14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, announced today that the latest ESR (Extended Support Release) version of the Mozilla Firefox web browser is now available on Ubuntu Linux as a Snap app.
Every six weeks, a new major Firefox release hits the streets, and it's soon available in the Ubuntu repositories, but thanks to Canonical's Snappy technologies, users now have access to the latest ESR versions of Firefox too, which are mostly intended for the company's enterprise partners who want long-term supported Firefox release.
"The ESR version of Firefox is aimed at corporations who want to have more control over the version of Firefox their employees have installed," said Canonical in a blog post. "Mozilla recommends that users stay on the Rapid Release version if they wish the newest product features offered by Firefox."
The Snap versions of the Firefox ESR web browser are created by the Mozilla Release Engineering and will be supported for at least one year. They are perfect for those using the LTS (Long Term Support) version of Ubuntu Linux, as Mozilla is selective about the patches that are pushed into the ESR version of Firefox.
Here's how to install Firefox ESR on Ubuntu as a Snap
If you want to switch your Mozilla Firefox web browser from the stable channel to the ESR builds, just because they are supposedly more stable and reliable, it's easy to do so with Snaps. The easiest way to install the latest Firefox ESR release is to run the following command in the Terminal app.
snap install –channel=esr/stable firefox
Those who don't like the command-line can install the latest Firefox ESR release on their Ubuntu computers via the Ubuntu Software graphical package manager. Search for Firefox in Ubuntu Software and click on its icon, then choose the ESR channel from the drop-down list like in the screenshot below. Enjoy!
