over features.

What is Firefox ESR?

Firefox ESR is a special edition of Firefox browser that doesn’t necessarily get new features monthly as the regular edition but it provides a stable and secure browsing experience. This is suitable for enterprises, organizations and institutes where stability and core features matter more than shiny new features. Think of Firefox ESR as the long-term stable release of Linux distributions. They do not necessarily get brand-new features but they get regular security and maintenance updates. This gives the users a familiar and stable environment.

Why should you care for Firefox ESR?

Firefox releases a new version almost every month. It contains security and feature updates. But some people may not like the inclusion and removal of features. If, after an update, you keep wondering where did certain settings go or do not like things that are different than before, Firefox ESR could be worth a try. Basically, if you value stability more than new features, Firefox ESR is for you. This is the same version of Firefox that ships with Debian, which is known for being one of the most stable distros you can get in the market. Let me show you how to get Firefox ESR on Ubuntu.

You can have both Firefox and Firefox-ESR versions installed simultaneously. There is no visual difference in their logos so you have to pay attention to which Firefox version you are opening.

Installing Firefox ESR in Ubuntu

• Firefox is running at version 107.0-2 .
• Firefox-ESR is currently at version 102.5.0esr .

So if that’s fine for you, let’s look at the first method.

Method 1: Install Firefox-ESR using PPA

Firefox-ESR is not available in the default repository of Ubuntu, so you can use the PPA.

PPA is nothing but a repository being maintained by individual techies or developers to have what the default repository does not.

And if you want to learn more about PPA, I would recommend checking our other guide that explains how you can use it on Linux.

Open your terminal and use the given command to add PPA for Firefox-ESR:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa

And press Enter to confirm you want to add PPA:

Once done, you will have to update the repository index in Ubuntu to take effect from the changes:

And now, you can install Firefox-ESR by using the given command:

sudo apt install firefox-esr

Next, you can use the given command to check the installed version of Firefox-ESR in your system:

Uninstalling Firefox-ESR from Ubuntu

If the ESR felt too outdated for your work or for any other reason you want to remove it from your system, you can follow the steps to remove the Firefox-ESR package and the repository.

First, let’s remove the Firefox-ESR package using the following:

sudo apt remove firefox-esr

Now, you can use the given command to remove PPA from Ubuntu:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:mozillateam/ppa

Method 2: Install Firefox-ESR using Snap

Love it or hate it, Snaps comes pre-configured on Ubuntu and I find using snaps a neat way of installing packages, especially when you want to avoid building them for source or using PPA.

All you need to do to install Firefox-ESR using snaps is to follow the given command:

sudo snap install firefox --channel=esr/stable

Removing Firefox-ESR Snap

To remove Firefox-ESR (snap package), use the snap remove command:

Become an expert Firefox user

Firefox is awesome. It has several features that many users are not aware of. Explore them.

Keyboard shortcuts make you more efficient with any tool. Firefox is no different.

Don’t settle with the default Firefox. These Firefox add-ons will greatly improve the experience.

I hope you like the native apt packaging and the stable Firefox experience in Ubuntu.

Questions or suggestions? The comment section is all yours.

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