GNU IceCat vs Abrowser

17 replies [Last post]
awauk

I am a member!

Offline
Joined: 07/09/2015

I just downloaded Trisquel and noticed the default browser was Abrowser and not IceCat. Why? Where did IceCat go?

oysterboy

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 02/01/2011

IceCat is available from the repos. It is indeed not the default browser. I don't know why that is. Could be because Abrowser tracks the most recent Firefox build, whereas IceCat tracks the ESR release.

GNUser
Offline
Joined: 07/17/2013

Actually following ESR would be a good thing... less work and more time, less new features more security. Tor Browser uses ESR and works like a charm :)

I would love to have Icecat in Debian's repos, would like to try it out :) just for the fun of it at least!

danieru
Offline
Joined: 01/06/2013

I would love to have Icecat in Debian's repos, would like to try it out :)

No need for repos, just download the generic linux binary and execute icecat.
http://mirror.cedia.org.ec/gnu/gnuzilla/31.7.0/

GNUser
Offline
Joined: 07/17/2013

Thanks!
Though usually I prefer to install from repos...

deavmi
Offline
Joined: 02/19/2015

Does Abrowser/GNU IceCat come with FireFox Hello, because i dislike that a lot.

danieru
Offline
Joined: 01/06/2013

I think Abrowser does, (don't know, still using Abrowser 33 here). But IceCat won't because Firefox Hello isn't included in Firefox ESR (the base of GNU IceCat). But could change in the future.

HurdTimes
Offline
Joined: 06/21/2015

You can disable it though by changing "loop.enabled" to false in about:config.

cooloutac
Offline
Joined: 06/27/2015

this is the default setting on mine.

deavmi
Offline
Joined: 02/19/2015

I guess I will be usin GnU IceCat. :)

awauk

I am a member!

Offline
Joined: 07/09/2015

Thank you for the replies. Curious though that IceCat is official GNU software but not distributed on the Trisquel package manager when Trisquel is backed by GNU. I will just have to install via binary or repo.

moxalt
Offline
Joined: 06/19/2015

What do you mean 'not distributed on the package manager'? Nothing is
distributed 'on' the package manager. The package manager is APT. The APT
system downloads packages, installs packages, updates packages, and resolves
dependencies. The packages it works with are already binary packages parceled
up in the .deb format. It gets the packages from an online repository, or repo-
in our case the Trisquel repo. This is the server where all the packages are
stored for downloading (such as archive.trisquel.info, or any of its numerous
mirrors).

Simply issuing the apt-get install icecat command will retrieve and set up
IceCat for you.

oysterboy

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 02/01/2011

What do you mean by 'not distributed on the Trisquel package manager'? IceCat can be installed using the package manager. When we say repo, we mean the default Trisquel repo.

strypey
Offline
Joined: 05/14/2015

I just installed Trisquel 7 on my Acer Aspire One, and I'm having a few issues. I installed IceCat using 'apt-get install'. It seemed to install fine, but seems to crash an awful lot, possibly something to do with LibreJS, which is a useful tool, but at this point in the 'Free Your JS' campaign, still tends to make most websites unusable. ABrowser is working better, but still seems to have a few weird issues. One website I opened made the ABrowser flicker and jerk.

I remember from another thread on this forum that the ABrowser project is in the process of being retired, or merged with IctCat. Is this still the case?

awauk

I am a member!

Offline
Joined: 07/09/2015

Oh, nevermind. I was able to click the link on the front page of Abrowser to install icecat. Why have Abrowser at all? The Trisquel website pronounces that IceCat is installed by default, but it isn't. Can someone shed some light on this?

Magic Banana

I am a member!

I am a translator!

Offline
Joined: 07/24/2010

The Trisquel website pronounces that IceCat is installed by default, but it isn't.

Where did you read that?

awauk

I am a member!

Offline
Joined: 07/09/2015

https://trisquel.info/en/wiki/belenos

I have changed the link for IceCat being default to Abrowser.