How to update Firefox in Ubuntu

       In this article we would update Firefox. Firefox shipped with Ubuntu. However Firefox shipped with Ubuntu will be older version. Firefox is an open source project of Mozilla. Mozilla release Firefox under the rapid release cycle which means new version of Firefox is released on a six week schedule. So on every sixth week there will be new stable version of Firefox.
Mozilla Firefox rapid release cycle

• New stable version of Firefox is released on every sixth week.
• Firefox Beta is released on every week.
• Firefox Aurora is released every morning once changes that landed on mozilla-aurora stabilize
• Nightly is, naturally, released every night with all changes on mozilla-central

You can check current release cycle of Firefox from following URL
https://wiki.mozilla.org/RapidRelease/Calendar
Earlier, Ubuntu distributions would have stuck with the major version they were released with, say 3.0, and only updated to the minor versions as they arrived, 3.0.1, 3.0.2 and so on. But Mozilla's switch to a rapid release schedule for Firefox and Thunderbird. The Ubuntu developers are now tracking Mozilla's rapid release cycle, releasing the updated version of Mozilla's Firefox and Thunderbird.

How to update Firefox in Ubuntu

Best and recommended way to update Firefox is to update Ubuntu. From Lucid (10.04) and higher, Firefox will be upstreamed in main. You don't need to add any PPA to get the newest Firefox.
To update Firefox along with other Update run following commands

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

The latest version of Firefox is available for as a security updates in all supported releases of Ubuntu, just doing a normal update will pull it in.

Update Firefox with latest available version in Ubuntu. [Security-testing packages]
Not recommended but useful for developer.
Usually new Firefox version available within a few hours of Mozilla's announcement, sometimes faster, depending on the archive builders, and the speed of your local mirror, etc. You can update Firefox with latest version anytime if you do not want to wait till it available in official repository.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install firefox

How to update Firefox in Ubuntu [ Daily updates ]
Not recommended but useful for advance developer.
Users of recent Ubuntu releases can get the latest development version of Firefox from the semi-official ubuntu-mozilla-daily archive. This archive holds updates to the Mozilla suite (including Firefox) that are under active development. daily packages have not undergone any quality assurance. Daily packages are sometimes very safe, and sometimes don't work at all. To update with development version run following commands

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install firefox

How to check Firefox version

Open Firefox and click on About Firefox from help menu item

From open pop-up window you can check the version of Firefox.






 

source from http://computernetworkingnotes.com