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Firefox 3 Beta 5 Release Notes

RELEASE CANDIDATE

Released: not yet released

This version of Firefox is currently being tested by our Quality Assurance team. If you would like to help, please take part in the Firefox 3 Beta 5 Test Day on Friday, March 28th.

Release candidates are not official beta releases and not meant for public use. If you're looking for Firefox 3 Beta 5, we recommend you watch Mozilla Developer News for the official release announcement.

Downloading and Installing

System Requirements

Before installing, make sure your computer meets the system requirements.

Downloading Firefox 3 Beta 5

Mozilla provides Firefox 3 Beta 5 for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X in a variety of languages. You can get the latest version of Firefox 3 Beta 5 here.

Installing Firefox 3 Beta 5

Please note that installing Firefox 3 Beta 5 will overwrite your existing installation of Firefox. You won't lose any of your bookmarks or browsing history, but some of your extensions and other add-ons might not work until updates for them are made available.

Removing Firefox 3 Beta 5

You can remove Firefox 3 Beta 5 through the Control Panel in the Start Menu on Windows, by removing the Firefox application on OS X, or by removing the firefox folder on Linux.

Removing Firefox 3 Beta 5 won't remove your bookmarks, web browsing history, extensions or other add-ons. This data is stored in your profile folder, which is located in one of the following locations depending on your operating system:

Windows Vista Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox
Windows 2000, XP Documents and Settings\<UserName>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox
Mac OS X ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox
Linux and Unix systems ~/.mozilla/firefox

Any version of Firefox that you install after removing Firefox 3 Beta 5 will continue to use the data from this profile folder.

Extensions and Themes

Extensions installed under Firefox 2 may be incompatible and/or require updates to work with Firefox 3 Beta 5. Please report any issues to the maintainer of the extension. When you install Firefox 3 Beta 5 all of your Extensions and Themes will be disabled until Firefox 3 Beta 5 determines that either a) they are compatible with the Firefox 3 Beta 5 release or b) there are newer versions available that are compatible.

Troubleshooting

  • Poorly designed or incompatible extensions can cause problems with your browser, including make it crash, slow down page display, etc. If you encounter strange problems relating to parts of the browser no longer working, the browser not starting, windows with strange or distorted appearance, degraded performance, etc, you may be suffering from Extension or Theme trouble. Restart the browser in Safe Mode. On Windows, start using the "Safe Mode" shortcut created in your Start menu or by running firefox.exe -safe-mode. On Linux, start with ./firefox -safe-mode and on Mac OS X, run:

    cd /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/
    ./firefox-bin -safe-mode

    When started in Safe Mode all extensions are disabled and the Default theme is used. Disable the Extension/Theme that is causing trouble and then start normally.
  • If you uninstall an extension that is installed with your user profile (i.e. you installed it from a Web page) and then wish to install it for all user profiles using the -install-global-extension command line flag, you must restart the browser once to cleanse the profile extensions datasource of traces of that extension before installing with the switch. If you do not do this you may end up with a jammed entry in the Extensions list and will be unable to install the extension globally.
  • If you encounter strange problems relating to bookmarks, downloads, window placement, toolbars, history, or other settings, it is recommended that you try creating a new profile and attempting to reproduce the problem before filing bugs. Create a new profile by running Firefox with the -P command line argument, choose the "Manage Profiles" button and then choose "Create Profile...". Migrate your settings files (Bookmarks, Saved Passwords, etc) over one by one, checking each time to see if the problems resurface. If you do find a particular profile data file is causing a problem, file a bug and attach the file.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What can I do to help?

    We need help from developers and the testing community to provide as much feedback as possible to make Firefox even better. Please read these notes and the bug filing instructions before reporting any bugs to Bugzilla. You can also give us your feedback through this feedback form.

  2. Why haven't you responded to the mail I sent you?

    Use the forums. The Firefox team reads them regularly. We all get a lot of email and your email may get lost.

  3. Where can I get extensions and themes (add-ons)?

    Extensions and Themes can be downloaded from Firefox Add-ons.

  4. Who makes Firefox 3 Beta 5?

    Lots of people. See Help->About Mozilla Firefox, Credits for a list of some of the people who have contributed to Firefox 3 Beta 5.

  5. Where's the Firefox 3 Beta 5 source code?

    A tarball of the Firefox 3 Beta 5 source code is available for download. The latest development code can be obtained by cvs. Firefox-specific source is in "mozilla/browser", "mozilla/toolkit", and "mozilla/chrome". Please follow the build instructions.

  6. Where is the mail client?

    Firefox 3 Beta 5 works with whatever mail client is the default on your system. However, we recommend Mozilla Thunderbird, our next-generation email client and the perfect complement to Firefox.

The following resources contain useful information about Firefox 3 Beta 5: