Mozilla Firefox

Installing Firefox

Firefox can be installed using the package firefox in your favorite package manager or using the command:

pamac install firefox

Other Versions

Package Name	Source	URL	Description
firefox-developer-edition	repo	https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/channel/#developer	Official Developer Edition builds
firefox-nightly	aur	https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/nightly	Official Nightly builds
firefox-kde-opensuse	aur	https://build.opensuse.org/package/show/mozilla:Factory/MozillaFirefox	OpenSUSE's version of Firefox includes appmenu integration and native plasma integration
firefox-appmenu	aur	https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/firefox-appmenu/	Unofficial Firefox build with appmenu patches added
firefox-esr	aur	https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/	Official ESR releases. This is the oldest supported version of Firefox

Dealing with dark GTK themes

Some pages will be hard to read when using dark gtk themes. There are a few different ways to handle this:

• The most flexible way is to install the add-on Text Contrast for Dark Themes which will allow you to keep your theming but adjust it on a per page basis as needed

• A simpler way is Preferences->Language & Appearance->Colors and uncheck "Use System Colors". The downside of this approach is that Firefox will no longer use a dark theme.

• We can use css to force white backgrounds with dark text and controls by editing or creating ~/.mozilla/profile.default/chrome/userContent.css with the following content:

input:not(.urlbar-input):not(.textbox-input):not(.form-control):not([type='checkbox']):not([type='radio']), textarea, select {
    -moz-appearance: none !important;
    background-color: white;
    color: black;
}

#downloads-indicator-counter {
    color: white;
}

Plasma Integration

Installing plasma Browser Integration

The browser integration package provides media controls, notifications and integration with krunner. You can install it with:

pamac install plasma-browser-integration

Next install the plasma integration add-on in Firefox.

Using the native file chooser

It is possible to integrate the file chooser from plasma into Firefox giving you a more seamless experience.

First ensure the packages xdg-desktop-portal and xdg-desktop-portal-kde using the command:

pamac install xdg-desktop-portal xdg-desktop-portal-kde

Now we need to create a customized desktop launcher by creating a copy of the distribution file with

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
cp /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/.

Next we need to edit the newly created file at ~/.local/share/applications/firefox.desktop using a text editor

There are 3 edits that need to made to this file.

replace:

Exec=/usr/lib/firefox/firefox %u

with:

Exec=/usr/bin/sh -c "GTK_USE_PORTAL=1 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox %u"

replace:

Exec=/usr/lib/firefox/firefox --new-window %u

with:

Exec=/usr/bin/sh -c "GTK_USE_PORTAL=1 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox --new-window %u"

replace:

Exec=/usr/lib/firefox/firefox --private-window %u

with:

Exec=/usr/bin/sh -c "GTK_USE_PORTAL=1 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox --private-window %u"

Save and enjoy your firefox/plasma integration

Installing Firefox directly from the Mozilla Website

Generally it is better to use the version of Firefox that is available in the repos but installing Firefox directly has one advantage: Firefox will update itself automatically as soon as an update is available. This is great for users, who want to get the latest update as soon as possible without waiting for the next Manjaro update.

Download Firefox from Mozilla

Download the latest Firefox in your language from here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

Most users will download "Linux 64-bit" in your chosen language. If you are using manjaro32, download "Linux 32-bit"

Extract the files

Ensure that ~/bin exists with

mkdir -p ~/bin

Unpack/extract the downloaded firefox-xx.x.tar.bz2 file to ~/bin/ using a graphical tool or with the tar command. Here is an example:

tar -xf ~/Downloads/firefox-66.0.5.tar.bz2 --directory ~/bin

You can now start to use Firefox by double clicking on the file (or executing it in a terminal):

~/bin/firefox/firefox

Create an icon

Let's create an icon in order to start Firefox much more easily.

Create an empty file

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
touch ~/.local/share/applications/firefox.desktop

Edit the file ~/.local/share/applications/firefox.desktop in your favorite editor. For a list of common editors see this page

Copy and paste the following code into your firefox.desktop file and save it:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Firefox
GenericName=Web Browser
Icon=~/bin/firefox/browser/icons/mozicon128.png
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Network;WebBrowser;
Exec=~/bin/firefox/firefox
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false

In most Desktop Environments(DEs), Firefox will now be added to the menu. In some DEs you can click on the desktop to launch the application as well.

See also

• The arch wiki page
• Internet Browsers wiki page