- 4Installing from the command line
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IMPORTANT
Using this method is not officially supported.
We strongly encourage users to stay up to date by installing the most recent version of Firefox and allowing it to update itself through the built-in mechanism. The built-in process does a number of important things including CPU, OS and other checks before proceeding.
Overview
This document explains how to manually apply a MAR file to an existing installation to update it. This is useful in case you wish to patch a Mozilla based application without running the application itself. The process requires at least a general knowledge of using a command shell and file system paths. These instructions apply to the following applications though they can also be applied to other Mozilla based applications:
- Firefox 3.0.x and above
- SeaMonkey 2.0.x and above
- Thunderbird 2.0.x and above
Where to get a mar file
Below are examples of where localized mar files for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows can be downloaded from. You will need to navigate to the version directory, to the updates directory, and then to the platform directory for the mar file that you want to apply.
- Firefox (including ESR) http://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/
- SeaMonkey http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/seamonkey/releases/
- Thunderbird (including ESR) http://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/
Installing from the command line
Important:
- Changes made to all applications in version 56.0 require updating or installing version 56.0 of the application before updating to a newer version.
- The user account used to perform the update MUST have the appropriate permissions (e.g. Full Control on Windows, write, read, and execute on Linux and Mac OS X, etc.) on the application's installation directory that is being updated and on the outside directory defined below.
- If you are updating an application on Windows Vista or greater with UAC enabled then you may need to launch cmd.exe with 'Run as administrator' (available in the context menu when right clicking cmd.exe) as well.
- All paths MUST be full paths using the platform convention.
- All paths MUST not contain traversal directives in the path.
- Paths containing spaces passed to the updater MUST be quoted (e.g. 'C:Program Filestemp'). If you quote a path to a directory and include the trailing you must escape the with a so the ' isn't escaped (e.g. 'C:Program Filestemp').
- To use a partial mar file you MUST be updating the build it was created from (e.g. for Firefox firefox-3.5.6-3.5.7.partial.mar can only update Firefox 3.5.6).
- Windows does not always expand environment variables that represent paths so if you have problems using environment variables switch to using paths.
Steps for Windows
- Create a directory outside of the application's installation directory to be updated (e.g.
C:app-update
). This directory will be referred to as the outside directory throughout the instructions below so please make a note of its location. Grant the user account you are using Full Control permissions on this directory if it doesn't have these permission already. - Copy
updater.exe
from the application's installation directory that is to be upgraded into the outside directory. If you would like to display the updater user interface while it is applying the update also copy theupdater.ini
into the outside directory. - Download the appropriate .mar file and put it into the outside directory you created (see Where to get a mar file).
- Rename the mar file you downloaded to update.mar.
- Open a command prompt by running cmd.exe. On Windows Vista or greater you may need to launch cmd.exe with 'Run as administrator' (available in the context menu when right clicking cmd.exe).
- Change the working directory to the application's installation directory by using the cd command (e.g. for Firefox
cd 'C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox'
orcd 'C:Program Files (x86)Mozilla Firefox'
). Important: running the update from within another directory will fail to update the existing installation properly with Firefox 3.6.x and below, SeaMonkey 2.0.x and below, and Thunderbird 3.1.x and below. - Close all instances of the application that are running on the system including those being used by other users before going any further. Important: not doing so will cause the update to fail.
- For Firefox 34.x and above, SeaMonkey 2.31.x and above, or Thunderbird 34.x and above run the following from the command prompt. The additional
<path to installation directory>
is used by applications for update staging and when manually applying a mar the value for this command line parameter must be the path to the installation directory.
For Firefox 4.x through 33.x, SeaMonkey 2.1.x through 2.31.x, or Thunderbird 5.x through 33.x run the following from the command prompt
For Firefox 3.5.x and 3.6.x, SeaMonkey 2.0.x, or Thunderbird 3.0.x and 3.1.x run the following from the command prompt
For Firefox 3.0.x or Thunderbird 2.0.x run the following from the command prompt
Note: The '0' parameter passed on the command line specifies the PID of a process to wait on before applying the update. When applying updates manually this should be 0 to disable the wait step. - After the update has completed a file named
update.status
will be created in the outside directory. Open theupdate.status
status file in an editor (e.g. notepad.exe). If the update is successful then the file will contain the text 'succeeded'. If it does not contain the text 'succeeded', then theupdate.log
file may be consulted to diagnose at what step the update failed. A failed update should leave the original application's installation intact. DO NOT continue to the next section unless the update succeeded. - Copy the
update.log
to theuninstall
directory inside of the application's installation directory. - Rename it to
uninstall.update
. - Run the following from the command prompt
Steps for Mac OS X
![Firefox For Mac Not Updating Firefox For Mac Not Updating](/uploads/1/1/7/6/117660224/952755063.jpg)
- Create a directory outside of the application's installation directory to be updated (e.g.
/app-update/
). This directory will be referred to as the outside directory throughout the instructions below so please make a note of its location. Grant the user account you are using write, read, and execute permissions on this directory if it doesn't have these permission already. - Copy
updater.app
from inside the application's package that is to be upgraded into the outside directory. For Firefox 3.5 and above, SeaMonkey 2.0 and above, or Thunderbird 3.0 and above if you would like to display the updater user interface while it is applying the update also copy theupdater.ini
into the outside directory. Theupdater.app
package andupdater.ini
file are located in the app bundle's Contents/MacOS/ directory (e.g. for Firefox it is located inFirefox.app/Contents/MacOS/
). - Download the appropriate .mar file and put it into the outside directory you created (see Where to get a mar file).
- Rename the mar file you downloaded to update.mar.
- Open a Terminal and change the working directory to the application's package directory by using the cd command (e.g. for Firefox
cd /Applications/Firefox.app/
). Important: running the update from within another directory will fail to update the existing installation properly with Firefox 3.6.x and below, SeaMonkey 2.0.x and below, and Thunderbird 3.1.x and below. - It is recommended that all instances of the application that are running on the system including those being used by other users are closed before going any further. Important: not doing so can cause the update to fail under some circumstances and it can definitely break a running instance of the application.
- For Firefox 34.x and above, SeaMonkey 2.31.x and above, or Thunderbird 34.x and above run the following from the command prompt. The additional
<path to installation directory>
is used by applications for update staging and when manually applying a mar the value for this command line parameter must be the path to the installation directory.
For Firefox 4.x through 33.x, SeaMonkey 2.1.x through 2.31.x, or Thunderbird 5.x through 33.x run the following from the command prompt
For Firefox 3.5.x and 3.6.x, SeaMonkey 2.0.x, or Thunderbird 3.0.x and 3.1.x run the following from the Terminal
For Firefox 3.0.x or Thunderbird 2.0.x run the following from the Terminal
Note: The '0' parameter passed on the command line specifies the PID of a process to wait on before applying the update. When applying updates manually this should be 0 to disable the wait step. - After the update has completed a file named
update.status
will be created in the outside directory. Open theupdate.status
status file in an editor (e.g. TextEdit). If the update is successful then the file will contain the text 'succeeded'. If it does not contain the text 'succeeded', then theupdate.log
file may be consulted to diagnose at what step the update failed. A failed update should leave the original application's installation intact.
Steps for Linux
Mozilla Firefox For Mac 10.7.5
Important: this should work with all flavors of UNIX but the following steps have only been tested on Linux and Mozilla only distributes mar files for Linux.
- Create a directory outside of the application's installation directory to be updated (e.g.
<path to outside directory>/
). This directory will be referred to as the outside directory throughout the instructions below so please make a note of its location. Grant the user account you are using write, read, and execute permissions on this directory if it doesn't have these permission already. - Copy
updater
from the application's installation directory that is to be upgraded into the outside directory. If you would like to display the updater user interface while it is applying the update also copy theupdater.ini
into the outside directory. - Download the appropriate .mar file and put it into the outside directory you created (see Where to get a mar file).
- Rename the mar file you downloaded to update.mar.
- Open a shell and change the working directory to the application's installation directory by using the cd command. Important: running the update from within another directory will fail to update the existing installation properly with Firefox 3.6.x and below, SeaMonkey 2.0.x and below, and Thunderbird 3.1.x and below.
- It is recommended that all instances of the application that are running on the system including those being used by other users are closed before going any further. Important: though this should never cause the update to fail there might be cases where it will and it can definitely break a running instance of the application.
- For Firefox 40.x and above run the following from the command prompt after adding the path to the existing installation directory to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. The additional
<path to installation directory>
is used by applications for update staging and when manually applying a mar the value for this command line parameter must be the path to the installation directory.
For Firefox 34.x through 39.x, SeaMonkey 2.31.x and above, or Thunderbird 34.x and above run the following from the command prompt. The additional<path to installation directory>
is used by applications for update staging and when manually applying a mar the value for this command line parameter must be the path to the installation directory.
For Firefox 4.x through 33.x, SeaMonkey 2.1.x through 2.31.x, or Thunderbird 5.x through 33.x run the following from the command prompt
For Firefox 3.5.x and 3.6.x, SeaMonkey 2.0.x, or Thunderbird 3.0.x and 3.1.x run the following from the shell
For Firefox 3.0.x or Thunderbird 2.0.x run the following from the shell
Note: The '0' parameter passed on the command line specifies the PID of a process to wait on before applying the update. When applying updates manually this should be 0 to disable the wait step. - After the update has completed a file named
update.status
will be created in the outside directory. Open theupdate.status
status file in an editor (e.g. vi). If the update is successful then the file will contain the text 'succeeded'. If it does not contain the text 'succeeded', then theupdate.log
file may be consulted to diagnose at what step the update failed. A failed update should leave the original application's installation intact.
Retrieved from 'https://wiki.mozilla.org/index.php?title=Software_Update:Manually_Installing_a_MAR_file&oldid=1182123'
Two workarounds have been included in a new version of Firefox, the popular open source web browser from Mozilla, following the discovery of one issue that caused the application to misbehave under OS X 10.7 Lion, and another that caused the Java plugin to fail to load.
Scheduled to debut sometime this month, OS X Lion is the latest version of Apple’s desktop operating system.
It brings tons of enhancements, both aesthetically and under-the-hood, but most of them are about function.
New features include Mission Control, Launchpad, new Multi-Touch gestures, AirDrop, Versions, AutoSave, an all new version of Mail, and dozens of other new additions that make the software more user friendly, as well as more advanced in terms of functionality.
The Golden Master build of OS X Lion has recently been released to Apple developers.
Mozilla took the time to test its Firefox web browser against this build and concluded that some code corrections were in order.
As such, Firefox 5.0.1 was released this week with workarounds for an issue in Mac OS X 10.7 that would cause Firefox to crash, as well as for an issue caused by Apple's 'Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 5' where the Java plugin would not be loaded.
Released in late June, Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 5 delivered improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_26. A Leopard version was also made available.
Apple noted at that time that multiple vulnerabilities existed in the Mac implementation of Sun Microsystems’ Java platform.
How Do I Update Firefox For Windows
The most serious of them all could allow an untrusted Java applet to execute arbitrary code outside the Java sandbox.
![Firefox for mac not updating windows Firefox for mac not updating windows](/uploads/1/1/7/6/117660224/559793345.png)
Download Firefox For Mac Os
An unauthorized user could gain the privileges of the current user by tricking him / her into visiting a web page containing a maliciously crafted untrusted Java applet.