How to update Firefox on Kali Linux

Mozilla Firefox comes installed by default on Kali Linux and a ton of other Linux distributions. It’s a solid web browser but it’s the user’s responsibility to make sure Firefox stays up to date.

The process for updating Firefox is a little different on Kali. Kali is based on Debian’s testing branch, which uses Firefox ESR (Extended Support Release).

Firefox ESR is essentially a more stable version of Firefox which is geared mainly towards enterprise systems. It usually doesn’t have all the latest features that are available in other Firefox installs, but includes the most stable and thoroughly tested components.

In this guide, we’ll see how to update Firefox ESR from the command line on Kali Linux.

In this tutorial you will learn:

  • How to update Firefox on Kali Linux

Firefox on Kali Linux

Firefox on Kali Linux

Software Requirements and Linux Command Line Conventions
Category Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used
System Kali Linux
Software Mozilla Firefox
Other Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command.
Conventions # – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Update Firefox on Kali

Firefox will usually keep itself up to date, although sometimes it’s necessary to manually fetch an update. We can use Kali’s package manager from the command line to do this. Simply follow along with the steps below to get Firefox updated.

  1. Start by opening a command line terminal.
    Open a command line terminal

    Open a command line terminal



  2. Then, use the following two commands to update your system’s repositories and install the latest version of Firefox ESR.
    $ sudo apt update
    $ sudo apt install firefox-esr
    
  3. If there is a new update for Firefox ESR available, you’ll just have to confirm the installation of the update (enter y) to begin downloading it.
    The APT package manager indicates there is an update available for Firefox ESR

    The APT package manager indicates there is an update available for Firefox ESR

That’s all there is to updating Firefox. If you’ve installed the normal version of Firefox, then you would use this command instead:

$ sudo apt install firefox

Conclusion

In this guide, we saw how to update Firefox on Kali Linux. It’s a straightforward process, but Kali’s choice to include Firefox ESR as the installed browser instead of the regular Firefox version can throw some users for a loop. Whichever version you have installed, you can refer to the commands in this guide to keep your browser up to date.



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