Minimum to install for a visual web browser in Ubuntu Server

Solution 1:

The lightest (and least-functional) browser I can find is links2 .

You can run it in graphics mode with the -g flag, like this:

 links2 -g http://localhost:9090

One of the lighter browsers with modern features I've used is arora .

Here are the listed dependencies from sudo apt-cache show arora :

Depends: libc6 (>= 2.2.5), libgcc1 (>= 1:4.1.1), libqt4-dbus (>= 4:4.5.3), libqt4-network (>= 4:4.5.3), libqt4-script (>= 4:4.5.3), libqt4-sql (>= 4:4.5.3), libqtcore4 (>= 4:4.7.0~beta1), libqtgui4 (>= 4:4.6.1), libqtwebkit4 (>= 2.0~week26), libstdc++6 (>= 4.1.1)

It should work for what I expect would be normal browser-based control panel stuff.

Here's what actually would be installed (taken from my 10.04 server) :

sudo apt-get install --simulate arora

[...]

The following NEW packages will be installed:
  arora libaudio2 libmng1 libphonon4 libqt4-dbus libqt4-designer
  libqt4-network libqt4-script libqt4-sql libqt4-sql-mysql libqt4-webkit
  libqt4-xml libqt4-xmlpatterns libqtcore4 libqtgui4
0 upgraded, 15 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Inst libaudio2 (1.9.2-3 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid)
Inst libmng1 (1.0.9-1ubuntu1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid)
Inst libqtcore4 (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqt4-xml (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqt4-dbus (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqt4-script (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqtgui4 (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqt4-designer (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libphonon4 (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqt4-network (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqt4-sql (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqt4-sql-mysql (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqt4-xmlpatterns (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst libqt4-webkit (4:4.6.2-0ubuntu5.1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid-updates)
Inst arora (0.10.2-0ubuntu1 Ubuntu:10.04/lucid)

Other options

Although I have tried very few of these, a nice list (with brief descriptions) of light browsers is here: http://www.helgefjell.de/browser.php
The front page of the site also has this very nice admonition, in line with the idea of light web browsers:

Note: You have activated ECMA-Script (JavaScript). This web site does not use active contents and encourages you to deactivate ECMA-Script. Good web design does not require any active content [...]

Some of the ones I tried weren't happy with a 64-bit environment.

dillo used to be the way to go for a very light browser, but I had stopped using it do to lack of packaging and general rudimentary functionality.

Fennec is another slightly weirder possibility -- it's the mozilla mobile broswer. Very light, but it expects a tiny screen. It is in the repos.