Google Toolbar says Non Compatible Browser ? No Problem.

Many of you may use Distros which ship a custom build of firefox. For example, ArchLinux has an i686 optimised version of firefox which is named Gran Paradiso to avoid copyright issues with Mozilla Corp. who hold trademark rights to the name. Now, the problem is that these browsers don’t properly identify them when a site checks for Mozilla Firefox. Google is an example, and due to this I am not able to install Google Toolbar. I finally found a solution. Here it is for you

The Simpler-Than-It-Looks Solution

1. Point your browser to http://firefox.com and download the firefox generic linux package. Here is a link to Version 3.0.6.

2. Download the .tar.bz2 archive and extract it to any directory. In the folder firefox, you will find an executable called firefox-bin. If for some reason it isn’t an executable already, make it by right clicking and going to file properties.

3. Run this executable to launch firefox. It may or may not take a while to start.

4. Point your browser to http://toolbar.google.com/ and you will find that the toolbar suddenly appears compatible with the browser.

5. Install it afer accepting the EULA.

6. Quit firefox. You may delete the downloaded files and the extracted files since they are useless.

7. Launch firefox from the version installed globally in your distro now. You will find that google toolbar has just been installed.

Why the Problem exists and the Solution works

Problem arises because all non-official compiles of firefox should not use the official firefox branding, due to a rule enforced by Mozilla Corporation. Now, since you are executing firefox from the generic official build, its unaffected because its the official package.  So google identifies it correctly as a supported browser. Now, all plugins are installed in your home directory. So whichever executable of firefox you run, the same settings are taken as long as the distro is the same. So this install can be used by your distro’s firefox build.

Alternate Solution

Just grab the .xpi installer of the google toolbar from somewhere. Drag and drop it in the firefox window and it will be installed. I don’t recommend this because of the chance that the version of toolbar you have in the XPI may be old, or that google may take issues with you or somebody else distributing the installer of their toolbar without their permission.