You are currently viewing a snapshot of www.mozilla.org taken on April 21, 2008. Most of this content is highly out of date (some pages haven't been updated since the project began in 1998) and exists for historical purposes only. If there are any pages on this archive site that you think should be added back to www.mozilla.org, please file a bug.



Mozilla Releases Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Why are there so many versions of Mozilla? And which version should I choose?
  2. How do I install a newer version of Mozilla?
  3. Where do I download patches for Mozilla?
  4. Can I burn Mozilla on CD and redistribute it to friends and colleague.?
1. Why are there so many versions of Mozilla? And which version should I choose?

Mozilla follows fast development, with releases made according to the development roadmap. As of year 2004, Mozilla is released on a quarterly schedule.

Before mozilla.org releases a new version, two or more interim releases are made public. These interim releases, or test builds, are marked alpha, beta, or release candidate (RC). These builds are for testing only and mozilla.org does not provide user support for them. Unless if you are a tester or developer, you should only download the final versions.

2. How do I install a newer version of Mozilla?

First, uninstall Mozilla, as detailed for your operating system in the Release Notes, then install the new version. You should never install a new version of Mozilla over a previous one.

If your plug-ins folder is inside the Mozilla application folder, you may wish to save it elsewhere beforehand so as to restore it after reinstalling. You can also keep your plug-ins folder in your profile.

If you put your profile(s) in its default place, uninstalling Mozilla will leave your profile and your user preferences intact. You may lose access to some add-ins and have to reinstall them.

3. Where do I download patches for Mozilla?

Final releases of Mozilla are stable and secure and normally do not require updates. (In fact, Mozilla 1.0 only has two maintainance releases one year after release.)

mozilla.org does not release patches. If you want new features, you should either install an add-on or wait for future versions.

4. Can I burn Mozilla on CD and redistribute it to friends and colleagues?
Yes! You may freely distribute Mozilla to other people. Make sure you read the open source licensing terms.