How-to add Steve Pusser's MX Linux build of Pale Moon to a Debian-based distro
Posted: 2024-09-04, 05:58
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.
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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:
f) Install Pale Moon with a terminal command such as:
g) Remove the downloaded .deb file to keep your system clean for future Pale Moon installations. Use a terminal command such as:
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
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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:
- for MX 21, the command will be:
e) Add the MX repository to your apt sources -
- for MX 23, the command will be:
- for MX 21, the command will be:
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:
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
h) Check the upgradable packages, make sure none of them come from the MX repo:
If you see any upgradable packages from the MX repo, then DELETE the MX repo from your system:
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:
i) Install Pale Moon
===========================================================================
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/
Code: Select all
sudo apt install ~/Downloads/palemoon*.deb
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rm ~/Downloads/palemoon*.deb
===========================================================================
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
Code: Select all
wget -O- http://teharris.net/mx21repo.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/MX21-archive-keyring.gpg
- 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
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
[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
g) Update
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sudo apt update
Code: Select all
sudo apt list --upgradable
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sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx2*.list
i) Check the apt policy for palemoon, you should now see an installation candidate from your MX repo:
Code: Select all
apt policy palemoon
Code: Select all
sudo apt install palemoon