GNU IceCat


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Introduction

Contents

Image:icecat.png

GNU IceCat is the GNU version of the Firefox browser. Its main advantage is an ethical one: it is entirely free software. While the source code from the Mozilla project is free software, the binaries that they release include additional non-free software. Also, they distribute and recommend non-free software as plug-ins. In addition, GNU IceCat includes some privacy protection features:

  • Some sites refer to zero-size images on other hosts to keep track of cookies. When IceCat detects this mechanism it blocks cookies from the site hosting the zero-length image file. (It is possible to re-enable such a site by removing it from the blocked hosts list.)
  • Other sites rewrite the host name in links redirecting the user to another site, mainly to "spy" on clicks. When this behavior is detected, IceCat shows a message alerting the user.

Download

Current version of IceCat is 2.0.0.12-g1 and can be found on gnuzilla mirror. To download this software you can also use wget, please replace IceCat's version in following command: 

cd /tmp
wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuzilla/2.0.0.12-g1/icecat-2.0.0.12-g1-i386.tar.lzma

This will fetch the IceCat software and story it into /tmp directory.

Image:download_icecat.gif

Installation

First we need to uncompress this package. lzma is compression method of 7z format in 7-Zip program. Make sure that you have lzma package installed. On Debian or Ubuntu you can install it as roor ( superuser ) with following command: 

apt-get install lzma

Once you have lzma package installed, decompress lzma file with following command lzma and tar: 

lzma -dcf icecat-2.0.0.12-g1-i386.tar.lzma | tar -x

decompress lzma tar file At this point you have decompressed lzma IceCat file and not you need to move IceCat file to your preffered localtion. The best option would be /opt directory. You need root password to this operation: 

su
mv icecat-2.0.0.12-g1-i386 /opt/icecat

Image:move_icecat.gif

Plugins

Gnash Flash Player

In order to view flash with IceCat web browser we need to install gnash plugin. GNASH is a free software version of flash player. You can install gnash from source code or from standard distribution repository. Repository is much cleaner solution: 

apt-get install gnash

Once the gnash plugin is installed make a symlink ( symbolic link ) with ln command. 

ln -s /usr/lib/gnash/libgnashplugin.so /opt/icecat/plugins

Using IceCat Web Browser

Installation is now complete and you can start IceCat from your shell with command: 

/opt/icecat/icecat &

External Links

Retrieved from "http://www.linuxconfig.org/GNU_IceCat"
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