How to install ice cat on Ubuntu 16.04?

Question

I'm considering using GNU Icecat, but it doesn't seem to be in the ubuntu repository that I can apt-get install from.

Their website doesn't really come with any readmes. Is it possible to install it so that the software gets updated regularly through apt-get update && apt-get upgrade?

Answer 1

Go at http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuzilla/ and download the latest package.

Extract it at your desired location.

There, you may be able to launch the browser by just double clicking the icecat executable, or try first, by opening a terminal in that location:

chmod +x icecat

To create a desktop file like for a normally installed browser:

Using gedit text editor:

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/icecat.desktop

Then paste this, changing accordingly the lines that start with Exex= and Icon= :

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Icecat Web Browser
Keywords=Internet;WWW;Browser;Web;Explorer
Exec=path/to/your/location/icecat %u
Terminal=false
X-MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Icon=path/to/some/icecat.png
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=NewWindow;NewPrivateWindow;

Save, close, and you should see it in Dash or other launchers, or add it to a panel etc.

---

Depending on your desktop environment and/or launcher: in order to properly see the icon in the launcher, icecat.png file might be needed in a proper location.

Let's say we have a 128x128 file called icecat.png (that we can get from somewhere like here).

Go to the location ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/icecat.png ( or create it first), and then again sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/icecat.desktop, change the necessary line to Icon=icecat.

Answer 2

WARNING: if you use any unofficial repository and install software from
         them,you doing this on your own risk.

Well, you doing everything on your own risk anyway :-) Please have a look here:
This link shows you how to search for such repos: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas?name_filter=icecat&show_inactive=on

then look for:
→ gnuzilla icecat for 64bit
→ https://launchpad.net/~brunoalexandremiguel/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
the last link show how to add this icecat repo like this commands do:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:brunoalexandremiguel/ppa
sudo apt-get update