Firefox 127 on Linux: New Features, Install Guide & More

Mozilla Firefox 127, the latest version of the popular open-source web browser, is now available for download. This release brings several significant improvements and new features to enhance user experience and security.

In this article, we will explore the key changes in Firefox 127 and provide a step-by-step guide on installing it on Linux systems.

New Features in Firefox 127

• The screenshot tool has been revamped with deeper browser integration, which now includes new keyboard shortcuts, high contrast mode support, and improved performance for capturing large screenshots.
• A new option to close all duplicate tabs in one click is available from the “List all tabs” widget in the tab bar or by right-clicking any tab.
• It attempts to upgrade audio, video, and image resources from HTTP to HTTPS, reducing the amount of mixed content and ensuring that documents transferred with HTTPS remain fully secure and encrypted.
• It now reports 32-bit x86 Linux builds as “x86_64” to websites, reducing fingerprinting risks and improving compatibility.
• DNS pre-fetching of HTTPS documents, enhancing load times with the rel=”dns-prefetch” variable.

Install Firefox 127 on Linux Systems

Many Linux distributions already have Firefox installed by default through their package manager. If you need to install Firefox using a different method, this guide will show you several alternative ways to download and install Firefox on Linux.

Install Firefox Using Your Package Manager (Recommended)

This method is recommended because it ensures Firefox and all necessary libraries are properly installed and configured for your system.

However, there might be a slight delay between the official release of a new Firefox version and when your distribution updates its package.

Additionally, your distribution might provide a version without Firefox branding or only offer the ESR (Extended Support Release) version.

sudo apt install firefox         [On Debian, Ubuntu and Mint]
sudo yum install firefox         [On RHEL/CentOS/Fedora and Rocky/AlmaLinux]
sudo emerge -a sys-apps/firefox  [On Gentoo Linux]
sudo apk add firefox             [On Alpine Linux]
sudo pacman -S firefox           [On Arch Linux]
sudo zypper install firefox      [On OpenSUSE]    
sudo pkg install firefox         [On FreeBSD]

Ubuntu users will always get the latest version of Firefox via the default Ubuntu update channel. But the upgrade isn’t yet available and if you are curious to try it, there is an official Mozilla PPA to test the new version of Firefox on Ubuntu and its derivatives.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install firefox

Install Firefox Using Flatpak

To install Firefox from Flatpak, you need to install and configure Flatpak on your Linux system. Once Flatpak is installed, go to the Firefox Flathub’s page and click the Install button.

Alternatively, you can type the following command in a terminal.

flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

Install Firefox Using Snap

To install Firefox from Snap, you need to install Snap on your Linux system. Once Snap is installed, go to the Firefox Snapcraft’s Store page, click the Install button and follow the instructions.

Alternatively, you can type the following command in a terminal.

sudo snap install firefox

Install Firefox Manually Using Binary Package

To install the most recent version of Firefox, go to the official Mozilla Firefox download page and click the button to download the latest version for your system architecture.

Next, navigate to the directory where you saved the downloaded file, extract the archive’s contents, and move the extracted firefox directory to the /opt directory as shown.

tar xjf firefox-*.tar.bz2
sudo mv firefox /opt

Now create a symbolic link to the Firefox executable in /usr/local/bin using the command.

sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/local/bin/firefox

To make Firefox appear in your application menu, create a desktop entry.

sudo nano /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop

Add the following content to the file.

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Firefox
Comment=Web Browser
GenericName=Web Browser
Exec=/opt/firefox/firefox %u
Icon=/opt/firefox/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;

Save and close the file (Ctrl+O, Enter, Ctrl+X in nano).

Finally, you can now launch Firefox using the command.

firefox

Conclusion

The new version of Firefox brings several significant improvements and new features to enhance user experience and security.

Installing Firefox on Linux is a straightforward process, and users can choose between manual installation and using their distribution’s package manager.