GNUzilla IceCat
From blag.wiki.aktivix.org
Contents |
About
IceCat is a free (as in “libre”) fork of Firefox, and is planned to be the next default browser for BLAG. The aim of the GNUzilla project is to sidestep Mozilla trademark issues and avoid recommendation of non-free addons.
BLAGstory
The ground work on building IceCat for BLAG was done by Koko the Crazy Koala with builds of IceCat version 3.6.3 for x86_64.
Builds for 3.6.7 and 3.6.8 (x86 and x86_64) were done by veganix. Builds for 3.6.9 and 3.6.10 are being worked on by cyrille and veganix.
Version 3.6.8-1blag included the following BLAG-friendly search engines (instead of google, yahoo, ebay, etc): Anarchopedia, Creative Commons, Free Software Directory, Indymedia, Internet Archive, Ixquick ssl, Libcom, Librivox, Scroogle ssl and Wikipedia ssl. Version 3.6.9-1blag adds search engines for the BLAG wiki and identi.ca.
The BLAG version of IceCat will also include a special set of bookmarks, collected and edited by the community.
Getting it
Packages for both i686 and x86_64 can be found at: ftp://blag.fsf.org/Icecat/
Installing it
The FSF packages
To install, download the appropriate .rpm for your system and either do:
rpm -ivh icecat-3.6.9-1blag.fc12.xxx.rpm
as root (where xxx is your system architecture), or double-click on the .rpm, press ”Install” when prompted and type in your root password.
cyrilleBlag repository
There's special personnal repository with latest icecat versions for 32 and 64 bit. '
If you want to use this repository, just download :
wget http://cbiot.fr/blag/cyrilleBlag-release-1-1.noarch.rpm
And install it…
rpm -ivh cyrilleBlag-release-1-1.noarch.rpm
Next install icecat
yum install icecat
Setting it up
Languages
Language files will some day be available from the BLAG repository. For now, you can find most languages at: http://gnuzilla.gnu.org/download/langpacks/ Click on the .xpi file you want to install (and answer "yes" to allow, if necessary). To enable the new language, enter
about:config
in the address bar and answer yes, you'll be careful. Search for the general.useragent.locale string, and change it to "nb-NO" or whatever locale you wish to use. Restart IceCat and enjoy it in a new language.
Plugins
Existing browser plugins should be detected automatically by IceCat, otherwise you might need to do something like:
ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/* /usr/lib/icecat-3.6.9/plugins
as root. The IceCat plugins will reside in /usr/lib64/ if you are on a x86_64 system.
Anonymity
Starting from version 3.6.8-1blag, anonymous and SSL secured searching tools are included in the search bar. To also enable anonymous searching in the address bar (with scroogle), enter
about:config
and answer yes, you'll be careful. Search for the keyword.url string, and set it to
https://ssl.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbw.cgi?Gw=
Google Location Services offer location-aware browsing from version 3.5 of Firefox/IceCat. Google sends your ip address, information about your nearest wifi access point and an identifier cookie to location-aware websites. To disable this, again enter
about:config
in the address bar, search for the geo.enabled string and double-click it to set the value to "false". Then search for the geo.wifi.uri string, and set it to
localhost
This setup guide is in part borrowed from the excellent gNewSense wiki: http://wiki.gnewsense.org/Documentation/IceCat
Building it
For a good howto on setting up an rpm build tree, see: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageMaintainers/CreatingPackageHowTo
From version 3.6.8, the original source file for IceCat was altered to include different search engines. The original sources are always available at: http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuzilla/
A source rpm including the files you need to build IceCat for BLAG are available at: https://we.riseup.net/blag/gnuzilla-icecat-building-kit+62444 (requires a riseup account, which is free and easy to make)
Before building, check that you have the following software installed:
desktop-file-utils xulrunner-devel system-bookmarks ImageMagick wireless-tools-devel
Desktop-file-utils is included in the standard rpm development tools, while system-bookmarks are provided by the fedora-bookmarks package (which in time will be blag-bookmarks). ImageMagick is needed for the generation of icons. Wireless-tools-devel provide necko-wifi (which seems to just be a dependency for geolocation. We need to test building with this option disabled).
First, unpack the icecat-3.6.9-1blag.fc12.src.rpm file. The icecat-3.6.9.tar.xz file, icecat.png icon and the icecat-3.6.9.desktop file (shown as "Icecat") all go into the SOURCES directory of your build tree, while the icecat.spec file goes into the SPECS directory. Version numbering, dependencies and requirements for building are all defined by the spec file. Change the spec file and rename the icecat-3.6.8.desktop file accordingly. From the SPECS directory run:
rpmbuild -ba icecat.spec
as normal user. Then, enjoy your favourite beverage while everything (hopefully) builds.
Resources
The latest BLAG packages: ftp://blag.fsf.org/Icecat/
BLAG IceCat sources: https://we.riseup.net/blag/gnuzilla-icecat-building-kit+62444
The GNUzilla project (for original source files, language packages and a privacy addon): http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/
The mother of all IceCat configuration docs: http://wiki.gnewsense.org/Documentation/IceCat
BLAG bookmarks: https://we.riseup.net/kelsoo/blag-bookmarks+61607
Kokos blog: http://kokolekoala.toile-libre.org
Cyrille's blog: http://cbiot.fr/
How install the CyrilleBlagRepo
veganix' blog: http://veganix.wordpress.com/
