Get Firefox Nightly and Thunderbird Daily, or Aurora and Earlybird in Ubuntu

We all know Firefox is a great browser and that Thunderbird is a great e-Mail and chat client, right, and the Stable build of that software is pretty good as well, but what if you want the bleeding-edge versions of the software? Well, getting it in Windows is easy, just download the installer, uninstall the Stable build, and install the Nightly build for Firefox, and the Daily build for Thunderbird, as for Aurora and Earlybird, they're essentially a more stable Nightly and Daily.

Well, Ubuntu requires getting in the CLI and getting your hands dirty, and here's how to get Nightly and Daily on your Ubuntu setup.

Pull up a terminal window and type in the following code string.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily && sudo apt-get update

If using Aptitude:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily && sudo aptitude update

After you add the PPA and update, type the following in.

sudo apt-get remove firefox thunderbird && sudo apt-get install firefox-trunk thunderbird-trunk

Aptitude:

sudo aptitude remove firefox thunderbird && sudo aptitude install firefox-trunk thunderbird-trunk

In order to get the Aurora and Earlybird builds of FF and Thunderbird, you gotta add the Aurora PPAs. The string of code to pull that off is listed below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/firefox-aurora && sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/thunderbird-aurora && sudo apt-get update

Aptitude:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/firefox-aurora && sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/thunderbird-aurora && sudo aptitude update

Now install Aurora and Earlybird either alongside Nightly and Daily:

sudo apt-get install firefox thunderbird

Aptitude:

sudo aptitude install firefox thunderbird

Or replace Nightly and Daily with Aurora and Earybird:

sudo apt-get remove firefox-trunk thunderbird-trunk && sudo apt-get install firefox thunderbird

Aptitude:

sudo aptitude remove firefox-trunk thunderbird-trunk && sudo aptitude install firefox thunderbird

Use the Nightly and Daily builds of Firefox and Thunderbird like you would the Stable builds, as they pretty much work the same way, the only difference is they're always bleeding-edge, and Aurora and Earlybird are like Nightly and Daily, but more stable.

For example, the current version of Firefox Stable was 21 at the time this Ible was posted, and the current version of Thunderbird Stable at the time this Ible was posted was 17, Firefox Nightly and Thunderbird Daily versions were both 24, and Aurora and Earlybird were at version 23.

The current Stable releases of FF and Thunderbird are 28 and 24, while the latest Nightly and Aurora releases of FF are 31 and 30, and the latest Daily and Earlybird releases of Thunderbird are also 31 and 30.