How to set priority for a PPA. I.e. using Firefox without SNAPD

[rab0171610]

You could always consider installing it manually. It will update itself in the app when you go to help>about firefox:

Install Firefox from Mozilla builds (For advanced users)

• Before you install Firefox, make sure that your computer has the required libraries installed. Missing libraries will cause Firefox to be inoperable.
• To install Firefox with this method, you must be able to login as root or execute sudo commands.
• This installation will have priority over the Firefox version installed through your package manager. To run the version installed with your package manager, you will need to execute the binary from a terminal. To do so in most distributions, open a terminal and type: /usr/bin/firefox.

1. Go to the Firefox download page and click on the Download Now button.

2. Open a terminal and go to the folder where your download has been saved. For example:

cd ~/Downloads

3. Extract the contents of the downloaded file by typing:

tar xjf firefox-*.tar.bz2

4. Move the uncompressed Firefox folder to /opt:

mv firefox /opt

5. Create a symlink to the Firefox executable:

ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/local/bin/firefox

6. Download a copy of the desktop file:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mo...irefox.desktop -P /usr/local/share/applications

Alternatively, if wget is not installed on your computer, go to the URL mentioned above, right-click on the page to open the contextual menu and select Save Page As. After you downloaded the file, move it to /usr/local/share/applications.

To verify that the installation was successful, you can open the Troubleshooting Information page. In the Application Basics section, the value of Application Binary should be /opt/firefox/firefox-bin.


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[Bings]

Thank you. That's my next option if it overrides it again. I did try using the site version before but was behind the repo version so my profile couldn't be used.

[rab0171610]

The version in the Ubuntu repos was newer than the upstream from Firefox? I have never seen that before with any distro, even Arch Linux, which usually has the upstream version in their repos before others, but never before upstream itself.
Regardless, the previous profile can always be used but you have to know how to make Firefox use it. I am not going to go into it into detail here but it involves editing a file called profiles.ini in .mozilla in /home. Just because a new installation of Firefox didn't open an existing profile does not mean that it cannot, it just means it chose not to.

[oshunluvr]

The version in the repo from my first post is the latest: 100.0.2

[Bings]

oshunluvr

Honestly, it seems likely you probably didn't completely follow the all the steps. I suggest going back to the first post and very carefully redoing them all.

~$ apt policy snapd
snapd:
Installed: (none)
Candidate: 2.55.3+22.04ubuntu1
Version table:
2.55.3+22.04ubuntu1 500
500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates/main amd64 Packages
2.55.3+22.04 500
500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages
~$ apt list libsnapd-qt1
Listing... Done
libsnapd-qt1/jammy 1.60-0ubuntu1 amd64
libsnapd-qt1/jammy 1.60-0ubuntu1 i386
~$ apt list chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra
Listing... Done
chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra/jammy 1:85.0.4183.83-0ubuntu2 amd64
~$ cat /etc/apt/preferences.d/99mozillateam
Package: *
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam
Pin-Priority: 900
~$ apt policy firefox
firefox:
Installed: 100.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1
Candidate: 100.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1
Version table:
1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 500
500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages
*** 100.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 900
900 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Am I missing anything?

[Snowhog]

There is a 'gotcha' if one follows the instructions in post #1, and it will happen, as it did to me today, if you perform a do-release-upgrade later to upgrade to the next available OS version.

The 'gotcha' is with snapd and Firefox. Because you are upgrading to the next version of the OS, that new version will attempt to install the snap version of Firefox, and it expects; it needs; snapd to be installed and running. If it isn't (post #1 instructions rids your system of snap completely) when the snap version of Firefox attempts to be installed, the upgrade process stops, indefinitely, waiting for snapd. Nothing I could do but terminate the upgrade. Luckily (for me at least), sudo dpkg -configure -a and sudo apt -f install (run a few times until each just returns you to a prompt immediately) completed the OS upgrade. My laptop is now running 22.10 very nicely.

[bweinel]

Unfortunately, Canonical seems to be bent upon rushing snap applications into their operating systems despite the associated problems (which they neglected to find and fix before the LTS release.)

Automatically porting existing Firefox profiles from the default location over to the sand boxed Firefox application location was one that became apparent immediately after an upgrade to 22.04. I had to do it manually.

I ran across another issue yesterday where snapd sand boxed Firefox (again!) is unable to access /usr/share/* files, which is a requirement for some applications (Gimp in this case) in order to reach their help and documentation folders. It looks like they left that sub-directory out of the default path setup for snapd sand boxed Firefox application when compiling the snap. Looks like a bug report to upstream is in order.

Grrrrr.....

cheers,
bill

[Beerislife]

How about adding the Linux Mint repo to get Firefox as well as some other Mint goodies?

[GreyGeek]

Note that the PPA may give a beta release of Firefox. Presently one gets version 100.

104.0 on KDE Neon fully updated. oshunluvr's settings come with KDE Neon at no extra charge!

[Derbeth]

This is not working for me, it keeps ninja installing the snap version of firefox. I'm trying "sudo apt-mark hold snapd" to see if this will prevent it re-installing without my knowledge. This bag of ****e is behaving like some sort of virus.

I had a similar problem: apt policy firefox showed the correct configuration: that mozillateam PPA has a higher priority than the snap. And despite this, from time to time some background process replaced my APT version with the snap version.

What worked for me is blocking unattended-updates from touching 'firefox' package. Edit /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades and make sure you have something like:

Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {
    // The following matches all packages starting with linux-
//  "linux-";
        "firefox";

[claydoh]

And despite this, from time to time some background process replaced my APT version with the snap version.

I think the proper method to prevent this in the first place is to set the pin in the 500s?

Neon have added the PPA to replace the Snap for their 22.04 build, and have actually pushed this change to 20.04 ahead of this, so there aren't any issues with the release upgrade.
They used a pin-priority of 550, though i don't think this is any different from using 900, if I read the docs correctly. (Which is highly unlikely )
https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages...erences.5.html

So,. my guess is that Ubuntu and Mozilla are simply releasing their Snap and associated deb sometimes before the mozillateam PPA do
But then again, I also thought that the 'o' in release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam indicated to only get the specified packagename from the specified repo to begin with, so even unattended upgraded wouldn't be breaking basic apt configuration?

In any case, many thanks for the tip!!

I will be watching to see if this sort of thing happens in the future

[Snowhog]

So I'm confused (what's new, eh?). I'm running KDE neon User Edition 5.25. Firefox is installed, but it's the snap version:

1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 (Transitional package > firefox > firefox snap).

I'm fully up to date. There is no non-snap firefox package identified in Muon Package Manager, but the Firefox PPA was created during a full-upgrade I ran on Sept 29th:

Selecting previously unselected package neon-repositories-launchpad-mozilla.
(Reading database ... 206976 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../neon-repositories-launchpad-mozilla_0.1+p22.04+trelease+git20220929.1203_all.deb ...
Unpacking neon-repositories-launchpad-mozilla (0.1+p22.04+trelease+git20220929.1203) ...
Setting up neon-repositories-launchpad-mozilla (0.1+p22.04+trelease+git20220929.1203) ...
+ . /etc/os-release
+ PRETTY_NAME=KDE neon 5.25
+ NAME=KDE neon
+ VERSION_ID=22.04
+ VERSION=5.25
+ VERSION_CODENAME=jammy
+ ID=neon
+ ID_LIKE=ubuntu debian
+ HOME_URL=[URL]https://neon.kde.org/[/URL]
+ SUPPORT_URL=[URL]https://neon.kde.org/[/URL]
+ BUG_REPORT_URL=[URL]https://bugs.kde.org/[/URL]
+ PRIVACY_POLICY_URL=[URL]https://kde.org/privacypolicy/[/URL]
+ UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy
+ [ ! -e /etc/apt/sources.list.d/org.kde.neon.net.launchpad.ppa.mozillateam.list ]
+ grep --quiet --extended-regexp -r --include=*.list ^deb\s.+[URL="http://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu"]ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu[/URL] /etc/apt/sou
rces.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d
+ cat
+ grep --quiet --extended-regexp -r --include=*.list ^deb\s.+[URL="http://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu"]ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu[/URL] /etc/apt/sou
rces.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d
+ apt-get indextargets
+ grep --quiet --extended-regexp ^Repo-URI:.+[URL="http://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu"]ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu[/URL]
+ apt-get update
Hit:1 [URL]http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu[/URL] jammy InRelease
0% [Waiting for headers] [Connecting to [URL="http://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/"]ppa.launchpadcontent.net[/URL] (185.125.190.52)] [Connecting to [URL="http://ppa.launchpad.net/"]ppa.launchpad.net[/URL] (185.
                                                                                                                        
Hit:2 [URL]http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu[/URL] jammy-security InRelease
0% [Waiting for headers] [Connecting to [URL="http://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/"]ppa.launchpadcontent.net[/URL] (185.125.190.52)] [Connecting to [URL="http://ppa.launchpad.net/"]ppa.launchpad.net[/URL] (185.
                                                                                                                        
Hit:3 [URL]http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu[/URL] jammy-updates InRelease
                                                                                                                        
Hit:4 [URL]http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu[/URL] jammy-backports InRelease                  
Hit:5 [URL]http://ppa.launchpad.net/utappia/stable/ubuntu[/URL] jammy InRelease                                                  
Get:6 [URL]https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu[/URL] jammy InRelease [23.8 kB]                                
Get:7 [URL]http://archive.neon.kde.org/user[/URL] jammy InRelease [104 kB]
Get:8 [URL]https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu[/URL] jammy/main amd64 Packages [33.8 kB]
Fetched 162 kB in 1s (118 kB/s)                              
Reading package lists... Done

​

[claydoh]

It won't replace or fix you having the current Ubuntu deb/snap, though when there is a new FF it should replace the 'fake' deb. I think?? The Snap itself will of course remain.

What does apt policy firefox show after running an apt update?

This is why they have been getting the mozzillateam PPA added to Focal users before the upgrade to Jammy becomes official. That way, Neon upgraders never get the Ubuntu deb/snap to begin with.
You are still in Neon pre-release territory

Things worked as expected on a test upgrade for me.

The current pre-release ISO (dated the 29th) has the PPA deb version installed already.

[Snowhog]

What does apt policy firefox show after running an apt update?

paul@paul-virtualbox:~$ apt policy firefox
firefox:
  Installed: 1:1snap1-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1:1snap1-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     105.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 550
        500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages
​

[claydoh]

So, you probably need to uninstall the firefox deb, then see what the policy changes to. I am guessing that it will magically look more like mine, except for the installed status:

$ apt policy firefox
firefox:
Installed: 105.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1
Candidate: 105.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1
Version table:
1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 500
500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages
*** 105.0.1+build1-0ubuntu0.22.04.1~mt1 550
500 https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/mozillateam/ppa/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Then installing FF again should install the PPA one, assuming the correct one is now the Candidate

While you can keep both the Snap and the deb installed at the same time, there is no real or logical reason to do so. Uninstalling the snap eliminated the minor default-browser confusions I was seeing while testing over a couple of days.