Firefox 1.0.1 is out

A new release of Mozilla Firefox is out. The changes are mostly security fixes, including the infamous hack meant to combat the use of IDN for phishing. I believe the IDN issue is the main reason for pushing this release forward. The Firefox developers are supposedly working towards a more permanent solution to the problem.

There are reports of installation and stability problems, mostly due to installing the new version over the old. That has been a source of problems for a long time. Since the early beta versions, this has been my preferred way of upgrading the Windows version of Firefox:

1. Download zip archive and signature file.
2. Verify the file signature.
3. Close any open Firefox windows (ideally this shouldn't be needed; blame Microsoft for this "feature").
4. Rename the Firefox directory (e.g. to firefox.bak).
5. Unpack the archive to a new Firefox directory (always using the same location).

This way no installation program needs to be involved and the installation path is preserved. The backup directory can be removed once I know everything (including my favorite extensions) works as expected. The officially recommended way – uninstalling the old version before running the new install program – is less convenient and reliable, at least for me.

Of course, the installation program should just work. The average computer user can't be expected to do anything unusual. Still, it's a sign of sound software design that the above procedure actually works. Many Windows applications rely on arcane registry entries that only its installation program will create, and/or shared DLL files in special directories. But Firefox will be quite happy in its own directory, creating default settings for you if necessary.

25 February, 2005