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GNU IceCat

GNU IceCat is the GNU version of the Firefox browser.

⚠ Outdated official binary release

Since 2019, IceCat is maintained only as source code. The last IceCat binary release was version 60.7.0, and is no longer supported. Guix and Parabola have up-to-date IceCat binaries. Please ask your distro to package IceCat.

GNU IceCat (originally GNU IceWeasel) is part of GNUzilla (the GNU version of the Mozilla Application Suite). GNU IceCat is based on the the current Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR), with removal of trademarked name, trademarked artwork, and proprietary components, and enhanced privacy settings.

However, IceCat is not a straight fork of Firefox ESR; instead, it is a parallel effort that works closely with and re-bases in synchronization on the latest Firefox ESR as the upstream supplier, with patches merged upstream whenever possible; although it should be noted that additional security updates are customized to IceCat occasionally.

Differences between IceCat and Firefox ESR

Important differences between Mozilla's Firefox and GNU IceCat is that IceCat has a focus on freedom and privacy (see settings.js for details).

• Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) is not implemented: Whereas Firefox are being created such that they support Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) systems through their implementation of the Encrypted Media Extension (EME), GNU IceCat doesn't include an EME implementation as it opposes efforts to popularize and ease the dissemination of DRM technology.
  • Widevine Content Decryption Module provided by Google Inc. is not installed in about:addons > Plugins
  • The Play DRM-controlled content option (used to download and enable Widevine Content Decryption Module provided by Google Inc.) has been removed from about:preferences > Content
• "Accept third-party cookies: Never"
• WebRTC is enabled like in Firefox but prevent leaking the LAN ip. (Test WebRTC)
• The proprietary web chat IRC client Mibbit has been removed.
• Telemetry is disabled.
• DuckDuckGo is the default search engine, which means that you can run "!Bangs" keywords in the location bar to use any search engine.

Philosophy

"We will always make IceCat block non-free JavaScript by default. If you want to permit nonfree software to run, you can easily disable LibreJS." - Richard Stallman

Customized add-ons

• SpyBlock (Adblock Plus fork) to block privacy trackers.

History

GNU IceCat was formerly known as GNU IceWeasel but changed its name in 2008 to avoid confusion with Debian IceWeasel (who was rebranded back to Firefox in 2017 after Debian was being granted special permission from Mozilla ref).

The GNU IceCat developers dropped support for IceCatMobile on Replicant after version 38.6.0 because these builds are already provided by F-Droid. See Collection:Replicant for more information about IceCatMobile in the F-Droid repository.

GNU IceCat developers dropped support for macOS, and Windows, after version 38.8.0 in 2016: "Note that building binary packages for Windows and macOS currently requires non-free software, so we no longer distribute binary releases for those platforms."

See also

• IceCat WebExtensions (proposed)
  • 3rd-party data for IceCat add-ons
• IceCat plugins
• Search Engines

Documentation

Why not recommend Firefox? As explained in our Free Software Definition, all four freedoms must be available on both a commercial and non-commercial basis. Mozilla's trademark policy serves to limit Freedom 2 to gratis distribution only, making the software nonfree.

IRC general channel

irc://irc.libera.chat/#icecat

Download

OpenPGP signature URL: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuzilla/60.7.0/icecat-60.7.0-gnu1.tar.bz2.sig

User level

Beginner

Donate link

https://my.fsf.org/donate/

Accepts cryptocurrency donations.

Paid support

https://www.fsf.org/resources/service/

VCS Checkout

git clone git://git.savannah.gnu.org/gnuzilla.git

Categories

• Html-editor:text-based
• Interface:x-window-system
• Internet-application:privacy
• Internet-application:security
• Internet-application:web-browser
• Programming-language:C
• Programming-language:C++
• Programming-language:javascript
• Programming-language:rust
• Runs-on:GNU/Linux
• Runs-on:Windows
• Runs-on:OS X
• Runs-on:Android
• Runs-on:BSD
• UI Toolkit:xul
• Use:internet-application
• Works-with:html
• Works-with:images
• Works-with-format:mp3
• Works-with-format:ogg-vorbis
• Works-with-format:FLAC
• Works-with-format:ogg-theora
• Works-with-format:opus
• Works-with-format:webm
• Works-with-format:pdf
• Works-with-format:rdf

Related Projects

• Gnustandards
• Librejs
• Tor Browser

Licensing

License

Verified by

Verified on

Notes

License

LGPL

Verified by

David Hedlund

Verified on

12 July 2015

Notes

"Because we hope and want our privacy enhancements to be picked up by Mozilla itself, we are keeping the same tri-licensing scheme for Gnuzilla/IceCat as GNU uses: MPL/GPL/LGPL." - README.IceCat

License

MPLv2.0

Verified by

David Hedlund

Verified on

5 October 2016

Notes

"Binaries of this product have been made available to you by the GNU Project under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL)." - Help -> About IceCat

License

MPL

Verified by

David Hedlund

Verified on

15 August 2015

Notes

"Because we hope and want our privacy enhancements to be picked up by Mozilla itself, we are keeping the same tri-licensing scheme for Gnuzilla/IceCat as GNU uses: MPL/GPL/LGPL." - README.IceCat

License

GPL

Verified by

David Hedlund

Verified on

12 July 2015

Notes

"Because we hope and want our privacy enhancements to be picked up by Mozilla itself, we are keeping the same tri-licensing scheme for Gnuzilla/IceCat as GNU uses: MPL/GPL/LGPL." - README.IceCat

Leaders and contributors

Contact(s)	Role
Rubén Rodríguez (Quidam)	Maintainer

Resources and communication

Audience	Resource type	URI
	Download	https://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/gnuzilla/
	General	https://savannah.gnu.org/people/
	Download	https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuzilla/
	Mailing List	https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-system-discuss/
	General	https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/firefox-esr
	Mailing List	https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnuzilla-dev/
	Mailing List	https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-gnuzilla/
Savannah (Ref)		https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnuzilla/
	VCS Repository Webview	https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/gnuzilla.git/
	Download	https://f-droid.org/packages/org.gnu.icecat/
	General	https://libreplanet.org/wiki/Group:IceCat/
	Bug Tracking	https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefox-esr/
Debian (Ref) (R)		https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/iceweasel

Software prerequisites

This entry (in part or in whole) was last reviewed on 19 January 2019.

Entry

"MPL1.1" is not in the list (ACEL, AFL-3.0, AGPL-1.0, AGPL-1.0-or-later, AGPL-3.0, AGPL-3.0-or-later, AGPL-3.0-or-later-with-exception, AGPL-3.0-with-exception, AGPLv1orlater, AGPLv3, ...) of allowed values for the "License" property.

"MPL1.1" is not in the list (ACEL, AFL-3.0, AGPL-1.0, AGPL-1.0-or-later, AGPL-3.0, AGPL-3.0-or-later, AGPL-3.0-or-later-with-exception, AGPL-3.0-with-exception, AGPLv1orlater, AGPLv3, ...) of allowed values for the "License" property.

"MPL1.1" is not in the list (ACEL, AFL-3.0, AGPL-1.0, AGPL-1.0-or-later, AGPL-3.0, AGPL-3.0-or-later, AGPL-3.0-or-later-with-exception, AGPL-3.0-with-exception, AGPLv1orlater, AGPLv3, ...) of allowed values for the "License" property.