How do I install Waterfox?

Solution 1:

There is an unofficial repository from which you can download and install Waterfox using apt.

1. Add the repository to your sources:

   sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/hawkeye116477:/waterfox/xUbuntu_Next/ /' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:hawkeye116477:waterfox.list"
   

2. Add the public key:

   wget -nv https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:hawkeye116477:waterfox/xUbuntu_Next/Release.key -O Release.key sudo apt-key add - < Release.key

Replace xUbuntu_Next with xUbuntu_19.04 or whichever version as needed.

3. Now update packages and install:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install waterfox
   

   If you have problems, you may need to install some dependencies because the developers used the latest version of the GNU Standard C++ Lib, which isn't available on some systems. (I had to do this manually in 14.04. YMMV.)

   Possible step:

   sudo apt-get install libgcc1 libstdc++6
   

4. Run waterfox at the prompt. Voila!

Solution 2:

tar -xvjf ./waterfox.tar.bz2 
cd ./waterfox
./waterfox

Using this method Waterfox is running now and it imports all of the settings from Firefox, Great!

Will do some benchmarks later to see how it compares to FF although it feels faster.

Now to figure out how to add shortcuts to the Lubuntu menu...

Solution 3:

Download the file, extract using the gui, and link it to the menu.

Unzip and run

1. Download the latest Linux version of the file from the Waterfox website.
2. Open Caja or another file manager to the folder where the file was downloaded to
3. Double-click the file to open the file in a archive manager
   For example Ubuntu Mate has Grampmpa
4. Extract the folder Waterfox to a location in your home folder. You could create a new folder in ~/ called Programs to put this kind of software in or put it under the /home/username folder.
5. Open the folder in a file manager and double-click Waterfox to run the browser and test that it works.

Create a link to the Internet menu

1. Open a terminal window

2. Edit the new waterfox.desktop file and add the configuration lines for Waterfox

   To open an edit session in vi:

   sudo vi /usr/share/applications/waterfox.desktop
   

   Content to add to the file:

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name='Waterfox'
   Exec='/home/username/waterfox/waterfox'
   Terminal=false
   Type=Application
   Categories=Network;WebBrowser;Internet
   Icon=/home/username/waterfox/browser/chrome/icons/default/default48.png
   

   Use :wq to save and exit vi. Use :wq! if you opened vi without sudo and need to force exit.

Check that the Exec points to the Waterfox executable. This assumes it was unzipped in the user's home folder. Use the ls command to find and check that the Exec and Icon paths are correct. Refer to the existing Firefox .desktop file for an example.

Have a look at the existing shortcut files, and in particular the one for Firefox to see what the syntax looks like: ls /usr/share/applications/firefox then cat /usr/share/applications/firefox-esr.desktop

You could copy the an existing entry to tailor to make a new one for Waterfox. Delete the lines that are not needed and edit the lines from Firefox to make Waterfox: sudo cp /usr/share/applications/firefox-esr.desktop cat /usr/share/applications/waterfox.desktop

Solution 4:

copied the existing firefox file, [Desktop Entry] /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop to waterfox.desktop (requires sudo -s)

altered the content:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Waterfox Web Browser
Comment=Browse the World Wide Web
GenericName=Web Browser
Keywords=Internet;WWW;Browser;Web;Explorer
Exec=waterfox %u
Terminal=false
X-MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Icon=waterfox
Categories=GNOME;GTK;Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;x-scheme-handler/ftp;x-scheme-handler/chrome;video/webm;application/x-xpinstall;
StartupNotify=true
Actions=new-window;new-private-window;

[Desktop Action new-window]
Name=Open a New Window
Exec=waterfox -new-window

[Desktop Action new-private-window]
Name=Open a New Private Window
Exec=waterfox -private-window

I installed waterfox to /opt/waterfox and created a link /usr/local/bin waterfox -> /opt/waterfox/waterfox as ln -s /opt/waterfox/waterfox waterfox

This works on my system and the icon showed up under Applications