Archives For web

Can’t wait to try out the new Thunderbird 115, but hate Snap and Flatpak packages? Here’s how to install it from Ubuntu PPA!

Thunderbird 115 is a new major release series with refined look and feel. It now uses GNOME CSD style header bar instead of the old title-bar. Which has a more compact header bar, that looks better in Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux with GNOME.

As well, it provides menu options to change the header-bar height to meet your need.

Besides the headerbar, menu, tool-bar, etc, are also redesigned to look better in today’s Linux desktop. As well, it takes use the new logo announced few months ago. See more about Thunderbird 115.

How to Install Thunderbird 115 via PPA

Ubuntu is most likely to build the new Thunderbird 115 package into system repository! Check this page for Ubuntu’s official package status.

Before that, user can easily search for and install Thunderbird Snap package from Ubuntu Software. Or, install the Flatpak package in Flathub repository. However, both are running in sandbox and support 64-bit X86 CPU architecture type only.

If you hate sandboxed applications, and/or running Ubuntu on ARM devices (e.g., Apple M1/M2, Raspberry Pi) or IBM POWER platform, then, there are Ubuntu PPAs for choice.

1. Add Ubuntu PPA

The Mozilla Team PPA has already built the packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa

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

2. Install/Update Thunderbird

After adding the PPA, simply launch “Software Updater” and wait for checking for updates. Until done, install the updates to install Thunderbird 115.

Or, just run command in terminal to install/update the package:

sudo apt install thunderbird

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

After installation, search for and launch the email client from ‘Activities’ overview or start menu depends on your desktop environment.

Uninstall Thunderbird.

If you have problem with the new release package, or Ubuntu updated the package in its official repository, then you can purge the Ubuntu PPA to switch back the stock version of Thunderbird package.

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

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:mozillateam/ppa

If the command above failed, you may manually remove the PPA by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:mozillateam/ppa

Then, remove the Thunderbird package installed from that PPA:

sudo apt remove --autoremove thunderbird

This simple tutorial shows how to install brave browser via the new apt source policy in Ubuntu 23.04 & 22.04.

Due to security issue, Debian changed its policy for adding apt sources. Ubuntu is changing the rules too. Since Ubuntu 22.04, it uses more secure key files with digital signature for system repositories and PPAs.

In Ubuntu 23.10 (in development at the moment),  it now uses deb822 .sources file instead of the previous .list file for third-party repositories. And, the new source files include ‘Signed-by’ section to specify the key file.

Step 1: Install curl command line download tool

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to install curl and apt-transport-https package:

sudo apt install apt-transport-https curl

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks.

Step 2: Download & Install the key

Then, run curl command to download the key file and save it into /usr/share/keyrings folder.

This can be done by running the single command below in terminal:

sudo curl -fsSLo /usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg

Step 3: Add the brave apt source repository

The previous .list file with or without ‘Signed-By’ is still working! But here I’m going to show the new .sources file.

1. First, run command to create a .sources file under ‘/etc/apt/sources.list.d’:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.sources

Replace gedit with gnome-text-editor for Ubuntu 23.04 and higher.

2. Then in the pop-up text editor window, paste following lines:

Types: deb
URIs: https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/
Suites: stable
Components: main
Architectures: amd64
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg

As you see, the new source file is easy to read, but a bit hard to write for beginners. See this thread for more about it.

Step 4: Update cache & install Brave Browser

After saving the file in last step, you can now run commands below to refresh the system package cache:

sudo apt update

And, finally install the web browser via command:

sudo apt install brave-browser

You don’t have to run the command every time when a new release is out. Just launch “Software Updater”, newer release of the browser package will be available there along with system package updates.

Uninstall Brave:

To remove brave browser package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove brave-browser

And remove the apt source repository by running command:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/brave-browser-release.list

Also remove the key file via command:

sudo rm /usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg

Finally, run sudo apt update to refresh system package index.

PHP finally released 8.2.0 release after 7 release candidates. Here are the new features and how to install guide for all current Ubuntu LTS.

PHP 8.2.0 allows to mark a class as readonly, which will add the readonly modifier to every declared property, and prevent the creation of dynamic properties. Moreover, using the AllowDynamicProperties attribute on readonly class will trigger a compile-time error.

Other release highlights in PHP 8.2.0 include:

  • Disjunctive Normal Form (DNF) Types
  • New stand-alone types: null, false, and true
  • New “Random” extension
  • Constants in traits
  • Deprecate dynamic properties

There are as well numerous bug-fixes and other changes in the release. See the changelog for details.

How to Install Php 8.2 in Ubuntu:

Not recommended for beginners. Only install PHP 8.2 for web developing purpose or there’s specific feature or bug-fix you need in this release.

The popular Ondřej Surý’s PPA has built the package for all current Ubuntu LTS: Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04.

1. First, open terminal or connect to your Ubuntu server and run command to add the PPA:

LC_ALL=C.UTF-8 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php

Run sudo apt install software-properties-common in case the command does not exist. And, type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then, install Php packages accordingly. For example, install apache2 module and mysql module via command:

sudo apt install php8.2 libapache2-mod-php8.2 php8.2-mysql

Or install the FPM-CGI binary for use with Nginx:

sudo apt install php8.2 php8.2-fpm php8.2-mysql

For Ubuntu 18.04, run sudo apt update first to refresh package cache.

After installed it, remember to configure your http server (apache 2 or nginx) for the new PHP package, and configure php8.2 via files under ‘/etc/php/8.2/’.

Uninstall Php 8.2

To remove the package, simply run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove php8.2 libapache2-mod-php8.2 php8.2-*

And remove the Ubuntu PPA via command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ondrej/php

Remember Midori? The lightweight web browser that was default in Elementary OS and Bodhi Linux revived!

Midori was a popular lightweight web browser used the WebKitGTK rendering engine and GTK UI toolkit. The development of the project was however discontinued more than 3 years ago. And, Ubuntu even removed it from system repository since Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

According to the Wikipedia, the Midori project has been merged with the Astian Foundation in 2019. And, Astian announced a week ago that Midori browser is still alive!

It’s now Chromium based web browser that using Electron and React with both desktop edition for Linux, macOS, and Windows, and mobile edition for Android.

The browser still aims to be lightweight, fast and free. It’s still an open-source app, with the source code host in gitlab project page.

Midori web browser next generation

The new Midori browser so far features:

  • New logo.
  • Adblock integration, block ads out-of-the-box.
  • Incognito mode support.
  • Chromium based, without Google services and low resources usage
  • Fast and highly customizable UI.
  • Partial Chrome extensions support.
  • To use its own open-source AstianGO search engine. Though, it so far uses DuckDuckGo as default. While Google, Bing, and Ecosia available for choice.

How to Install New Midori web browser in Ubuntu & other Linux

Astian offers official Midori packages for Linux through AppImage and .deb package.

Option 1: AppImage

AppImage is a portable package format without installation required. Just select download it from its website:

Then, right-click on AppImage in file manager. Open ‘Properties’ dialog and grant ‘execute as program’ permission. Finally, click run the package to launch the web browser.

Option 2: Deb package

It also provides official .deb packages for modern 64-bit computers, available to download via the link button below:

NOTE: The Debian (.deb) package seems broken at the moment of writing. It won’t install in my case in Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 11 either via double-clicking or using apt install command. So please try AppImage until Astian fixed the issue.

A new monthly release of Firefox web browser to be released soon! Users of Mozilla team PPA should already received the updates.

Though it’s not officially announced at the moment of writing, user can however check what’s new in the release via the Github Releases page.

And, here are the changes in Firefox 107 according to it:

  • Improved the performance of the instance when Microsoft’s IME and Defender retrieve the URL of a focused document in Windows 11 version 22H2.
  • Power profiling visualizing performance data recorded from web browsers is now also supported on Linux and Mac with Intel CPUs, in addition to Windows 11 and Apple Silicon.
  • A couple of helpful improvements in Firefox DevTools making it easier to debug WebExtensions:
    • New webext argument to automatically open DevTools.
    • Simple to inspect popup windows (implemented by WebExtension) using DevTools.
    • Reload button in the DevTools toolbox to see the changes you made in source code.
  • Various bug fixes and new policies implemented.

How to Install Firefox 107 in Ubuntu:

The best way to install the new Firefox release package is just wait! Wait until Ubuntu developer team build the package and publish into official system repository. So, just keep your system up-to-date, you’ll get Firefox 107 in next few days!

For Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 22.10 users who prefer the classic .deb package, the 107 release is already available in the Mozillateam PPA. Simply open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, and run commands below one by one:

NOTE: This PPA now supports all current Ubuntu releases, meaning Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 are also supported.

  • 1. Add the Mozillateam PPA by running command:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa
  • 2. Check updates for old Ubuntu releases:
    sudo apt update
  • 3. Finally, install Firefox from the PPA via command:
    sudo apt install -t "o=LP-PPA-mozillateam" firefox

IMPORTANT: to avoid Ubuntu 22.04+ to override the PPA package with system built-in Snap package, you have to create a config file under ‘/etc/apt/preferences.d’, and write following rules (See this guide for details):

# Prefer Firefox package from Mozillateam PPA

Package: firefox*
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-mozillateam
Pin-Priority: 501