[Solved] Can't install old firefox due to new python

creaker · l33t Joined: 14 Jul 2012 Posts: 651

I'd like to get back Firefox-17 because current Firefox-24 doesn't support KDE Oxygen theme addon.
So I removed the new Firefox and tried to install the old version.
emerge =www-clients/firefox-17.0.9 failed with message:

audiodef · Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 3:58 pm Post subject:

Go ahead and install the Python version you want. These installs are slotted, so you won't lose existing versions. Then to install Firefox, just use eselect python to select the version you want (probably 2.7) and then emerge the version of Firefox you want. Afterward, you can run eselect python again to set it back to your preferred Python version.
_________________
decibel Linux: https://decibellinux.org
Github: https://github.com/Gentoo-Music-and-Audio-Technology
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decibellinux
Discord: https://discord.gg/73XV24dNPN

Hypnos · Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 3:59 pm Post subject:

There should be no craziness keeping an older Python if PYTHON_TARGETS and PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET are set to to python3_3 in make.conf
_________________
Personal overlay | Simple backup scheme

creaker · l33t Joined: 14 Jul 2012 Posts: 651

Still, you advise to install an old python? OK, it seems no way to get old firefox with new python.

Hu · Moderator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 21624

Beware that Firefox 17 likely is not receiving even the level of security patches given to Firefox 24. Use an old Firefox if you want, but understand the risks.

creaker · l33t Joined: 14 Jul 2012 Posts: 651

Finally I followed your advices and installed python 2.7. and firefox 17. Eselect shows that python 3.3 selected.
In terms of security: we used firefox 17 for a long time and we was happy with it. Suddenly it became insecure due to new version was released. Hmm. There are far more dangerous things that we are forced to have installed, so firefox 17 in comparison to them is absolutely safe.

Hypnos · Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2013 3:45 pm Post subject:

creaker,

I think Firefox 17 was fine while it was the Extended Support Release, since Mozilla committed to backporting security patches from mainline to 17. Now that the ESR release is 24, Mozilla will no longer reliably backport patches to 17, and instead focus their energies on 24.

If you want to use 17 I would advise looking for security alerts and backporting patches yourself.
_________________
Personal overlay | Simple backup scheme

Hu · Moderator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 21624

Hypnos elaborated on my point perfectly. The Mozilla project is very complex and has a huge attack surface. Security bugs can remain undiscovered for a long time, but once they are found in one version, it is easy to check older versions to see how long the bug was in the code. Suppose that Firefox 27 fixes a security bug triggered by using JavaScript in an invalid way. That bug may apply all the way back to Firefox 16 (or older), in which case your now-unsupported Firefox 17 ESR is vulnerable.