OT: firefox question

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Thu, Jan 05, 2006 at 04:19:50PM -0500, Steve wrote:
> Here's the SQOTD (Stupid Question Of The Day): :-)
> 
> What is the difference between "firefox" and "mozilla-firefox" packages??
> 
> Ubuntu and Debian have both packages... The "mozilla-firefox" seems to
> be the preferred, but why does the other exist?

As of right now, I see this:

Package: firefox
Version: 1.5.dfsg-3
Replaces: mozilla-firefox

Package: mozilla-firefox
Version: 1.5.dfsg-3
Depends: firefox
Description: Transition package for firefox rename
 Package to ease upgrading from older mozilla-firefox packages to the
 new firefox package.
 .
 This package can be purged at anytime once the firefox package has
 been installed.

So firefox replaces mozilla-firefox, and mozilla-firefox is now a dummy
package depending on the new package name.  This is how debian
transitions when they rename a package.  I guess people were confused
that 'apt-get install firefox' didn't work, but 'apt-get install
mozilla-firefox' did.

Try installing either one.  If you install firefox, you get firefox and
nothing else.  If you install mozilla-firefox, you get both packages,
and you can remove mozilla-firefox later if you want since it has no
purpose anymore other than to transition people to the new package.

Len Sorensen
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