How to Install LibreWolf in Ubuntu 22.04/20.04/23.10 (Step by Step)

Last updated: December 7, 2023 — Leave a comment

 

This is a step by step beginner’s guide shows how to install LibreWolf web browser in Ubuntu and its based systems.

LibreWolf is a free and open-source web browser fork from Firefox. The browser focuses on privacy and security, and has uBlocker ad blocker out-of-the-box.

The browser website has an official guide for installing in on Debian and Ubuntu based systems. This tutorial is just a re-write with screenshots and more explanations.

NOTE: This tutorial only works on x86_64 system for modern Intel/AMD CPU architecture types.

Step 1: Install the Key

Adding 3rd party repository in Debian/Ubuntu system needs to first install the key, so your system will trust the packages from that repository.

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command:

wget -O- https://deb.librewolf.net/keyring.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/librewolf.gpg

This command will download the key file via wget command line tool, dearmor it so the key will be un-readable, finally save it to /usr/share/keyrings directory.

NOTE: The command MAY be stuck at blinking cursor, because ‘sudo’ needs user password authentication. Just type your password in mind (no feedback) and hit Enter to get pass.

Step 2: Add LibreWolf Repository

LibreWolf repository so far supports Debian 11/12, Ubuntu 20.04 & 22.04, Linux Mint 20.3, 21.1, 21.2, and all their based systems. It also works in Ubuntu 23.04/23.10 by using the package for 22.04.

1. Get your system code-name

First, run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to get the code-name of your system:

lsb_release -sc

The code-name MUST be one of una, bookworm, vanessa, focal, jammy, bullseye, vera, or uma. If NOT, then run command:

cat /etc/os-release

This command will output which version of Ubuntu (and its code-name) is based on.

2. Add LibreWolf repository

Once you got the code-name, run the command below in terminal to create & edit source file:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/librewolf.sources

Replace gedit in command with xed for Cinnamon, pluma for MATE, mousepad for XFCE, gnome-text-editor for 23.04 & higher, or nano command line text editor that works in most desktop environment.

When the file opens, paste the line below and save it:

Types: deb
URIs: https://deb.librewolf.net
Suites: jammy
Components: main
Architectures: amd64
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/librewolf.gpg

Here you need to replace jammy with the code-name you got in last step. For Ubuntu 23.04 (lunar) and 23.10 (Mantic), just use jammy which is working good in my case.

Finally save the file. For nano text editor, press Ctrl+x, type y and hit Enter.

Step 3: Install LibreWolf web browser

After adding the repository and key, run the command below in terminal to refresh your system package cache:

sudo apt update

Finally, install the browser via command:

sudo apt install librewolf

Once successfully installed the package, search for and launch it from start/application menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your desktop environment.

And, when a newer version of the browser package is released, just use Software Updater (Update Manager) to update it:

future version of LibreWolf available in Update Manager

How to Remove LibreWolf Web Browser

To remove the web browser, also open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove librewolf --autoremove

Also remove the Key file as well as source repository by running commands in terminal one by one:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/librewolf.sources
sudo rm /usr/share/keyrings/librewolf.gpg

And, refresh system package cache after making changes to package sources.

That’s all. Enjoy!

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Shotwell 0.32.4 Released with 3D MPO File Support & Improved Slideshow

Last updated: December 6, 2023 — 1 Comment

Shotwell photo viewer and organizer released new version 0.32.4 a few days ago.

The new release added basic .mpo file support, which is a stereoscopic image consisting of two overlapping 2D images in JPG format.

Besides that, the release also has improved slideshow support. It now supports for shuffled slideshows, allow setting wallpaper slideshows even if videos are selected, though videos are automatically excluded in slideshow in my case. And, fixes left/right navigation and not start issue in slideshow, when video is the first selected item.

shotwell MPO file support

Other changes in Shotwell 0.32.4 include:

  • Make Ctrl-Enter close the description editor
  • Add missing name for filter in Save As dialog
  • Add Shift-Drop for export of original file
  • Remove app shortcut for “Shotwell Profile Browser”. Add it as an action instead, though also available in ‘Preference’.
  • Simplified export conflict resolution dialog
  • New video meta-data handler.
  • Add dump of available image codecs and meta-data support
  • Fix showing the original photo with shift if photo was modified externally
  • Fix crop area jumping on scaled displays
  • Some crash fixes.

How to Install Shotwell 0.32.4 in Ubuntu:

Shotwell is available to install as Flatpak package, which is however not updated to the latest release at the moment of writing.

For those who prefer the classic .deb package format, I’ve upload the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, Ubuntu 23.10 on amd64, arm64/armhf CPU architecture types.

1. First, search for and open terminal from your system application menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/shotwell

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Next, launch Software Updater (Update Manager), then install the updates for the software package.

Or, run command in terminal to install/upgrade the Shotwell package:

sudo apt install shotwell heif-gdk-pixbuf

NOTE: Linux Mint user may need to run sudo apt update first to refresh package cache.

Finally, either right-click on your photo images to select open with the photo manager, or search for and launch shotwell from ‘Activities’ overview and enjoy!

Uninstall Shotwell 0.32.4

For any issue, it’s recommended to purge the Ubuntu PPA. Which, will remove PPA and downgrade shotwell to the pre-installed version.

To do so, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/shotwell
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Make VirtualBox VMs to Have Separate Icons in Ubuntu

Last updated: December 6, 2023 — Leave a comment

I’m using Virtualbox to try out different Linux Distributions in virtual machines. It always has 2 logo icons on Ubuntu dock: one for the manager, and another for VMs.

The VM and VM manager icons on the dock are totally same, causing me to make mis-clicks frequently. And, all the opened VMs are grouped into single icon on the dock.

If you don’t like this default behavior, then it’s easy to make Virtual Virtual Machines to have separate icon per instance.

As the screenshot below shows you, after following this tutorial, every VM will have its own system logo on Ubuntu Dock:

Method 1: Disable virtualboxvm.desktop

The VM icons for Linux are handled by virtualboxvm.desktop file under “/usr/share/applications” directory. Simply disable that file will make Virtualbox VM (7.0.12 in my test) fall back to separate icon with system/distro logo.

To do so, just create an empty file with same filename under “.local/share/applications”. It will be taken in use instead of the one in ‘/usr/share/applications’ for current user only.

Option 1: Single command to create empty virtualboxvm.desktop

Ubuntu user can press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, then run the single command below to create the empty file:

touch ~/.local/share/applications/virtualboxvm.desktop

This command should work in most Linux, though running command mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications may be required first to create the directory.

Option 2: Use text editor to create empty virtualboxvm.desktop

For those who hate Linux commands, simply search for and launch a text editor window.

Then, it should by default open an empty file (if not create one). There open menu and select “Save as”.

In next dialog, name the empty file to virtualboxvm.desktop and save it into “Home > .local > share > applications”.

The change will be applied next time you launch a VirtualBox VirtualBox.

Method 2: Edit virtualboxvm.desktop

In case the first method does not work for you, you can configure the file to make it start VM as separate process.

1. First, open 2 “Files” windows. Then drag’n’drop virtualboxvm.desktop to local folder.

  • In “Files” (aka nautilus), navigate to Other Locations -> Computer -> usr -> share -> applications, then, find out the virtualboxvm.desktop file.
  • In another “Files” window, press Ctrl+H, then navigate to .local -> share -> applications. Finally, drag’n’drop the file to this folder.

2. Right-click on the virtualboxvm.desktop file in .local/share/applications folder and click “Open with Text Editor”.

When the file opens, add --separate flag to ‘Exec’ line. So it will be ‘Exec=VirtualBoxVM --separate %U‘.

For choice, you can change the icon to Icon=virtualbox-vbox, or replace with /path/to/whatever-icon that your want. However, all VMs will use the same icon on Ubuntu Dock.

How to Restore

To restore the change, simply delete the empty file either in your file manager or by running command in terminal:

rm ~/.local/share/applications/virtualboxvm.desktop

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Parole media player updates with Middle Click Actions to Tray Icon

Last updated: December 4, 2023 — Leave a comment

 

Parole, the lightweight media player for XFCE Desktop, released version 4.18.1 few days ago.

The new release updates the app icons with 32px, 64px, 96px sizes support, so it should have a cleaner look in system menus like App Finder, Whisker Menu.

The extensions icons have been updated using newer Xfce palette, and semi-transparent borders giving it a sharper look in dark themes.

The system tray icon now is disabled outside X11. And, it now supports middle click actions to control video playback:

  • middle click to pause/resume playback.
  • middle wheel scrolling over tray icon to volume up/down.

Other changes in the release include:

  • Allow to built without X11 support and therefore whithout XfceSMClient.
  • Fix critical warning and memory leak
  • mpris2: Properly disconnect signal handlers
  • honor gtk-dialogs-use-header as Xfce 4.18 is CSD opt-in.
  • Small UI Improvements and many translation updates

How to Install Parole 4.18.1:

At the moment of writing, there’s no binary package of Parole 4.18.1 for Ubuntu.

But it’s not hard to compile the package from the source (tested in XUbuntu 22.04):

  • First, open terminal and run command to install the build dependency packages: 
    sudo apt install debhelper-compat gtk-doc-tools intltool libclutter-1.0-dev libclutter-gtk-1.0-dev libdbus-1-dev libdbus-glib-1-dev libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev libgstreamer1.0-dev libgtk-3-dev libnotify-dev libtagc0-dev libxfce4ui-2-dev libxfconf-0-dev pkg-config xfce4-dev-tools
  • Then, download the source tarball by going to XFCE website via the link below:
    Download Parole 4.18.1
  • Extract the source tarball, then right-click on the new generated folder, and select “Open in Terminal”. Finally, run the 3 commands below one by one to compile it from source: 
    ./configure
    make -j4
    sudo make install

NOTE: It by default installs the parole executable to /usr/local/bin without overriding the pre-installed one. Meaning you’ll have 2 versions of the media player installed in your system, while the app icon in menu will launch the newer 4.18.1 version.

(Uninstall) By opening the source folder in terminal, you may also uninstall the media player by running command:

sudo make uninstall
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How to Install Waterfox from official tarball in Ubuntu

Last updated: December 4, 2023 — Leave a comment

This simple tutorial shows how to install the Waterfox web browser from its official tarball & create app shortcut in Ubuntu Linux.

Waterfox is a free open-source fork of Firefox, claims to be ethical and user-centric, emphasizing performance and privacy.

The browser provides official Linux package through the portable tarball package, though a community maintained Flatpak package is also available to run it in sandbox.

Step 1: Download Waterfox Tarball

To download the package, simply go to its website via the link button below and click the “Download” button:

Download Waterfox

Once you got the package, just extract it, and run the executable file (waterfox or waterfox-bin) in the new generated folder, will launch the web browser.

Extract, and Launch Waterfox web browser

Step 2: Create App Shortcut for Waterfox

If you want to make the app icon visible in the ‘Activities’ overview search result (or application/start menu depends on your desktop environment), then follow the steps below to create app shortcut for it.

1. Move the source folder

Before creating app shortcut, it’s better to move the ‘waterfox’ folder for long time use.

For current user only, you may put the folder to anywhere in your user home. I usually create a custom folder in user home (e.g., bin, apps) or put portable apps into .local (it’s hidden, press Ctrl+H to view/hide).

In the screenshot below, I moved the waterfox folder into the custom “MyApps”  folder:

For global, it’s good choice to move the folder to “/opt“, so all users in the system can launch the web browser.

In the case, right-click on blank area of the folder that contains “waterfox” sub-folder, and click “Open in Terminal”. In pop-up terminal, run command to move or copy it to opt:

sudo cp -R waterfox /opt

2. Create App Shortcut

In most Linux, the app shortcuts are handled by .desktop files located in either /usr/share/applications or .local/share/applications.

First, search for and launch your system text editor from overview or application menu depends on your DE:

When it opens with an empty document, paste following lines:

[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=/home/ji/MyApps/waterfox/waterfox %u
Terminal=false
X-MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Icon=/home/ji/MyApps/waterfox/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.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=new-window;new-private-window;

[Desktop Action new-window]
Name=Open a New Window
Exec=/home/ji/MyApps/waterfox/waterfox -new-window

[Desktop Action new-private-window]
Name=Open a New Private Window
Exec=/home/ji/MyApps/waterfox/waterfox -private-window

Depends on where you moved the ‘waterfox’ folder, change the value of “Exec” and “Icon” accordingly! Meaning replace /home/ji/MyApps to yours.

When done pasting file content and changing Exec/Icon path, press Shift+Ctrl+S to open the “Save as” dialog. Then, do:

  • press Ctrl+H to show hidden folders in the pop-up dialog.
  • navigate to home -> .local -> share -> applications. Create ‘applications’ if it does not exist.
  • type waterfox.desktop as the file name.
  • finally click Save button.

If you did the previous steps correctly, it should now show ‘waterfox’ icon in the start/application menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your desktop environment.

Uninstall Waterfox

To uninstall the web browser installed via the previous steps, first remove the ‘waterfox’ folder depends on where you saved it. Then, remove the waterfox.desktop file from .local/share/applications.

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