Change Firefox update channel from ESR to release?

4

So I have Firefox ESR installed, and I want to change it to the "release" channel. Is there a way to do that or I have to reinstall?

I've tried changing app.update.channel in about:config to 'release', and that didn't seem to do it.

Alex

Posted 2012-11-20T19:01:04.967

Reputation: 143

Have you tried going to Firefox button -> Help -> About Firefox? This will check for updates. In any case, reinstalling will not delete your profile (which contains all your settings, preferences, extensions, history, bookmarks, etc.) so that should not really be an issue. – Wk_of_Angmar – 2012-11-20T20:59:02.733

I have. There doesnt seem to be a way to change the update channel... Maybe I'll just reinstall... – Alex – 2012-11-20T22:34:21.690

Answers

5

The release channel is hardcoded in (Mozilla Program Directory/default/pref/) channel-prefs.js. You'll have to edit it manually.

Find

pref("app.update.channel", "esr");

and change it to

pref("app.update.channel", "release");

DragoonHP

Posted 2012-11-20T19:01:04.967

Reputation: 658

Firefox tries to update after this, but errors with The Update could not be installed (patch apply failed) – CalvT – 2017-06-15T00:25:23.380

This can also be configured from about:config page in Firefox by changing the string value of app.update.channel. – Biswapriyo – 2017-06-24T04:03:28.960

5

The answer by DragoonHP is not entirelly correct. Not every ESR version can be simply converted to a release version. As of Firefox ESR 24.5.0, just changing the release channel does not bring new updates. It seems also that Firefox ESR is a completely different compilation and the release version might have trouble with your ESR profile (See this thread Can I convert an existing Firefox installation to ESR without a re-install?)

I recommended to copy the main profile files and re-install Firefox.

pepgma

Posted 2012-11-20T19:01:04.967

Reputation: 91

2Thanks for the update. My answers predates ESR 24.5 by almost 1.5 years. I will check it and update my answer with the best method. Thanks! – DragoonHP – 2017-06-22T15:35:41.683

No probl. Just trying to help ;) – pepgma – 2017-07-06T16:38:36.020