How to install the latest version of FireFox (not ESR) on Debian – Easy Steps

Looking to get the latest version of Firefox on your Debian Linux system? Don’t you know how to do it? We can help! Follow the instructions as we go over how to install the latest version of Firefox on Debian.

Desinstalar Firefox ESR

Before configuring the latest version of Firefox on Debian, you must remove the Firefox ESR package. To get rid of the Firefox ESR package, open a terminal window on the Debian desktop. Then enter the command below.

sudo apt remove firefox-esr

Flatpak installation

If you are using Debian and prefer to use the latest version of Firefox instead of the ESR version, Flatpak is the best option. Flatpak is updated through Gnome, KDE Discover or Terminal software, so you will get Firefox updated regularly. Best of all, it is quite easy to install.

To start the Firefox setup process on Flatpak, you need to configure the Flatpak runtime on Debian. The Flatpak runtime configuration on Debian requires the terminal. Start the terminal with Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard or search for “Terminal” in the application menu.

Install the “flatpak” package using the apt-get install command below with the terminal window open and ready to go.

sudo apt-get install flatpak

Upon entering the above command, Debian will ask for your password. Using the keyboard, enter your username password. Then press the Get into wrench.

After pressing the Get into on the keyboard, Debian will collect Flatpak and all necessary dependencies for the package. It will then ask you to press the Y to confirm that you want to install the runtime. Do it.

With the Flatpak runtime configured on your Debian Linux system, you will need to configure the Flathub app store. This store has the latest version of Firefox. To configure it, use the following remote flatpak-add command.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Once the Flathub app store is set up on your Debian system, you can install the latest version of Firefox. Using the flatpak installation command, install the Firefox browser.

flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

Quick Install

Another way to get the latest version of Firefox on Debian is to install it through the Snap store. However, you must have the Snap runtime configured on your system beforehand.

Open a terminal window to configure the Snap runtime on your Debian Linux system. You can open a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or search for “Terminal” in the application menu and run it that way.

With the terminal window open, use the apt-get install command to configure the latest version of the “snapd” package.

sudo apt-get install snapd

After entering the above command, Debian will ask for your password. Using the keyboard, enter the password for your username. Then press the Get into key to continue.

Once you enter the password, Debian will ask you to press Y to confirm that you want to install the package. Then, after the package is configured, use the instant installation command to install the latest version of Firefox.

sudo snap install firefox

AppImage installation

If you want to use the latest version of Firefox on Debian, but don’t want to deal with Flatpak or Snap, you can get the newer AppImage. Open a terminal window on the Linux desktop to get your hands on the latest version of AppImage.

To open a terminal window on the desktop, press Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Alternatively, search for “Terminal” in the application menu and run it that way. Once it’s open, use the wget download command to grab the file.

Note: New Firefox application images are released frequently. To get your hands on new files, head over to this page.

wget https://github.com/srevinsaju/Firefox-Appimage/releases/download/firefox-v94.0.r20211119140621/firefox-94.0.r20211119140621-x86_64.AppImage

After downloading the latest Firefox AppImage, update the permissions using the chmod command below. Firefox permissions must be changed to run on Debian.

chmod +x firefox-94.0.r20211119140621-x86_64.AppImage

Once the AppImage permissions are updated, run Firefox with the following command.

./firefox-94.0.r20211119140621-x86_64.AppImage

Firefox downloadable TarBZ

Mozilla provides regular updates to Firefox in TarBZ format on its website. So if you don’t like the other solutions in this guide, this may be the way to go.

To get your hands on the latest version of Firefox’s TarBZ, head over to the Mozilla Download Page. Once on the page, it should automatically start downloading the Linux version of the app.

When the download is complete, open a terminal on the desktop. Launch a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or search for “Terminal” in the application menu and launch it.

With the terminal window open, use the CD command and move to the “Downloads” folder.

cd ~/Downloads

Next, extract the TarBZ file using the tar command.

tar xvf firefox-*.tar.bz2

Once the file is completely extracted, move to the “Firefox” folder using the CD command.

cd firefox/

Finally, start the latest version of Firefox on Debian by running the following command.

./firefox