How can I install Pale Moon on Linux? Topic is solved

[tucuman]

Hi to all! Recently have to change OS to Linux (Mint), and I wanted to know how can I install Pale Moon on Linux, don't know how to do it with the tar file

[Lucio Chiappetti]

Will this page be sufficiently clear for you https://developer.palemoon.org/docs/linux-installation/ ?

BTW, this is what I do, and can be considered an "installation as a user". Installation at "system level" (like "make install" if you build from source) is unnecessary on a single-user system. Once you have done that, updates are handled very smoothly inside Pale Moon (see Help->Check for updates and Preferences-<Advanced->Update).

There is also the possibility to install from a repo, check the forum in c ase you prefer that way (but I don't see any reason).

[Night Wing]

Off-topic:
Option #2 (if the Xfce desktop environment is the choice).

Linux Pale Moon does "not" have to be installed to run in linux Mint thereby one does not have to use the Terminal if one is "not" comfortable in using the command line codes for the Terminal.

[back2themoon]

So, if it is "not installed" is it something like a portable? What happens with the "Default browser" OS setting, if any?

Sorry for making Windows analogies, just trying to understand for when the time comes.

[jobbautista9]

The Linux binary tarball is pretty much equivalent to the 7-ZIP packed Windows version in the download page. It is

not a portable browser, it stores its data in the normal user folders on the system (documents/settings or users folder).

There is no universal Linux equivalent to Windows' installer and portable versions yet. The contributing builders' packaging of Pale Moon using a package manager would be close to an "installer", but they're distro-specific.

[Moonchild]

There is no universal Linux equivalent to Windows' installer and portable versions yet.

The problem asking for such a thing is that there is no universal way to "install" something on Linux. There are numerous package formats and each of those can have distro-specific quirks to deal with.
The total chaos of the Linux landscape isn't making it reasonably doable to have "installers" that work reasonably well on a large number of distros.

The portable question is a different one: here we run into the fact that "portable" on Linux normally means an amalgamation package that is made executable as a unit, either containerised or not. The problem we have with that is licensing. For a broadly working portable regardless of the sysem it is run on, invariably, it will need to package GPLv3 libraries with it, which means, because of RMS, we would also need to license all parts of the browser and platform under GPLv3. We can't do that.

[jarsealer]

Off-topic:
I think if Pale Moon was available in linux distro's package repositories people could find it (via the package/software manager like synaptic in debian) and easily install it that way.

Is there a reason why this isn't the case for PM (or any UXP application like Basilisk as well)?

[Moonchild]

It requires someone to be the package maintainer, and the distro needs to accept it into their repo. That requires dedicated people. i.e. Problem number 3 is HR.

[Kruppt]

Hi to all! Recently have to change OS to Linux (Mint), and I wanted to know how can I install Pale Moon on Linux, don't know how to do it with the tar file

What version of Mint have you installed?
Need to know version to steer you towards the right .deb file.
If you could supply the output of:
uname -a
run from a term that would be helpful.

[Lucio Chiappetti]

So, if it is "not installed" is it something like a portable? What happens with the "Default browser" OS setting, if any?

Not sure what you mean by "portable" in Windows. I would expect in Linux "portable" means an executable statically linked with all libraries required, instead of being linked against .so libraries, so that once compiled on machine can be moved to another machine. Easy for silly user programs, but not trivial for anything else.
There are ways in some Linux flavours (snap, flatpak, appimage) which I've never used. Their executables are bigger, and usually sandboxed so one cannot access user areas if they are not in the expected place (for instance my home (~lucio) is not in /home/lucio but in /machinename/lucio and snaps won't work).

For me "install" is the action of the command "make install" when you build from source. Which usually moves the executable in /bin and eventually some other files in some "system" places, and gives appropriate permissions. So they can be used by all users on the machine, if you have more than one. Personally I almost never "install" even in the few cases I still build from source. If you load a package (.deb, .rpm) from a distro repository using your flavour GUI or command, it will be "installed" in a system area.

Usually it is enough to unpack the tar in file in some personal directory, and make sure the place where the executable is stored is in your $PATH. Or e ventually softlinkeed in /bin. That is what I do for Pale Moon according to the instructions I posted.

Concerning "Default browser" looks to me not an OS setting, but a user DE (desktop environment) setting. Since I run with a WM (window manager) and no DE, I do not care at all about "Default browser".

[UCyborg]

This is a good source for installable DEBs that work with Mint: https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/

You could install from repository using the instructions or download DEB from the link on that page. It will be updatable through package manager if you add the repo and you can also install language packs from it too, the package name for specific language pack is "palemoon-langpack-xy" (xy being language code).

[tucuman]

Will this page be sufficiently clear for you https://developer.palemoon.org/docs/linux-installation/ ?

BTW, this is what I do, and can be considered an "installation as a user". Installation at "system level" (like "make install" if you build from source) is unnecessary on a single-user system. Once you have done that, updates are handled very smoothly inside Pale Moon (see Help->Check for updates and Preferences-<Advanced->Update).

There is also the possibility to install from a repo, check the forum in c ase you prefer that way (but I don't see any reason).

thanks, i don't understan quite well that of desktop entry

[tucuman]

Hi to all! Recently have to change OS to Linux (Mint), and I wanted to know how can I install Pale Moon on Linux, don't know how to do it with the tar file

What version of Mint have you installed?
Need to know version to steer you towards the right .deb file.
If you could supply the output of:
uname -a
run from a term that would be helpful.

i'm on the very last version of cinnamon mint

[tucuman]

This is a good source for installable DEBs that work with Mint: https://kannegieser.net/palemoon/

You could install from repository using the instructions or download DEB from the link on that page. It will be updatable through package manager if you add the repo and you can also install language packs from it too, the package name for specific language pack is "palemoon-langpack-xy" (xy being language code).

sadly i'm not figuring out, how to add the package manager

[andyprough]

thanks, i don't understan quite well that of desktop entry

I believe that the default text editor for Linux Mint Cinnamon is called xed, so your command would be:

Code: Select all

sudo xed /usr/share/applications/palemoon.desktop

And once the text editor opens, you would copy this block of text and paste it into xed:

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Pale Moon Web Browser
Comment=Browse the World Wide Web
Keywords=Internet;WWW;Browser;Web;Explorer
Exec=palemoon %u
Terminal=false
X-MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Icon=palemoon
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;Internet
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

Then save the file and close xed. Let us know if that gives you any trouble.

[UCyborg]

sadly i'm not figuring out, how to add the package manager

I'm assuming you have trouble with first step? It does assume you're familiar with creating text files in locations only accessible to root (administrative) user. If so, the same concept applies as andyprough wrote about in a previous post, only the path to the file and its content differs.

You won't need to manually create .desktop file though if you install Pale Moon through package manager (apt in this case).

[Night Wing]

I believe that the default text editor for Linux Mint Cinnamon is called xed

From my years when I was just starting out with Mint back in 2013 and had to learn how to use the Terminal which I was not fond of. It might have changed since then so you can correct me if I am wrong.

The default "graphical" text editor in Linux Mint is "xed". But for the "command line" when using the Terminal for editing tasks in Mint, it is "nano" when using "sudo".

[andyprough]

The default "graphical" text editor in Linux Mint is "xed". But for the "command line" when using the Terminal for editing tasks in Mint, it is "nano" when using "sudo".

The command I gave him should work just fine to help get the .desktop file put into place. nano, as easy as it is, has a small learning curve which isn't necessary for this present purpose.

[ron_1]

I don't "install." Just download the tarball, extract the Pale Moon folder somewhere, then make a link for it. I put my link on the panel. Done.

[UCyborg]

There was a time sudo on its own wasn't recommended for graphical programs. But today, from the little research I did, it appears those concerns aren't applicable anymore, at least if you know what you're doing.

Environment variable pointing to home folder wasn't set to root's home folder by default, so some of user's own config files could become root owned, which then couldn't be accessed normally anymore as normal user.

Then there's user's .Xauthority file, which is needed to open any window of a graphical program and exposed through environment variable, it seems normal programs won't attempt to change it arbitrarily.