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Alternative options for installing the Vivaldi browser in Linux

Hello!

Earlier we talked about how to run multiple copies of Vivaldi on Mac OSX . Today we look at similar actions for Linux systems.

From time to time, users are asked to post tar archives with Vivaldi binaries in addition to the RPM and DEB installation packages. As a rule, these requests have three reasons:
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Today we will try to explain why we offer only RPM and DEB packages, as well as how to solve each of the above problems using only these packages.

Ideally, if you follow the traditions of Linux development, we really would not need to release any packages for Linux distributions. We would develop the browser itself, and all package building, distribution and updating would be done by Linux distributers. If you look at the distribution installed on your computer, you will see that the vast majority of applications are packaged, distributed and updated by the authors of the distribution. This is a traditional method developed by the Linux community for many years, and it is quite effective - all distribution software is assembled and processed by the same group of professionals, thereby ensuring an excellent level of compatibility.

However, there are some difficulties. For example, many distributions try to include only stable versions of applications in their composition, so at the moment without creating our own Vivaldi packages we have no other way to convey test builds or beta versions to users. Also, due to the youth of our project, some distributions may not even be aware of our existence.

Therefore, we offer the two most common in the Linux world installation package formats (.rpm and .deb), but we will, of course, be happy if in some distribution Vivaldi browser is included in the standard set of applications. Additionally, even without offering packages for some distributions using other installation package formats, we always accept bug reports from users of such distributions and try to solve the problems associated with installing and using Vivaldi.

If there is no Vivaldi installation package for your distribution yet, there are several ways that you can install Vivaldi (see below). But first of all, you should check if the authors of your distribution package do not offer ready-made Vivaldi packages. Some distros have already done this (for example, Arch, Gentoo, Slackware), while others may do so after the release of the first stable version of Vivaldi. If, after the appearance of the final version of Vivaldi, it does not appear in the list of packages of your distribution, you can politely invite the authors of the distribution to do so. They can contact us directly if there are any questions.

Sandbox difficulties

First of all, we want to warn you that launching Vivaldi from a non-standard directory (including the standalone standalone installation) may not work for all users. It depends on the installation location, on the rights of the user who is performing the installation, and on the version of the Linux kernel used in your operating system. The main problem is related to the features of the Chromium sandbox, a key element of browser security. Basically, if your system uses a Linux kernel version 3.17 and higher, the number of possible problems will tend to the minimum. However, in some distributions using an older kernel, some important functions may be missing, and in other distributions, even with a newer version of the kernel, these functions may be disabled for various reasons. in more detail on this topic, we have already told in the last article .

Installation in a non-standard directory

Installing Vivaldi browser in a non-standard directory is to unpack one of our packages and transfer files to a new directory. Many ask for a TAR archive with files for this task, but in fact the same .deb package includes exactly the TAR archives, from which it is easy to extract the required files using the utilities included in the distribution. The same goes for .rpm packages. Using the 64-bit .deb package of a recent test build as an example, we now show how to decompress the files in the console:

ar p vivaldi-snapshot_1.0.365.3-1_amd64.deb data.tar.xz | tar -xJf- --strip 2 ./opt


As a result, the vivaldi-snapshot directory will be created. You can move it with all its contents to any suitable directory. To run Vivaldi, execute the launch script (called “vivaldi-snapshot”) from this directory.

Standalone installation (standalone)

The Vivaldi browser supports a command line parameter that allows the browser to tell where to save all the settings and user data: " --user-data-dir = ". If you specify to save the profile and data in a subdirectory within the directory with the browser files, you actually get a standalone browser.

To use the unpacked copy of Vivaldi in the previous example as a standalone application, do the following:

 cd vivaldi-snapshot ./vivaldi-snapshot --user-data-dir=profile &


Automation Examples

We test Vivaldi in different situations on many Linux distributions. To speed up the process, we have prepared several scripts for automatically unpacking the Vivaldi package for installation in a non-standard directory. These are informal solutions (that is, no guarantees and support), but you can use them if they suit you.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/275121/

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