FreeBSD does not come with a pre-installed web browser. Instead, the www category of the Ports Collection contains many browsers which can be installed as a package or compiled from the Ports Collection.
The KDE and GNOME desktop environments include their own HTML browser. Refer to Section 6.8, “Desktop Environments” for more information on how to set up these complete desktops.
Some light-weight browsers include www/dillo2, www/links, and www/w3m.
This section demonstrates how to install the following popular web browsers and indicates if the application is resource-heavy, takes time to compile from ports, or has any major dependencies.
| Application Name | Resources Needed | Installation from Ports | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | medium | heavy | FreeBSD, Linux®, and localized versions are available |
| Opera | light | light | FreeBSD and Linux® versions are available |
| Konqueror | medium | heavy | Requires KDE libraries |
| Chromium | medium | heavy | Requires Gtk+ |
Firefox is an open source browser that is fully ported to FreeBSD. It features a standards-compliant HTML display engine, tabbed browsing, popup blocking, extensions, improved security, and more. Firefox is based on the Mozilla codebase.
To install the package of the latest release version of Firefox, type:
#pkg install firefox
To instead install Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) version, use:
#pkg install firefox-esr
Localized versions are available in www/firefox-i18n and www/firefox-esr-i18n.
The Ports Collection can instead be used to compile the
desired version of Firefox from
source code. This example builds
www/firefox, where
firefox can be replaced with the ESR or
localized version to install.
#cd /usr/ports/www/firefox#make install clean
The installation of Firefox does not include Java™ support. However, java/icedtea-web provides a free software web browser plugin for running Java applets. It can be installed as a package. To alternately compile the port:
#cd /usr/ports/java/icedtea-web#make install clean
Keep the default configuration options when compiling the port.
Once installed, start firefox,
enter about:plugins in the location bar and
press Enter. A page listing the installed
plugins will be displayed. The
Java™ plugin should be
listed.
If the browser is unable to find the plugin, each user will have to run the following command and relaunch the browser:
%ln -s /usr/local/lib/IcedTeaPlugin.so \ $HOME/.mozilla/plugins/
A native Adobe® Flash® plugin is not available for FreeBSD. However, a software wrapper for running the Linux® version of the plugin is available. This wrapper also provides support for other browser plugins such as RealPlayer®.
To install and enable this plugin, perform these steps:
Install www/nspluginwrapper from the port. Due to licensing restrictions, a package is not available. This port requires emulators/linux_base-c6.
Install www/linux-c6-flashplugin11 from the port. Due to licensing restrictions, a package is not available.
Before the plugin is first used, each user must run:
%nspluginwrapper -v -a -i
When the plugin port has been updated and reinstalled, each user must run:
%nspluginwrapper -v -a -u
Start the browser, enter
about:plugins in the location bar and
press Enter. A list of all the currently
available plugins will be shown.
Swfdec is a decoder and renderer for Flash® animations. Swfdec-Mozilla is a plugin for Firefox browsers that uses the Swfdec library for playing SWF files.
To install the package:
#pkg install swfdec-plugin
If the package is not available, compile and install it from the Ports Collection:
#cd /usr/ports/www/swfdec-plugin#make install clean
Restart the browser to activate this plugin.
Opera is a full-featured and standards-compliant browser which is still lightweight and fast. It comes with a built-in mail and news reader, an IRC client, an RSS/Atom feeds reader, and more. It is available as a native FreeBSD version and as a version that runs under Linux® emulation.
This command installs the package of the FreeBSD version of
Opera. Replace
opera with linux-opera
to instead install the Linux® version.
#pkg install opera
Alternately, install either version through the Ports Collection. This example compiles the native version:
#cd /usr/ports/www/opera#make install clean
To install the Linux® version, substitute
linux-opera in place of
opera.
To install Adobe® Flash® plugin support, first compile the www/linux-c6-flashplugin11 port. Licensing restrictions prevent making a package available. Then install www/opera-linuxplugins. This example compiles both applications from ports:
#cd /usr/ports/www/linux-c6-flashplugin11#make install clean#cd /usr/ports/www/opera-linuxplugins#make install clean
Once installed, check the presence of the plugin by
starting the browser, entering
opera:plugins in the location bar and
pressing Enter. A list should appear with
all the currently available plugins.
To add the Java™ plugin, follow the instructions in Section 7.2.1.1, “Firefox and Java™ Plugin”.
Konqueror is more than a web browser as it is also a file manager and a multimedia viewer. It is included in the x11/kde4-baseapps package or port.
Konqueror supports WebKit as well as its own KHTML. WebKit is a rendering engine used by many modern browsers including Chromium. To use WebKit with Konqueror on FreeBSD, install the www/kwebkitpart package or port. This example compiles the port:
#cd /usr/ports/www/kwebkitpart#make install clean
To enable WebKit within Konqueror, click “Settings”, “Configure Konqueror”. In the “General” settings page, click the drop-down menu next to “Default web browser engine” and change “KHTML” to “WebKit”.
Konqueror also supports
Flash®. A “How To”
guide for getting Flash® support
on Konqueror is available at http://freebsd.kde.org/howtos/konqueror-flash.php.
Chromium is an open source browser project that aims to build a safer, faster, and more stable web browsing experience. Chromium features tabbed browsing, popup blocking, extensions, and much more. Chromium is the open source project upon which the Google Chrome web browser is based.
Chromium can be installed as a package by typing:
#pkg install chromium
Alternatively, Chromium can be compiled from source using the Ports Collection:
#cd /usr/ports/www/chromium#make install clean
The executable for Chromium
is /usr/local/bin/chrome, not
/usr/local/bin/chromium.
The installation of Chromium does not include Java™ support. To install Java™ plugin support, follow the instructions in Section 7.2.1.1, “Firefox and Java™ Plugin”.
Once Java™ support is installed, start
Chromium and enter
about:plugins in the address bar.
IcedTea-Web should be listed as one of the installed
plugins.
If Chromium does not display the IcedTea-Web plugin, run the following commands and restart the web browser:
#mkdir -p /usr/local/share/chromium/plugins#ln -s /usr/local/lib/IcedTeaPlugin.so \ /usr/local/share/chromium/plugins/
Configuring Chromium and Adobe® Flash® is similar to the instructions in Section 7.2.1.2, “Firefox and Adobe® Flash® Plugin”. No additional configuration should be necessary, since Chromium is able to use some plugins from other browsers.
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Questions that are not answered by the
documentation may be
sent to <[email protected]>.
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