Version info:
$ cat /etc/oracle-release
Oracle Linux Server release 8.2
$ uname -r
4.18.0-193.1.2.el8_2.x86_64
Firefox has released version 76 more than 1 month back (May 5th). Firefox v76 has lots of new features. But, the latest firefox available in Oracle Linux's ol8_appstream repo is only version 68.9
[oracle@localhost ~]$ sudo dnf install firefox
Last metadata expiration check: 0:23:01 ago on Tue 09 Jun 2020 05:31:49 AM +08.
Dependencies resolved.
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Package Architecture Version Repository Size
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Installing:
firefox x86_64 68.9.0-1.0.1.el8_2 ol8_appstream 94 M
Transaction Summary
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Install 1 Package
Total download size: 94 M
Installed size: 230 M
Is this ok [y/N]:
Question1.
Given that Oracle Linux is an enterprise linux, updating firefox browser regularly may not be a critical requirement.
But, isn't there a process in place within Oracle's Linux team which adds newer versions of packages to the repo ? It has been more than a month now.
Question2.
If I used Oracle Linux 7 stream (latest being 7.7), would I have been able to install firefox 76 because the repo for OL 7.X stream might be well maintained with newer packages ?
To make things worse, firefox does not have its own yum repo now. Firefox doesn't provide an .rpm file either.
From version 76 onwards, firefox official way to install is to do a portable install and then create soft link for /usr/bin/firefox. Not a neat install, in my opinion. Installation steps for v76 described below
https://tecadmin.net/install-firefox-on-linux/
A downside of the new portable install:
With portable install, i cannot invoke firefox using super key (windows)+ start typing "fire". I need to type "$ firefox &" at the terminal