UXP Browser Bundle Release: 240414
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1. This directory tree contains source code and a Bash build script
(buildme.sh) for work-alikes to the following 9, count 'em, 9 XUL-com-
patible programs:
* AlbusLuna - Revived Classic Firefox
* Ambassador - Revived Chatzilla
* Blue Gorilla - Revived SeaMonkey
* Basilisk - A newer-style UXP-based browser
* Borealis - A Netscape-like but improved browser
* Netscape - Similar to 1990s Netscape
* Epyrus - A Classic Thunderbird fork (*)
* Icedove - Revived Icedove aka Classic Thunderbird
* Interlink - Another Thunderbird fork
(*) Epyrus is recommended over the other two Thunderbird forks as it
is the most maintained. Interlink is probably abandoned but still wor-
ked as of Spring 2024. Icedove is either slightly maintained or aban-
doned.
These 9 programs can be built for either 64-bit Linux or 32-bit Linux.
To build for 32-bit Linux, boot a 64-bit kernel on a 32-bit distro and
proceed from there. This is just so that you can access enough RAM for
the build. The programs produced should work using a 32-bit kernel on
the same 32-bit distro.
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2. Additional notes.
2.1. These 9 programs are built on top of the UXP platform. The bundle
source tree includes at least one version of the UXP source tree and
may include multiple versions.
2.2. The "Netscape" browser is simply the browser component of Blue
Gorilla with modified branding. However, it should resemble the origi-
nal Netscape.
2.3. Borealis is somewhat similar to the original Netscape but is
more polished.
2.4. Borealis doesn't presently include the "devtools" feature. Inter-
link doesn't presently include the "calendar" extension.
2.5. Different UXP programs can run concurrently except for the Thun-
derbird forks. Presently, if the user tries to run two Thunderbird
forks at the same time, only one will pop up. This is intentional. It
permits different Thunderbird forks to share a single email profile
without data corruption.
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3. Changes.
Significant changes on 2024-04-14:
* Add Basilisk web browser (*)
* Update AlbusLuna to latest upstream git (*)
* Update Epyrus to latest upstream git
* Update Icedove to latest upstream git
* Make required changes related to "hunspell"
* Make required changes related to a removed XPT file
(*) Including update of associated copy of UXP.
Significant changes on 2023-04-20:
* Bug fix: Allow different UXP programs to run concurrently
* But block concurrent runs of Thunderbird forks
* Replace some pre-installed bookmarks
Significant changes on 2023-04-09:
* Update AlbusLuna to latest upstream git
* Update UXP to latest upstream git
* Patch old programs to work with that UXP
* Patch old programs to work with newer "gcc's"
* Fix operation of the SKIP_DBUS build setting
* SKIP_DBUS now defaults to "true"
* Add Epyrus - another Thunderbird
* Drop Iceweasel
Significant changes on 2022-08-14:
* Update Albus Luna to upstream Pale Moon 31.2.0.1 release
* Update UXP platform to upstream 2022-08-02 release
* Support choice of ALSA vs. PulseAudio at build time
* Pre-install uBlock Origin extension
Significant changes on 2022-02-06:
* Add Interlink [another Thunderbird] and Borealis [Navigator]
* Update Albus Luna to upstream Pale Moon 29.4.4 release
* Update UXP platform to upstream 2021-08-17 release
* Break most links to upstream sites [intentionally]
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4. To build this bundle, you'll need about 10.5GB or more free disk
space in the filesystem associated with "/var/tmp".
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5. The source tarball for this package was created using a shell scri-
pt with the following name:
make-browser-bundle.sh
The script is part of Laclin. It may be reviewed and used in Laclin
but will not work in other distros.
The script is *not* needed to build the browser bundle. The browser
bundle should build under numerous distros.
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6. License notes.
It's believed to be entirely legal and appropriate to host and distri-
bute source code for each of these programs and to build binaries
using them.
If you decide to distribute binaries, for some of the programs, rules
related to "official" branding may be a political issue and should be
taken into account.
To address this issue, future releases of the UXP Browser Bundle may
remove such "official" branding as remains.
Developers and hosts should contest DMCA or similar actions related to
Interlink and/or Borealis in particular. Related historical documenta-
tion may be added here in due course.
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7. Programs listed in a functional perspective.
The programs built include the following work-alikes:
Classic Firefox - Albus Luna. This browser is similar to
pre-Australis Firefox.
Netscape - This browser is based on the browser
part of Blue Gorilla.
Also: Borealis.
Seamonkey - Blue Gorilla. This suite is similar to
Iceape and the original Seamonkey.
Thunderbird - Icedove-UXP. This mail program is simi-
lar to Icedove and the original Thunder-
bird.
Also: Epyrus and Interlink.
Chatzilla - Ambassador. This chat program is similar
to the original Chatzilla.
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8. Credits.
Credits related to each program will be added to this document and/or
to the programs. In some cases, the credits are already present at the
program level.
To start, Icedove-UXP is from the Hyperbola Project. Blue Gorilla is
a fork by another developer of Iceape-UXP from the same project.
The UXP codebase that underlies all of the programs was created by a
small group named Moonchild Productions.
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9. "git" histories.
For reasons related to disk space and download time, the "uxp-brow-
sers" directory tree isn't presently available with "git" histor-
ies.
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10. Minuses.
There are some pluses and minuses to these programs. The minuses in-
clude:
* Built-in links for various things go to websites that don't exist
yet or that are outdated or no longer applicable.
* The programs come with preinstalled extensions that can't be removed
using the extensions GUI. If you don't want them, you'll need to de-
lete them from the program tree manually.
* Classic XUL extensions are supported, but you'll need to manually
patch stanzas in the associated "install.rdf" files. For more informa-
tion, see Appendix A.
* A few of the Albus Luna branding images are just text on white rec-
tangles. The images in question need work.
* The web browsers don't work with 100% of all websites. They do work
with a fair number.
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11. Pluses.
The pluses to these packages include:
* XUL extensions. For example, ScrapBook X, the real thing, works with
the web browsers (and is preinstalled in some cases).
* The Thunderbird aka Icedove that's included is the only realistic
Linux FOSS alternative to Rust Thunderbird that we're aware of.
In theory, Epyrus and Interlink are also options. However, Interlink
was apparently abandoned at an early stage and Epyrus is too new to
be considered stable.
Pre-Quantum actual Thunderbird, ESR releases, is approaching the point
where it can't be built. Quantum Thunderbird requires Rust. The UXP
Thunderbird forks are a decent alternative. As of 2023, i f they're
compared to Quantum Thunderbird, they're missing primarily Oauth2.
Note: K-9 Mail is a pretty good email option, except for the regret-
table new logo, but it seems to be just for mobile.
* You can modify and redistribute Albus Luna.
Albus Luna is very similar to the UXP group's flagship browser but the
official branding has been replaced. Note: Notify the Albus Luna pack-
ager of any remaining pieces of the old branding that need to be re-
moved.
The license rules that apply to the flagship browser prohibit distrib-
ution of modified copies. However, Albus Luna is fine with it. Have
fun. We'd appreciate it if you'd rename modified releases or perhaps
add qualifiers such as "Avocado Edition".
Note: The rules that apply to the rest of the programs are under re-
view.
* Some of these programs support ALSA. If we understand correctly,
the latest iterations of the Mozilla programs have dropped support for
this subsystem.
* There's a single simple-to-run "build" script that builds everything
and puts it all in one directory tree.
* We think that the directory tree is portable though this needs to be
confirmed.
By "portable", we mean that it might be possible to move the directory
tree around.
It isn't completely portable in the Windows Portable Apps sense where
user profiles are stored in the same tree. However, it might be possi-
ble to add that feature.
* The Netscape provided isn't truly Netscape but it might be a rea-
sonable facsimile.
It's fun to see a browser similar to what we used over 20 years ago
back in action. It's not really able to compete with Chrome, but it
does run ScrapBook X. Web ScrapBook, for Chrome, isn't the same
thing.
If you know how to make theme sideloads work in this program or are
able to contribute other types of theme tweaks, feel free to submit
changes to make this Netscape closer to the original.
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12. It should be possible to build this package in most modern Linux
distros. Before you proceed, though, you'll need to install dependen-
cies.
We haven't assembled a full list of dependencies yet, but if you in-
stall what Chromium, LibreOffice, and Thunderbird would need (omitting
Rust), you should be in good shape.
Partial list:
gcc and g++ 9 or 10 - gcc's newer than 10 aren't tested
gtk2 or gtk3 - Which to use can be selected
pulseaudio or alsa - Or you can disable sound support
"auto"-tools
autoconf-2.13
brotli
freetype2 and fontconfig
python2 and python3
cairo and pixman
pkg-config
perl5
yasm
Install development versions of dependencies where a difference ex-
ists; i.e., versions that include header files and libraries.
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13. Builds.
Builds are fairly simple compared to Mozilla builds of the past [espe-
cially taking into account the number of programs that are built].
After you install dependencies, unpack the source tarball. Review the
comments at the top of the following file:
buildme.sh
Set environment variables as indicated in the comments to configure
the build as you prefer.
Execute the following command in the top-level source directory:
bash -e ./buildme.sh
On a high end box with SSD instead of HD, 32 GB of RAM, and 6x2 CPU
or better, we've observed build times of about 0.50 to 0.75 hours per
program. For 10 programs, that works out to about 5.0 to 7.5 hours for
the set.
On less powerful boxes, builds have taken perhaps twice as long.
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14. As a positive note, system "nss" and "nspr" don't seem to be re-
quired. However, we found that we needed to patch an ".m4" file to
make builds without system "nspr" work. The patch is still under re-
view and isn't guaranteed to be correct.
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15. More about build configuration.
The programs can be built in different ways. For example:
(a) In a "lite" mode that uses Gtk2 and skips features such as
"dbus" and sound
(b) In a regular mode that uses Gtk3 and supports the extra fea-
tures
(c) Or in-between
The different modes can be selected using environment variables as
follows:
export SKIP_DBUS=false # Use "dbus" - Default is to skip it
export SKIP_LDAP=true # Skip "ldap" - Default is to use it
export SKIP_SOUND=true # Skip "sound" - Default is to use it
export USE_GTK2=true # Use Gtk2 - Default is to use Gtk3
# ...
bash -e ./buildme.sh
For details, see the commands at the top of "buildme.sh".
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16. By default, the build script installs these programs to the fol-
lowing directories:
$HOME/browsers/albusluna
$HOME/browsers/ambassador
$HOME/browsers/bluegorilla
$HOME/browsers/borealis
$HOME/browsers/epyrus
$HOME/browsers/icedove
$HOME/browsers/interlink
$HOME/browsers/netscape
The common directory, i.e., "$HOME/browsers", can be changed using an
environment variable as follows:
export PREFIX=/opt/browsers
# ...
bash -e ./buildme.sh
If necessary, the specified common directory will be created. Warning:
Existing browser subdirectories will be deleted and then recreated.
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17. Each of the programs has a separate "bin" directory located in the
program's own directory tree.
For your convenience, an extra "bin" directory is created in the com-
mon directory which contains symlinks to each of the programs. For ex-
ample, the following configuration results in a "bin" directory with
the full path "/opt/browsers/bin":
export PREFIX=/opt/browsers
# ...
bash -e ./buildme.me
In this example, add "/opt/browsers/bin" to PATH and you're good to
go.
If you don't want the extra "bin" directory, you can use an environ-
ment variable named "ADDBINDIR" as follows to disable it:
export PREFIX=/opt/browsers
export ADDBINDIR=false
# ...
bash -e ./buildme.me
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18. To specify the number of parallel jobs to run during a build, do
something like this:
export NUMJOBS=8
# ...
bash -e ./buildme.me
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Appendix A. Sample "install.rdf" stanzas.
To use classic XUL extensions with these programs, you'll need to pat-
ch the associated "install.rdf" files to use the appropriate stanzas
from this list.
{9184b6fe-4a5c-484d-8b4b-efbfccbfb514}
0
99
{8de7fcbb-c55c-4fbe-bfc5-fc555c87dbc4}
0
99
{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}
0
99
{92650c4d-4b8e-4d2a-b7eb-24ecf4f6b63a}
0
99
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End of file.