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@cowboy
Created March 14, 2011 02:17
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Multi-Firefox Fixer: Run multiple versions of Firefox simultaneously! (note: doesn't work on Windows)
#!/bin/bash
if [ "$1" = "-h" -o "$1" = "--help" ]; then cat <<EOF
Multi-Firefox Fixer - v0.2 - 4/26/2011
http://benalman.com/
Usage: `basename "$0"`
Run this shell script from beside (in the same parent directory as) one or more
Firefox*.app or Aurora*.app applications and it will "fix" those Firefoxes to
always use an app-named profile. For example, if an application is named
"Firefox 2.0.app" then the "Firefox 2.0" profile will always be loaded when
that application is run. This allows multiple versions of Firefox to be running
simultaneously.
Note that upon first run of a "fixed" Firefox, an app-named profile will need
to be created. This can be done in the dialog that Firefox displays, just be
sure to name it correctly!
Copyright (c) 2011 "Cowboy" Ben Alman
Dual licensed under the MIT and GPL licenses.
http://benalman.com/about/license/
EOF
exit; fi
ERR='ERROR: No Firefox*.app or Aurora*.app apps found in current directory!'
for ff in Firefox*.app Aurora*.app; do if [ -d "$ff" ]; then ERR=; fi; done
if [ "$ERR" ]; then echo "$ERR"; echo "For usage instructions, run: \
`basename "$0"` -h"; exit 1; fi
for ff in Firefox*.app Aurora*.app; do
ROOT="$ff/Contents/MacOS"
BIN="$ROOT/firefox-bin"
echo $ff
if [ -z "`file "$BIN" | grep 'shell script'`" ]; then
echo " - Backing up firefox-bin executable to firefox.bin (first run only)."
mv "$BIN" "$ROOT/firefox.bin"
fi
if [ -f "$BIN" ]; then
echo " - Updating firefox-bin script."
else
echo " - Creating firefox-bin script."
fi
cat > "$BIN" <<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
"`echo $0 | perl -pe 's/-bin$/.bin/'`" -P \
"`echo $0 | perl -pe 's#.*/((?:Aurora|Firefox)[^/]*)\.app/.*#\1#'`"
EOF
chmod +x "$BIN"
done
echo 'All done!'
cowboy at Cowbook in /Applications/Web Browsers
$ ls
Aurora.app Firefox 4.0.app Opera 9.64.app
Chromium.app Google Chrome.app Safari 3.2.1.app
Firefox 2.0.app Opera 10.10.app Safari 4.0.5.app
Firefox 3.0.app Opera 10.63.app WebKit.app
Firefox 3.5.app Opera 11.00.app chrome-console-text.sh
Firefox 3.6.app Opera 11.10.app multi-firefox-fixer.sh
cowboy at Cowbook in /Applications/Web Browsers
$ ./multi-firefox-fixer.sh
Firefox 2.0.app
- Backing up firefox-bin executable to firefox.bin (first run only).
- Creating firefox-bin script.
Firefox 3.0.app
- Backing up firefox-bin executable to firefox.bin (first run only).
- Creating firefox-bin script.
Firefox 3.5.app
- Backing up firefox-bin executable to firefox.bin (first run only).
- Creating firefox-bin script.
Firefox 3.6.app
- Backing up firefox-bin executable to firefox.bin (first run only).
- Creating firefox-bin script.
Firefox 4.0.app
- Backing up firefox-bin executable to firefox.bin (first run only).
- Creating firefox-bin script.
Aurora.app
- Backing up firefox-bin executable to firefox.bin (first run only).
- Creating firefox-bin script.
All done!
@dmiddle2000lb
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DOPE!

@ebhoren
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ebhoren commented Apr 26, 2011

This is not working for Firefox 4.0 on OSX 10.5.8
FF crash at startup (Application firefox.bin as stop)

It work with FF 2.0 to 3.6 perfectly.
Great ressource! Thanks a lot!!!

@cowboy
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cowboy commented Apr 26, 2011

Weird, it works great for me in OS X Firefox 4.0. Anyone else seeing this issue?

@ebhoren
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ebhoren commented Apr 26, 2011

Are you on OSX 10.5 (Leopard)?

@cowboy
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cowboy commented Apr 26, 2011

It appears to work fine for me in OS X 10.6.7.

@mathiasbynens
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FWIW, I have Firefox 2, 3, 3.5 and 4 running perfectly on OS X 10.6.7 thanks to this script. Sounds like a Leopard issue then?

@ebhoren
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ebhoren commented Jun 3, 2011

I've switch to OSX 10.6.7 and confirm that works.
The problem is with OSX 10.5.8.

Great script by the way! Nice job

@mathiasbynens
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Does this work with Firefox 7 / OS X Lion? I ran the script, but when I opened Firefox 7 it didn’t ask me which profile to use.

I fixed it by running /Applications/Firefox\ 7.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -ProfileManager afterwards.

@mathiasbynens
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FWIW, here’s a script that downloads different versions of Firefox, sets up a separate profile for each version, and even adds the version number to the app icon. http://gkoberger.net/n/firefoxes

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