Mozilla dispatches Firefox 3.6, fills its chair with version 13 beta

[ShyWriter]

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Mozilla dispatches Firefox 3.6, fills its chair with version 13 beta

By James Trew | posted Apr 29th 2012 3:41PM

If you've been defiantly clinging onto Firefox 3.6 by your fingertips, bad news. Mozilla is officially putting it to sleep -- whether you like it or not -- by auto-updating users to version 12. You've still got a few days to bid your emotional farewells, with the switchover being pegged as early May. But, the browser's creators stop short of setting a date for you to get the flowers delivered by. Official support for the 2010 release finished this week, and the final bout of security fixes was back in January. At the other end of the spectrum, Firefox 13 wobbled up onto its beta legs yesterday, bringing a new homepage, Google's new SPDY protocol and tab extra features with it. If you're making the leap, don't panic if you find some old friends missing.

SOURCE: http://www.engadget....ses-version-13/

Steve

[mountaintree16]

Upgraded on the 25th. SO does not like it but I told him we had to update... he might want to de-grade back down and I told him if he does no using FX to buy anything & it makes the computer more vulnerable... of course we have good protection though & keep all plugins up to date I'm going to try to not down grade though... Maybe a little silly, but, I took a screenshot of the old layout before upgrading... hehe.

[daledoc1]

Upgraded on the 25th. SO does not like it but I told him we had to update... he might want to de-grade back down and I told him if he does no using FX to buy anything & it makes the computer more vulnerable... of course we have good protection though & keep all plugins up to date I'm going to try to not down grade though... Maybe a little silly, but, I took a screenshot of the old layout before upgrading... hehe.

Hi, mt16:

Just a polite reminder for your SO: downgrading versions across a wide gap in versions (ESPECIALLY from 12 back to 3.6) could really break your Fx profile, since there are many differences in how the "newer" versions handle extensions, etc. It is NOT recommended that one try to do that, especially if you plan to use the same profile in both versions.

http://kb.mozillazin...Software_Update

As just another home user (NOT a Mozilla script kiddy!) I would strongly suggest, at the very least:

1) Back up your profile BEFORE upgrading from 3.6 to 12, using Mozbackup, FEBE and/or a manual copy/paste of the entire "Mozilla" folder from your AppData directory.

http://kb.mozillazin.../Profile_backup

http://kb.mozillazin...re_and_services

2) Back it up again AFTER upgrading, once you have it all working correctly, and BEFORE you attempt any sort of version downgrade.

Better yet would be to start with a new, fresh profile in version 12, and copy/import in your important data, such as bookmarks, from your 3.6 profile.

http://kb.mozillazin...file_on_Windows

http://kb.mozillazin...Profile_Manager

Personally, I would also suggest that you freshly & cleanly install any extensions, themes and other add-ons into the new profile, as well as your preferences, rather than copying them over.

http://kb.mozillazin...ofile_-_Firefox

Extension List Dumper is a great extension that allows you to save/print/backup a list of your current extensions in easily readable format: https://addons.mozil...-dumper/?src=ss

Rather than trying to use the internal updater in 3.6 to update "in place", I'd also suggest that you might uninstall 3.6 (it won't remove your profile info, but have it backed up anyway, JIC) and then download the installer for 12 from here (and ONLY from here): http://www.mozilla.o...-US/firefox/fx/, and then, WITH FIREFOX closed, run the installer.

This clean upgrade -- especially with a new, clean profile -- would probably be the safest bet when making such a big version jump.

FWIW, Fx 12 seems to be quite awesome (as opposed to TB 12, for which a major chemspill release 12.01 is due out soon to fix several regressions ).

There are many tips at the MZ forum for tutorials and extensions that will allow you to customize Fx 12 to provide the appearance/layout similar to 3.6, if you wish.

Anyway, feel free to "take it or leave it",

daledoc1

[ShyWriter]

I'm using FF 13b1 at the moment and haven't had any problems with any of the betas from about 10 on.. The versions get sweeter and sweeter with every release..

I posted this original article here because I figured more people would read it but, in general, the Firefox Updates topic in the General Software forum contains a lot of the most up-to-date info from various sources as well as the latest FF downloads. And any download link in that topic is totally vetted before posting - sometimes the beta updates show up in my Browser under HELP | ABOUT | UPDATES before they show up on the Mozilla site. ANY hot-link *I* post there is reliable.

Steve

[daledoc1]

Hi, Shy:

Indeed!

I was just sayin' that DOWNGRADING versions in Fx can be REALLY problematic, as can UPGRADING with a large version jump (e.g. 3.6 -> 12), especially if one's profile is long-in-tooth and loaded with lots of older extensions, etc.

So, I was just providing some potentially helpful resources from reliable sources (MZ forum KB) about how to reduce the likelihood of a trashed profile and "broken" Fx.

Cheers,

daledoc1

[ShyWriter]

Hi, Shy:

Indeed!

I was just sayin' that DOWNGRADING versions in Fx can be REALLY problematic, as can UPGRADING with a large version jump (e.g. 3.6 -> 12), especially if one's profile is long-in-tooth and loaded with lots of older extensions, etc.

So, I was just providing some potentially helpful resources from reliable sources (MZ forum KB) about how to reduce the likelihood of a trashed profile and "broken" Fx.

Cheers,

daledoc1

I'm glad you did, my friend.. I can't always repost all the stuff I run across and of all the things to NOT post was my failure to pass along the warning about UPGRADING/DOWNGRADING and the profiles problem. I also use MOZBACKUP as you suggested in your post and it's saved my fanny more than once. Thanks for posting your information. Hopefully it'll make the transition go smoother for most people.

Steve

EDIT: The betas get less problematic with each passing update.. I've had almost nothing go wrong or crash or break add-ons since 11, 12 and now 13..

Edited April 30, 2012 by ShyWriter

[AdvancedSetup]

My 3.6 continues to work just fine But I do run the latest 12 on some boxes.