How-to add Steve Pusser's MX Linux build of Pale Moon to a Debian-based distro

[andyprough]

This is for anyone who wants to use Steve Pusser's builds of Pale Moon that he builds specifically for MX Linux. These builds should work on most Debian-based systems, as MX is simply Debian plus some homemade programs and configurations. At its core MX is just Debian, and in fact MX directly uses the Debian repositories for most of its software.

===========================================================================

Step 1 - Determine which version of Debian is compatible with your distro. You have two choices here:
a) MX version 23 is based on the newest Debian 12 (Bookworm). This should generally be compatible with distros like Ubuntu 24.04 and 24.10, Linux Mint 22, and other recently released Debian-based distros.
b) MX version 21 is based on the prior Debian 11 (Bullseye). This should generally be compatible with slightly older distros like Ubuntu 22.04 and 22.10, Linux Mint 21, and other Debian-based distros that were released a couple of years ago

=========================================hat this apt-pinning step is MANDATORY==================================

Step 2 - Fast and Dirty method for installing Steve Pusser's build of Pale Moon - for those people who JUST want to install Steve Pusser's build WITHOUT adding the MX repo and without doing auto-updates in the future

a) Navigate to the Pale Moon Contributed Builds page - http://www.palemoon.org/contributed-builds.shtml
b) Look for the link for "Pale Moon for MX Linux by Steve Pusser", which will take you here - https://mxrepo.com/
c) Select the link for your version of Debian compatibility
- if your distro is compatible with the latest Debian 12, then click on the "MX-23 Packages" link lower on the page - https://mxrepo.com/MX23packages.html
- if your distro is compatible with the earlier Debian 11, then click on the "MX-21 Packages" link lower on the page - https://mxrepo.com/MX21packages.html
d) Search for "palemoon" on the next page
e) Download the version of your choice (amd64 or i386) to a folder such as ~/Downloads/, or run a terminal command to download it, such as the following command for downloading the MX21 amd64 build:

Code: Select all

wget https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/pool/main/p/palemoon/palemoon_33.3.0-1mx21_amd64.deb -P ~/Downloads/

f) Install Pale Moon with a terminal command such as:

Code: Select all

sudo apt install ~/Downloads/palemoon*.deb

g) Remove the downloaded .deb file to keep your system clean for future Pale Moon installations. Use a terminal command such as:

Code: Select all

rm ~/Downloads/palemoon*.deb

That's it, Pale Moon should be installed and running. Next time a new version of Pale Moon is released, repeat these steps to upgrade your version, unless you want to add the MX repo and signing key as per the instructions below for auto-updating

===========================================================================

Step 3 - Longer and more Complex method for installing Steve Pusser's build of Pale Moon - for those people who WANT to automatically update from the MX repository.

[NOTE - Ensure that you do Step #3f below - apt pinning - if you skip Step #3f you could BRICK your distro making it UN-BOOTABLE]

a) Navigate to the Pale Moon Contributed Builds page - http://www.palemoon.org/contributed-builds.shtml

b) Look for the link for "Pale Moon for MX Linux by Steve Pusser", which will take you here - https://mxrepo.com/

c) Select the version of MX to use based on your distro's Debian compatibility
- if your distro is compatible with the latest Debian 12, then use the "MX-23" instructions in this How-to
- if your distro is compatible with the earlier Debian 11, then use the "MX-21" instructions in this How-to

d) Download and import the MX Linux signing key -
- for MX 23, the command will be:

Code: Select all

wget -O- http://teharris.net/mx23repo.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/MX23-archive-keyring.gpg

- for MX 21, the command will be:

Code: Select all

wget -O- http://teharris.net/mx21repo.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/MX21-archive-keyring.gpg

e) Add the MX repository to your apt sources -
- for MX 23, the command will be:

Code: Select all

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/MX23-archive-keyring.gpg] http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx23.list

- for MX 21, the command will be:

Code: Select all

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/MX21-archive-keyring.gpg] http://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx21.list

f) Create an apt pinning file to ONLY allow your system to use the Pale Moon package from the MX repo.
[NOTE - Do NOT skip this apt-pinning step - mixing other packages from the MX repo with a non-MX distro could BRICK your entire OS and cause you to lose data. You have been warned.]
- for either MX 23 or MX 21, the terminal command will be:

Code: Select all

cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/pin-palemoon
Package: *
Pin: release a=mx
Pin-Priority: -1 

Package: palemoon 
Pin: release a=mx
Pin-Priority: 700
EOF

Copy that code as one block of text, and you can paste it as a block into your terminal with the Ctrl-Shift-V keyboard combo, then hit the Enter key. You need to have the blank line in the middle, or it won't work.

g) Update

Code: Select all

sudo apt update

h) Check the upgradable packages, make sure none of them come from the MX repo:

Code: Select all

sudo apt list --upgradable

If you see any upgradable packages from the MX repo, then DELETE the MX repo from your system:

Code: Select all

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx2*.list

and then STOP this Step 3 procedure here, go back and install via Step 2 instead. You have a non-standard Debian-based distro that does not safely conform to these instructions.

i) Check the apt policy for palemoon, you should now see an installation candidate from your MX repo:

Code: Select all

apt policy palemoon

i) Install Pale Moon

Code: Select all

sudo apt install palemoon

[Moonchild]

Very nice write-up! Thank you.

[Night Wing]

Maybe think about making this topic a "sticky". If not, eventually it will scroll off the first page and land on the second page. A sticky would make it easier to find "if" users actually search for it.

[andyprough]

Maybe think about making this topic a "sticky". If not, eventually it will scroll off the first page and land on the second page. A sticky would make it easier to find "if" users actually search for it.

The MX repos change every two years, so this post will have to be updated more frequently than it would take for it to fall off the front page of How-to's. We've got How-to's from 2018 on the front page still. Which is normal - How-to's have been added fairly slowly in any forum I've seen.

Plus, that first post has a lot of commands. We'll have to do some discussion and updating in this thread as the smarter and more experienced GNU/Linux users give me corrections to some of those commands, or if they point out that some of the commands have to be worded differently for some distributions.

[andyprough]

There's a new repository with .deb packages based on the official Pale Moon GNU/Linux packages by Veit Kannegieser that appears to be superior to Steve Pusser's repository in nearly every way, so I'm recommending that people with Debian-based distros not follow this How-to and instead that they add Veit's repository.

Here's the thread where Veit announces the repo: viewtopic.php?p=254376#p254376

And here's Veit's repo and instructions for how to add it to your Debian-based distros: https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/

[Veit Kannegieser]

It is faster to create, only ~74 seconds per variant on a Athlon(tm) II X2 245, since it is just a repack.
Steve Pusser's deb files have the advantage to be build without updater, so there will be no update failed..missing permissions.. error dialog when detected as superseded version.
I will try to keep it updated. I have no plan to keep a history of old versions, they will be purged.

[moonbat]

It is faster to create, only ~74 seconds per variant on a Athlon(tm) II X2 245, since it is just a repack.
Steve Pusser's deb files have the advantage to be build without updater, so there will be no update failed..missing permissions.. error dialog when detected as superseded version.
I will try to keep it updated. I have no plan to keep a history of old versions, they will be purged.

Thank you for doing this
It's great to be back to an integrated package based install.

[andyprough]

Steve Pusser's MX package of Pale Moon was updated to 33.3.1 yesterday. Not too bad, not nearly as slow as his old OpenSUSE Build Service repository. Veit's repo is still faster so far though, having uploaded the 33.3.1 package on the same day it was released Sept. 10th.

[andyprough]

@Veit Kannegieser has now added Steve Pusser's MX23 build of GTK3 Pale Moon to Viet's repo, so I would just use @Veit's repo for all uses now instead of this how-to. Instructions on adding @Veit's repo and installing Pale Moon from it onto your Debian-based or Ubuntu-based distro are here: https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/

[Veit Kannegieser]

yes, just copies of the MX23 packages, so Gtk3.
Works nice on Raspberry Pi 3 at work.

[Thad E G]

https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/

Can someone confirm the url please. My system is not resolving it. I'm just getting "Pale Moon cannot find..."

[adoxa]

Loaded fine.

[andyprough]

Can someone confirm the url please. My system is not resolving it. I'm just getting "Pale Moon cannot find..."

The site was probably down briefly for maintenance, looks like @Veit edited some text on the page today. Try it again, it's working for me right now.

[Thad E G]

Must be a just me thing. I am still unable to resolve the url, either by browser or command line tools.

I'll try again another time.

[andyprough]

Must be a just me thing. I am still unable to resolve the url, either by browser or command line tools.

I'll try again another time.

It's working fine still for me. Maybe you need to whitelist it in your ad blocker, or look to see if you have any special DNS settings?

Here's the instructions from @Veit's site anyway - I'll paste them here, and if @Veit doesn't want them here I'll delete them:

Pale Moon tarballs converted to Debian DEB packages
manual installation

versions available here currently: 33.4.0.1 33.4.1
configuration for apt

Create /etc/apt/sources.list.d/palemoon.list and insert

Code: Select all

# sudo wget https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg -O /usr/share/keyrings/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg
    # sudo apt-get update
    # sudo apt-get install palemoon veit-kannegieser-archive-keyring

    # deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg] https://kannegieser.net/palemoon sse2_gtk2 main
    # deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg] https://kannegieser.net/palemoon sse2_gtk3 main
      deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg] https://kannegieser.net/palemoon avx_gtk2  main
    # deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg] https://kannegieser.net/palemoon avx_gtk3  main
    # deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg] https://kannegieser.net/palemoon avx2_gtk2 main
    # deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg] https://kannegieser.net/palemoon avx2_gtk3 main
    # deb [           signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg] https://kannegieser.net/palemoon mx23_gtk3 main

Adjust the sse2/avx/avx2 and gtk2/gtk3 variant to your hardware and liking by uncommenting the corresponding line.

The additional mx23_gtk3 variant is from MX Linux repo, maintained by Steven Pusser. Architectures are amd64, arm64, armhf and i386 here.

Download and install the my public key:

Code: Select all

sudo wget https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg -O /usr/share/keyrings/veit@kannegieser.net.gpg

Update and install. For example:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install palemoon veit-kannegieser-archive-keyring

The keyring package is optional.

Tested with Debian 12.8 and Raspbian.

@Veit - you may want to put a new thread in the Contributed 3rd Party Builds sub-forum, similar to @Nuck-TH's "Pale Moon x86-64 SSE2/AVX2" thread where he announces all his releases and puts instructions for use: viewtopic.php?f=40&t=27873

[Night Wing]

https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/

Can someone confirm the url please. My system is not resolving it. I'm just getting "Pale Moon cannot find..."

The page loads for me as well without any problems.

At this time I am using 64 bit linux Pale Moon 33.4.1 (GTK2) running in 64 bit linux Mint 22 (Wilma) Xfce.

[Moonchild]

I am still unable to resolve the url, either by browser or command line tools.

If you can't actually resolve the host you may want to check if your DNS server is working properly or potentially switch to a more reliable one.

[Thad E G]

If you can't actually resolve the host you may want to check if your DNS server is working properly or potentially switch to a more reliable one.

Over the years, I have variously used:- my broadband provider; google; 1.1.1.1. I used to have a script which explored and found the fastest, but it is a long time since I have been techie enough to care about such subtleties! (currently it is 1.1.1.1)

This is the first DNA failure I have had in, almost as long as I can remember!

Here's a development. Viet was kind enough to PM me. (Thanks Viet, will reply in a minute) He thought that my IP might be hitting a firewall. This is possible, as some net destinations react badly to the geolocation of India, where I am. (But I shouldn't hit his firewall if I can't even resolve the IP to get there). Anyway, he sent the IP and I am now getting

Code: Select all

n.n.n.n uses an invalid security certificate.

The certificate is only valid for the following names:
  ftp.kannegieser.net, kannegieser.net, mail.kannegieser.net, mta-sts.kannegieser.net, v22018056206865745.quicksrv.de, www.kannegieser.net  

(Error code: SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN)

It wouldn't be a problem, because I had a link to http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packa ... /palemoon/ and was downloading from there, but now I get "forbidden" on that url.

Oh, there's a unix/linux command that shows how the system is trying to resolve an address and what response it is getting. I'll google, but if anyone has that in an alive brain cell, a reminder would be nice. (edit: I think it is nslookup)

[Thad E G]

dig

Code: Select all

$ dig @1.1.1.1 https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/

; <<>> DiG 9.18.28-0ubuntu0.22.04.1-Ubuntu <<>> @1.1.1.1 https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/
; (1 server found)
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 5905
;; flags: qr rd ra ad; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 1232
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/. IN	A

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
.			86400	IN	SOA	a.root-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. 2024112700 1800 900 604800 86400

;; Query time: 47 msec
;; SERVER: 1.1.1.1#53(1.1.1.1) (UDP)
;; WHEN: Wed Nov 27 21:02:01 IST 2024
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 137

I was never very hot on this stuff . But comparing it to an address I know I can resolve, I note that there is no ANSWER section

[Veit Kannegieser]

dig

Code: Select all

$ dig @1.1.1.1 https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/
..
I was never very hot on this stuff  :oops:  . But comparing it to an address I know I can resolve, I note that there is no ANSWER section  :?

dig does not understand protocols,
dig @1.1.1.1 kannegieser.net
would give
kannegieser.net. 86400 IN A 94.16.116.102

I use Let's Encrypt certificates, so only names, not addresses have certificates, explains the certificate error.
Connection problem may be your IP address listed in the firewall configuration.
But nice you found a workaround.