Do you recognise this logo? I expect some of you will, but I suspect the majority won't.

You may have noticed since the 30^th of June 2009 that if you are using Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 you are not exactly getting Firefox 3.5 in your standard update schedule. A highly sought after release in geek circles because of the compatibility with draft HTML5 specifications.

You may have attempted to install it yourself, but instead gotten Shiretoko (of which the logo is above). But you, like many other people, went No! I want Firefox! What the crap is Shiretoko?

Well Shiretoko is Firefox 3.5 albeit with different branding. Confused?

So why did you end up with 'Shiretoko' and not Firefox-3.5? Why did Ubuntu make us do it this way? Well the answer sort of lies with the Ubuntu Mozillateam IRC conversation. But this doesn't actually explain a lot.

11:11 < asac> also we explicitly want [Firefox 3.0 and Firefox 3.5] to be installable side by side
11:11 < asac> and same branding would make them indistinguishable on your desktop

Ok, so Ubuntu wanted us to have Firefox3.0 and 3.5 installed at the same time. Again, why?

Counter Argument: I can think of only one reason why Ubuntu might want both installed together: support. If it is a computer that Ubuntu are offering support of then Ubuntu won't support Firefox 3.5 since it is out of release cycle. By giving Firefox3.5 the name Shiretoko it allows technicians to easily identify whether they can support the installation Firefox or not.

Frankly, not my problem. Except it is, because now I have to find hound-assed ways to get the right branding. Why is this branding important? Let me explain.

By making people install Shiretoko you are losing brand identity. Something that is very important in the FOSS world and one that we are winning very easily with Firefox. If you 'lose' Firefox on Ubuntu, it makes the job of convincing people to switch to Linux just that little bit harder. Windows users, who have Firefox 3.5 and not a clue what Shiretoko is won't be convinced by some petty excuse that Ubuntu wanted Firefox3.0 and 3.5 installed simultaneously. So thank you Ubuntu for making ours, and your own job more difficult.

One other thing the piece from the Ubuntu Mozilla Team seems to be saying, and so does the fabulous Mr Popey is, if you want Firefox3.5 with the right branding, to move to Karmic, Ubuntu 9.10 Beta.

This just sounds like the same arrogant Linux talk that made me distrust Linux for a long time. What that says to me is, move to Karmic if you want the latest stuff, and do our debugging work for us while your at it. Try convincing a Windows user to use an operating system that needs debugging.

A lot of distributions have taken this Shiretoko route. So the only reasonable answer then that it is called Shiretoko because it is was not released with the distribution's release cycle. I guess this makes sense when you realise that the release was not a major update, and only for compatibility with the draft HTML5 specification. The requirement for us mere users then, to want a properly branded Firefox 3.5 is sheer petulance.

But would argue that to the average user, releasing in the right cycle doesn't matter they just want the latest stuff, and they will get it following any of the above (or my version below) techniques. These techniques work, but now users will have to be aware of a number of security considerations as well as software conflicts such as aptitude updates.

Not maintaining at least a par with what a typical Windows user can do easily when we are talking about a major product like Firefox, especially when it's a political thing, makes the open source world seem petty.

I can't see why Ubuntu won't let it's users have the choice, which is especially odd since Ubuntu is about choice. Ubuntu (and others) need a better solution to whatever the problem is, even including switching away from Firefox if there is a darker reason for the Shiretoko branding. You just should not end up with apt-get install firefox-3.5 installing Shiretoko.

Essentially it seems to me like a problem with policy Vs usability, and policy won, wrongly.

Instructions for installing Firefox 3.5 on Ubuntu

If you want my (or rather Torikun/Rusher's) way of installing Firefox 3.5. Download Firefox 3.5 from their website, extract it to /opt, symlink it over the Firefox 3.0 location and keep a good eye out for patches.

cd /opt # /opt is where all optional installation files are kept
# the following will most likely need to be sudo'd
wget http://mozilla.mirror.ac.za/firefox/releases/3.5.1/linux-i686/en-GB/fire... # download firefox from example url
tar -jxvf firefox-3.5.1.tar.bz2 # extract firefox from directory
cp /usr/bin/firefox /usr/bin/firefox.bakup # make a backup of any file you plan to symlink so you can recover it
ln -s /usr/bin/firefox firefox/ # places local copy of firefox over global copy
rm firefox-3.5.1.tar.bz2 # remove the installation package