Icecat is the GNU version of Firefox :
GNUzilla is the GNU version of the Mozilla suite, and GNU IceCat is the GNU version of the Firefox browser. Its main advantage is an ethical one: it is entirely free software. While the Firefox source code from the Mozilla project is free software, they distribute and recommend non-free software as plug-ins and addons.
In addition, GNU IceCat includes some privacy protection features, included in a separate addon:
The privacy addon is at icecat downloads , you want the privacy_ext.xpi …
There are several methods of installing icecat, and one method is to simply download the binary file and extract it. This is, IMO, trivial :
1. Download the latest version from here
2. Extract the archive. As root run :
tar zvf icecat-3.6-386.tar.bz2 -C /usr/local
3. You then run icecat with
/usr/local/icecat-3.6-386/icecat
or make a launcher with the above command.
If you prefer, here is a more detailed walk through (it is short).
The problem as you can see is that GNU does not have a 64 bit version =(
If you are running Ubuntu you can add the icecat ppa
They have a 64 bit .deb and it works fine.
But what if you are not running Ubuntu ? You can run the 32 bit version if you install the 32 bit libs … but that is not what I wanted. Besides, compiling from source is more fun …
Or you can compile from source.
Download the latest source from here , you want the icecat-3.6-386.tar.bz2 (source).
Install the following dependencies:
yum install -y gcc gcc-c++ gtk2-devel dbus-glib-devel libnotify-devel alsa-lib-devel libIDL-devel wireless-tools-devel libXt-devel
Extract the source code:
tar xvjf icecat-3.6-386.tar.bz2
Compile:
cd icecat-3.6
./configure
make
su -c “make install”
Note: It takes a long time for the build.
I found the icecat icons in icecat-3.6/browser/branding/unofficial
By default, icecat is installed into
/usr/local/lib/icecat and should be linked to /usr/local/bin/icecat
To confirm your binary is 64 bit, use file:
file /usr/local/lib/icecat-3.6/icecat-bin
/usr/local/lib/icecat-3.6/icecat-bin: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64,
version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), for GNU/Linux
2.6.18, stripped
If you like compiling from source you might like to give Gentoo a try
The initial set up is a bit of a learning curve but the control you then have over your system is immense.
“Its main advantage is an ethical one: it is entirely free software. While the Firefox source code from the Mozilla project is free software, they distribute and recommend non-free software as plug-ins and addons.”
Um. So Firefox isn’t /entirely/ free because third-party software can hook into it? And disabling these hooks or not recommending them makes it truly free?
Gentoo is a nice distro I agree. I am dating myself but gentoo was my first Linux distro.
According to the GNU project it appears so. You are of course free to draw your own conclusions and I am not agreeing or disagreeing with either GNU or you on this issue, I do, however, like icecat.
Thanks for this, I was stuck on compiling my own Icecat build (stuck on configure) but reading your post helped me realize which dependency I was missing.
Cheers to you sir!
No proprietary software and no trademarked images. You could argue that these things are minor quibbles and not worth fighting over, but that’s exactly the position GNU works hardest against.