LibreWolf

Resources

LibreWolf is a fork of Firefox which focuses on privacy and security. LibreWolf aims to be a private, secure, and freedom-expanding alternative browser. All telemetry, data collection, and annoyances of Firefox are removed.^[1]

Installation

Prerequisites

Overlay

LibreWolf is not packaged in the main Gentoo repository, but an official overlay is available.

eselect

Using eselect repository, run this command to add the overlay:

root #eselect repository add librewolf git https://codeberg.org/librewolf/gentoo.git

And then synchronize the repository:

root #emaint -r librewolf sync

Manual

Create a new repository file in /etc/portage/repos.conf:

FILE /etc/portage/repos.conf/librewolf.conf

[librewolf]
priority = 50
location = /var/db/repos/librewolf
sync-type = git
sync-uri = https://codeberg.org/librewolf/gentoo.git
auto-sync = Yes

And then synchronize the repository:

root #emaint -r librewolf sync

USE flags

The Gentoo www-client/firefox USE flags are listed below, but still apply to www-client/librewolf:

USE flags for www-client/firefox Firefox Web Browser

`X`	Add support for X11
`clang`	Use Clang compiler instead of GCC
`dbus`	Enable dbus support for anything that needs it (gpsd, gnomemeeting, etc)
`debug`	Enable extra debug codepaths, like asserts and extra output. If you want to get meaningful backtraces see https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Quality_Assurance/Backtraces
`eme-free`	Disable EME (DRM plugin) capability at build time
`geckodriver`	Enable WebDriver support
`gmp-autoupdate`	Allow Gecko Media Plugins (binary blobs) to be automatically downloaded and kept up-to-date in user profiles
`hardened`	Activate default security enhancements for toolchain (gcc, glibc, binutils)
`hwaccel`	Force-enable hardware-accelerated rendering (Mozilla bug 594876)
`jack`	Add support for the JACK Audio Connection Kit
`jumbo-build`	Enable unified build - combines source files to speed up build process, but requires more memory
`libproxy`	Enable libproxy support
`lto`	Enable Link-Time Optimization (LTO) to optimize the build
`openh264`	Use media-libs/openh264 for H264 support instead of downloading binary blob from Mozilla at runtime
`pgo`	Add support for profile-guided optimization for faster binaries - this option will double the compile time
`pulseaudio`	Add sound server support via media-libs/libpulse (may be PulseAudio or Pipewire, or apulse if installed)
`screencast`	Enable support for remote desktop and screen cast using PipeWire
`selinux`	!!internal use only!! Security Enhanced Linux support, this must be set by the selinux profile or breakage will occur
`sndio`	Enable support for the media-sound/sndio backend
`system-av1`	Use the system-wide media-libs/dav1d and media-libs/libaom library instead of bundled
`system-harfbuzz`	Use the system-wide media-libs/harfbuzz and media-gfx/graphite2 instead of bundled
`system-icu`	Use the system-wide dev-libs/icu instead of bundled
`system-jpeg`	Use the system-wide media-libs/libjpeg-turbo instead of bundled
`system-libevent`	Use the system-wide dev-libs/libevent instead of bundled
`system-libvpx`	Use the system-wide media-libs/libvpx instead of bundled
`system-png`	Use the system-wide media-libs/libpng instead of bundled (requires APNG patches)
`system-python-libs`	Use system's python site instead of bundled python libraries
`system-webp`	Use the system-wide media-libs/libwebp instead of bundled
`telemetry`	Send anonymized usage information to upstream so they can better understand our users
`valgrind`	Enable annotations for accuracy. May slow down runtime slightly. Safe to use even if not currently using dev-debug/valgrind
`wayland`	Enable dev-libs/wayland backend
`wifi`	Enable necko-wifi for NetworkManager integration, and access point MAC address scanning for better precision with opt-in geolocation services

Data provided by the Gentoo Package Database · Last update: 2024-04-22 18:39 More information about USE flags

Emerge

Important
For localization support, review Localization before emerging. Changing the localization requires a full recompilation of the package, so it's important to get it right the first time.

Assuming the overlay is properly installed, use emerge to install www-client/librewolf:

root #emerge --ask www-client/librewolf

Flatpak

LibreWolf is also available on Flathub. If you prefer to install LibreWolf as a Flatpak, follow the install instructions from the Flatpak wiki article including adding the Flathub repository. Then run this command:

user $flatpak install --user io.gitlab.librewolf-community

Configuration

Since LibreWolf is based on Firefox, most of the configuration options in Firefox#Configuration apply.

Files

$HOME/.librewolf - Main configuration directory.

Running under Wayland

Recent versions of LibreWolf run on Wayland by default if the wayland USE flag is set. To verify this, see the Window Support field under about:support.

In the case that this doesn't work, see Firefox#Running_under_Wayland for forcing Wayland support.

Localization

www-client/librewolf respects the L10N variable. See the L10N in the localization guide.

Security

LibreWolf is hardened by default and includes uBlock Origin^[2]. See the LibreWolf Documentation for a recommended list of add-ons and which ones to avoid.

Troubleshooting

See the official LibreWolf FAQ for LibreWolf-specific issues.

The LibreWolf Gentoo overlay is based off of the official Firefox overlay^[3], and will inherit any issues that also affect www-firefox. Check out Firefox#Troubleshooting for details.

External resources

LibreWolf Website - The LibreWolf main site.
LibreWolf FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about LibreWolf.
LibreWolf Gentoo installation - The LibreWolf installation for Gentoo Linux.
LibreWolf Gentoo overlay - The official LibreWolf overlay for Gentoo Linux.

References

[1] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20220105084629/https://librewolf.net/#what-is-librewolf

[2] ttps://librewolf.net/#main-features

[3] ttps://codeberg.org/librewolf/gentoo#packaging-workflow

[1]

[2]

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