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LightJack05 avatar Ubuntu

How do I install Firefox in WSL, when it requires snap, but snap doesn't work?

us flag
LightJack05

so I wanted to install firefox in WSL2 with Ubuntu. Now, using

sudo apt install firefox

gives me this output:

Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  firefox
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 72.3 kB of archives.
After this operation, 261 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 firefox amd64 1:1snap1-0ubuntu2 [72.3 kB]
Fetched 72.3 kB in 0s (420 kB/s)
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package firefox.
(Reading database ... 24109 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../firefox_1%3a1snap1-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb ...
=> Installing the firefox snap
==> Checking connectivity with the snap store
===> System doesn't have a working snapd, skipping
Unpacking firefox (1:1snap1-0ubuntu2) ...
Setting up firefox (1:1snap1-0ubuntu2) ...
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox to provide /usr/bin/gnome-www-browser (gnome-www-browser) in auto mode
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in auto mode

Trying to launch firefox at this point will fail:


Command '/usr/bin/firefox' requires the firefox snap to be installed.
Please install it with:

snap install firefox

Once I run said snap command, I get this:

error: cannot communicate with server: Post "http://localhost/v2/snaps/firefox": dial unix /run/snapd.socket: connect: no such file or directory

Can anyone help me with this? I'm not a linux expert.

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Score:13
Hannu avatar Ubuntu
ca flag
Hannu

Quick answer:

Use your browser and look at:
https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2022/04/install-firefox-deb-ubuntu-22-04/

It says, in short (you might need to skip the first two if you already did those):

sudo snap remove firefox
sudo apt remove firefox
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa

# Create a new file, it should be empty as it opens:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/preferences.d/mozillateamppa

# Insert these lines, then save and exit
Package: firefox*
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam
Pin-Priority: 501

# after saving, do
sudo apt update
sudo apt install firefox # or firefox-esr
+ 2
LightJack05 avatar
us flag
LightJack05
Worked like a charm! Though, won't snap also affect other packages? Having a PPA for firefox is well and good, but what about other stuff? Is there a way to get snap working?
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Hannu avatar
ca flag
Hannu
Sorry, can't tell about WSL. I also have purged snap / snapd from my Ubuntu - there are too many if:s and but:s involved in using them - I wholeheartedly believe the snap-people have some work to do to get software to work "normally" when packaged as snap:s; I won't be there "testdriving" it.
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Score:7
NotTheDr01ds avatar Ubuntu
vn flag
NotTheDr01ds

System doesn't have a working snapd, skipping

It looks like you may either:

  • Be on an older WSL2 release
  • Or haven't enabled Systemd on WSL2

Snap is now supported on Ubuntu on WSL2 by enabling the Systemd functionality as mentioned in my answer here.

However, consider whether you truly need this:

  • As mentioned in my answer there, enabling Systemd will create additional overhead that isn't always needed.
  • The Windows version of Firefox may be a better option (unless you truly need to test some Firefox functionality that is specific to Ubuntu or Linux-in-general).
  • The PPA mentioned in the other answer is a valid alternative as well.
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