Ben Goodger takes a tongue-in-cheek jab at Linux in his Firefox on Linux Install Instructions posting, providing a three-step install process wherein the final step is “Give up and reboot to Windows.” He proposes wrestling with File Roller to extract the tar.gz file, but there’s a much easier way for those who are willing to brave the command line:


[houston@localhost src]$ tar -xzvf firefox-0.9.1-i686-linux-gtk2+xft-installer.tar.gz
[houston@localhost src]$ cd firefox-installer/
[houston@localhost firefox-installer]$ ./firefox-installer


Mine too is a three-step process, but it sidesteps the File Roller awkwardness and gets you up and running quickly (the last step launches the graphical installer, and you’re free to ditch the command line interface after executing it). If you use tab-completion to avoid typing out the long filename, it’s even quicker. 🙂