Gnuzilla
GNU IceCat
https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/
GNU IceCat is the GNU version of the Firefox browser.
GNU IceCat discontinued official IceCatMobile support after version 38.6.0. Unofficial IceCatMobile releases can be downloaded with the F-Droid client.
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 official release of Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) with removal of 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 Replicant after version 38.6.0 because these builds are already provided by F-Droid.
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
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://chat.freenode.net/#icecat
This is a GNU package:gnuzilla
This is a high priority project
Download
https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gnuzilla/60.7.0/icecat-60.7.0-gnu1.tar.bz2
version 60.7.0
(stable)
released on 2 June 2019
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.gitCategories
- 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
Inbuilt extensions, plug-ins, or add-ons for this program
| HTTPS Everywhere | Browser extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure. | https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere |
| Reveal hidden HTML elements | An add-on that is meant to fix CSS related bugs on browsers that don't run non-free Javascript. | https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/submit-me/ |
Extensions, plug-ins, or add-ons for this program
| Adblock Plus (ABP) | Ad blocker | https://adblockplus.org/ |
| Bloody Vikings! | Simplifies the use of temporary e-mail addresses in order to protect your real address from spam. Supports inter alia 10minutemail.com and anonbox.net. | http://forum.florianfieber.de/ |
| Debian buttons | Buttons for querying Debian-related pages with Iceweasel/Firefox | http://icedeb.ktnx.net/ |
| Greasemonkey | Locally change the way a page looks or works using javascript. | http://www.greasespot.net/ |
| HTTPS Everywhere | Browser extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure. | https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere |
| NoScript | Only enable JavaScript for sites you trust. | https://noscript.net/ |
| Print Edit WE | Print Edit WE provides facilities to edit the contents of a web page prior to printing or saving. | https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/print-edit-we/ |
| Privacy Badger | Browser extension that detects and prevents third-party tracking | https://www.eff.org/privacybadger |
| Startpage HTTPS Privacy Search Engine | Add Startpage - The World's Most Private Search Engine - to your search box. Startpage does not record your IP address. Search the Web in the best possible privacy! | https://www.startpage.com/ |
| Stylish | Restyle the web with Stylish, a user styles manager. Stylish lets you easily install themes and skins for Google, Facebook, YouTube, Orkut, and many, many other sites. You can even customize Firefox and other programs themselves. | http://userstyles.org/ |
| Violentmonkey | Violentmonkey provides userscripts support for browsers. It works on browsers with WebExtensions support. https://violentmonkey.github.io/ | https://violentmonkey.github.io/ |
| Wappalyzer | Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more. | https://wappalyzer.com/ |
| Wikileaks Search | This addon simply allows you to search the archives of Wikileaks | https://search.wikileaks.org/ |
| Wikipedia (SSL) | Wikipedia is an openly-editable, free content internet encyclopedia. This search bar add-on utilizes SSL to protect searches between You and Wikipedia. | https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wikipedia-ssl-243981/ |
| Zoom Page WE | Zoom web pages either per-site or per-tab, with optional fit-to-width and minimum text size, using the toolbar button, context menu, keyboard shortcuts or mouse wheel. | https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/zoom-page-we/ |
| uBlock Origin (uBO) | A wide-spectrum blocker. Easy on CPU and memory. | https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock |
| uMatrix | Point & click to forbid/allow any class of requests made by your browser. Use it to block scripts, iframes, ads, facebook, etc. | https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/ |
Licensing
License
Verified by
Verified on
Notes
License
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
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
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
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
Leaders and contributors
| Contact(s) | Role |
|---|---|
| Rubén Rodríguez (Quidam) | Maintainer |
| David Hedlund (David Hedlund) | Add-on repository maintainer |
Resources and communication
Software prerequisites
This entry (in part or in whole) was last reviewed on 19 January 2019.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the page “GNU Free Documentation License”.
The copyright and license notices on this page only apply to the text on this page. Any software or copyright-licenses or other similar notices described in this text has its own copyright notice and license, which can usually be found in the distribution or license text itself.