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Firefox 45.9.0 for OS/2 GA
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@dmik dmik released this 05 Oct 17:02
· 5 commits to master since this release
FIREFOX_45_9_0esr_RELEASE_OS2_GA
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We are pleased to announce that starting with this new release, Firefox for OS/2 turns GA (General Availability)! The application is now mature enough to be recommended for general use. This release updates Firefox to version 45.9.0 ESR which brings a lot of security and performance fixes from the Firefox team. Also, more than 40 OS/2-specific bug reports were resolved when preparing this release. Here are a few highlights:

  • Firefox primary distribution format is now RPM. This makes installing it as easy as selecting the firefox package in Arca Noae Package Manager or typing yum install firefox on the command line. Note that you will need a valid Arca Noae OS/2 and eCS Drivers & Software subscription in order to install Firefox from RPM (visit http://arcanoae.com for details). A ZIP distribution is still provided but it's automatically generated from the respective RPM files and you will still need ANPM or the RPM/YUM environment in order to install Firefox dependencies, see below. PLEASE NOTE that the RPM packages undergo internal testing and are currently available only to ArcaOS beta testers. Availability of the packages to all ArcaOS licensees will be announced by Arca Noae separately in their blog.
  • Printing support was brushed up. Now you don't need any additional setup in Firefox in order to print to a PostScript printer configured in your system. As printing from Firefox is only supported to PostScript printers, all other printers will not be listed in the Print dialog. See README.OS2 for more information.
  • We fixed many bugs introduced by an update from 31 ESR to 38 ESR and then to 45 ESR (like broken fullscreen or national characters in FIrefox Sync).

The CHANGES.OS2 file contains a more detailed list of changes.

The README.OS2 file contains software requirements and detailed installation instructions.

Installing from a ZIP archive

  1. Install ANPM if you prefer GUI or YUM if you prefer command line.
  2. Download the ZIP archive using the download link below and unpack it to a directory of your choice.
  3. Inspect the RPM_REQUIREMENTS file and install all packages listed there with either ANPM or yum install PACKAGE.
  4. Run the update command in ANPM or yum update on the command line to make sure that you have recent versions of dependent software.
  5. Start Firefox by executing firefox.exe from the @unixroot/usr/lib/firefox-X.Y.Z directory of the unpacked archive.
  6. If your system does not use the UNIXROOT environment, you may discard the entire contents of the archive except the @unixroot/usr/lib/firefox-X.Y.Z directory (which you may move somewhere else and discard the @unixroot/usr/lib part). Note also that starting from Firefox 45.9.0, you don't need to play with LIBPATHSTRICT or use the Run! utility to start multiple copies of different Firefox or Thunderbird versions: firefox.exe does that for you.
  7. If your system uses UNIXROOT, then it's best to move the entire contents of the @unixroot directory from the archive to your UNIXROOT directory (so that @unixroot/usr ends up as %UNIXROOT%\usr and so on). In this case, you will be able to start Firefox by launching %UNIXROOT%\usr\bin\firefox.exe (or just typing firefox.exe on the command line if %UNIXROOT%\usr\bin is on your PATH). Note that in non-UNIXROOT environments the launcher from @unixroot/usr/bin will not work.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

  1. If you find a bug (which is likely), please create an issue at the issues page. But before you create a new issue, be sure it is not already reported by searching through the existing ones using the Search field at the top of this page.
  2. When Firefox crashes it creates a trap report that may contain useful information for the developers. These reports are saved in .TRP files created in the directory where firefox.exe is installed. By default these reports contain only basic information. In order to make them even more useful (and therefore make a fix for your problem much more likely) please do the following:
    • Install the latest EXCEPTQ runtime from http://home.earthlink.net/~steve53/betas/ (currently, this one is the latest).
    • Install the Firefox symbol files by downloading the firefox-debuginfo archive from the link below and unzipping it to the same directory where you installed Firefox.
    • Make Firefox crash again and attach the resulting .TRP file to the issue describing your problem.
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