The Waterfox web browser is a 64-bit-only open source project based on Firefox.
I would like to see how is the performance compared to Firefox, apparently its better.
Being new to Linux, it's a challenge when it comes to packages that are not .deb. On the official site, Waterfox is provided as a .tar.bz2 file. How can I install Waterfox on Lubuntu 17.04 and also add an entry for it in my menu, under Internet, alongside Firefox?
There is an unofficial repository from which you can download and install Waterfox using apt.
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"
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.
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
Run waterfox at the prompt. Voila!
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...
. waterfox which doesn't work for some reason.
Jan 19, 2021 at 5:10
Download the file, extract using the gui, and link it to the menu.
Unzip and run
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.Open a terminal window
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
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
First download the waterfox .tar file from https://www.waterfox.net/download/.
Then move it to a secured folder from the downloads folder. Then extract it there.
Search in the app menu if you can find a "Main menu" software.
If you find it, then click on it and click on "internet". Then click on "New item". Then set a name for the app (for example, Waterfox).
Then click on the icon which will take you to your file system. Then go to the folder in which you have kept the extracted waterfox file. Then from there you will go to,
Waterfox > browser > chrome > icon > defaults > default128.png
The icon will be selected.
Then click on browse beside the option command. It will take you again to your file system. Go to the folder in which you have kept the extracted waterfox file. From there you will go to Waterfox and scroll down and you will find a file named waterfox which is a shared library (application/x-sharedlib) type file. Then click on it. Then you will be again on the main page of "Main menu" . Now select "ok". And then go to your menu and search for waterfox. Then you can add it to your desktop by a left click of mouse on the app and then select pin to desktop.
If you do not find "Main menu" named app then you will have to install it.
This procedure was recently tested in Ubuntu MATE 20.04. So hopefully it will work.
