To install a generic prebuild binaries tarball package just unpack it in a folder (which is usually already defined decompressing the file itself) and copy or move it (also renaming it if necessary) in a suitable position, usually into your /home directory or in the /opt system directory. Might also be necessary to change the permissions of the directory and/or the contained files (see the instructions which usually come with the package).
I suggest this way to install the GNU IceCat prebuild binaries tarball packages provided by this website:
prepare the system
-
update your system (this is not strictly necessary, but it is better before removing or installing software):
$ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get upgrade
-
if you are updating a previous version already installed in /opt/icecat, then it is better to rename this folder before to install the new package:
$ sudo mv /opt/icecat /opt/icecat-old
so that you might eventually delete it later (be very careful using the rm command!):
$ sudo rm -R /opt/icecat-old
download and install
(notice: below you should substitute x.y.z with the actual version number of the tarball package to install)
- download the wanted GNU IceCat x.y.z tarball package from the GNU IceCat downloads page of this site
-
rename the downloaded package to fix the file extension (this is need as, due to bugs in WP, the file extensions of the tarballs have been changed from ‘.tar.gz’ to ‘tar_.gz’):
$ mv icecat-x.y.z.tar_.gz icecat-x.y.z.tar.gz
-
unpack it (you will have a icecat-x.y.z folder):
$ tar -jxvf icecat-x.y.z.tar.gz
-
move the icecat-x.y.z folder to the /opt system directory, renaming it at the same time to icecat:
$ sudo mv icecat-x.y.z /opt/icecat
-
now you can finally run IceCat:
$ /opt/icecat/icecat
Enjoy!
