Title

Firefox – Updating Old Ubuntu Repositories

Description 

Once an Ubuntu release has hit it’s end of life (EOL) date it may be necessary to manually add sources to the repository sources.list in order to update Firefox to a version that will have meet the minimum requirements to work with modern websites and software. 

Product 

• Firefox 
• Ubuntu (EOL) Releases

Solution

NOTE:  The preferred solution would be to re-image to a version of Ubuntu which has not reached end life! 

1. Uninstall Firefox
   • Close all instances of Firefox, then open a terminal window and run the following command:

sudo dpkg -P firefox

2. Update sources.list to include old-release repositories
   • From terminal

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Append the lines appropriate for the OS to the end of sources.list, then save and close gedit.

Ubuntu 8.04 May 9, 2013

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

For 10.04 April 30, 2015

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid-backports main restricted universe multiverse

For 12.04  April 28, 2017

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse

For 14.04 April, 2019

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-backports main restricted universe multiverse

For 16.04 April, 2021

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse

deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse

3. Install libcap2-bin
   • From terminal

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install libcap2-bin

4. Install Firefox
   • From terminal

sudo apt-get install firefox