As a reminder, Firefox 38.0.1 has been recently released for all the major Linux systems, adding security improvements to Firefox 38.
Recently, Firefox 38.0.5 Beta has been released, bringing a bunch of new features. While the first Beta version of Firefox 39 was expected, Mozilla has released a new Beta version for Firefox 38, which is unexpected and does not happen too often.
It does not bring any bug-fixes or security enhancements, but only improvements for the Firefox Hello function for performing calls to other WebTRC-based browsers and integrated Pocket, a service that permits the users to save content, for later review.
Installation instructions:
Mozilla does not provide a repository for its Firefox browser, but the installation steps are quite easy anyway and should not create difficulties on any Linux distribution.
The latest versions of Firefox are available as pre-compiled libraries via the Mozilla FTP, so we need to download the archive (i386 or i686 for 32 bit systems and amd64 or x86_64 for 64 bit systems), extract it and run the firefox file. Also, it is advised to remove previous versions of Firefox, move Firefox to /opt and create a symlink, for an easier usage.
The below instructions should work on all the popular Linux systems, including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pinguy OS, Elementary OS, Deepin, Peppermint, LXLE, Linux Lite, Debian, Robolinux, SparkyLinux, Fedora, CentOS, OpenSUSE, Mageia, OpenMandriva, Arch Linux, Manjaro, ROSA Desktop etc.
How to install Firefox 38.0.5 on 32 bit Linux systems:
$ wget ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/38.0.5b1-2/linux-i686/en-US/firefox-38.0.5b1.tar.bz2
$ tar -xjvf firefox-38.0.5b1.tar.bz2
$ sudo rm -rf /opt/firefox*
$ sudo mv firefox /opt/firefox
$ sudo ln -sf /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
To start Firefox, just open a terminal, type firefox and hit enter.
How to install Firefox 38.0.5 on 64 bit Linux systems:
$ wget ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/38.0.5b1-2/linux-x86_64/en-US/firefox-38.0.5b1.tar.bz2
$ tar -xjvf firefox-38.0.5b1.tar.bz2
$ sudo rm -rf /opt/firefox*
$ sudo mv firefox /opt/firefox
$ sudo ln -sf /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
To start Firefox, just open a terminal, type firefox and hit enter.