(e-mail address removed) wrote in @g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
Is this foolproof? The fear of an older version getting corupted
by a newer version is my main reason for not upgrading. I've
heard a few horror stories about one version messing up another.
So, I want to know if this technique is bulletproof.
No, it's not. The problem is that unless you take steps to avoid
it, the new version will use your old profile, and once the new
version has gotten its hands on the profile, that profile may be
incompatible with the old version. There are ways of making sure
that different versions of Fx never share the same profile.
Before installing the new version, run the old one using the -p
switch to bring up the profile manager. Create a new profile.
Uncheck the box that tells it not to prompt you. Click exit.
Create a shortcut to the old version with the switch -p
oldprofilename. Now you can start the app with that shortcut
without the hassle of the profile manager, but if and external link
opens the brower, you will be prompted to make sure it's using the
profile you need it to, and you can click exit if unsure.
Instead of renaming folders, I just installed Fx 1.5 to a different
folder. A buglet in the installer prevents you from creating a new
directory as you install, so I created it beforehand. Then I chose
the custom install option and browsed to the newly created
/Program Files/firefox15/ folder.
UNcheck the box for running Fx at the end of installation. Create a
shortcut to the new Firefox using the switch -p newprofile name, and
use that shortcut every time you want to launch the new Fx. (As
long as it's not set as the default brower, no external links should
launch it.)
After a couple of weeks using both, I decided to uninstall 1.0.7. I
did it from the control panel, and it did not affect my 1.5
installation. I assume that running the 1.5 uninstaller would not
have touched the 1.0.7 install, but I can't guarantee it. Just
deleting the 1.5 folder would get rid of the new version, but would
leave an entry in your add/remove list.
All the preferences, passwords, cookies, extensions, &c. are stored in
the profile, so as long as you are careful with profiles, you can't
really hose things. I make regular backups of all the files in my main
profile, just in case, but I haven't had to restore a backup since the
0.8 or 0.9 days.
)