HOWTO install the Kazehakase 0.4.8 browser in Feisty using the Fedora .rpm

[quixotic-cynic]

This is a small note on how to install the latest version of Kazehakase (0.4.8 at this time) via a method other than compile (since the compile is not usually straight forward). The Kazehakase (KH) version in the Ubuntu repos is (very) outdated - thus the need for this guide.


What it is
From wikipedia: Kazehakase (風博士) is a web browser for Unix-like operating systems that uses the GTK+2 libraries. Like Galeon, Skipstone, and Epiphany, Kazehakase embeds the Gecko layout engine. However, the author also plans to add the ability to switch between different rendering engines (e.g. GtkHTML, Gtk+ WebCore, Dillo, w3m).

KH appears to be less resource intensive than the majority of current browsers, yet has more features than Dillo, Links2, etc, and thus offers a useful mid-point. about:config works.

Main install
mkdir ~/kazehakase
cd ~/kazehakase
wget http://koji.fedoraproject.org/packages/kazehakase/0.5.4/4.fc9/i386/kazehakase-0.5.4-4.fc9.i386.rpm
sudo aptitude install alien
sudo alien -i ./kazehakase-0.5.4-4.fc9.i386.rpm

Note: The above code is for the latest i386 version (@2008-04-30). Additional versions can be found at http://koji.fedoraproject.org/packages/kazehakase/0.5.4/.

Get gecko files with firefox installed
Kazehakase also requires the use of an external rendering engine (gecko at present). These engine files appear to be required in the /usr/lib/kazehakase directory. To resolve this you can use the commands below (providing you have firefox installed). The files may also be available in other gecko-based browser directories in /usr/lib/


sudo cp /usr/lib/firefox/components /usr/lib/kazehakase/components -R
sudo cp /usr/lib/firefox/*.so /usr/lib/kazehakase


Get gecko files without installing firefox

mkdir ~/ff-deb
cd ~/ff-deb
wget http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/f/firefox/firefox_2.0.0.6+1-0ubuntu1_i386.deb
ar -x *.deb
tar -xvzf data.tar.gz
sudo cp ./usr/lib/firefox/components /usr/lib/kazehakase -R
sudo cp ./usr/lib/firefox/*.so /usr/lib/kazehakase

To undo


sudo aptidute remove kazehakase
sudo aptitude remove alien
sudo rm -R /usr/lib/kazehakase/

Info on commands
If you do not understand what one of the commands is actually doing type man <command> in a terminal for an explanation, where <command> is the one you would like to find out about, e.g. sudo or aptitude or cp. See http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/ for more info. Lines beginning with sudo are those that can cause a lot of damage if they are typed or written incorrectly - please ensure they make sense.

Notes
* I cannot provide (much) support, please use at your own risk (though I will help if I can).
* This HOWTO was done using Feisty Fawn 7.04. Edit: Still applicable for 7.10 and any version thereafter in which the .rpm file is more up to date than the .deb file (Hardy etc).
* I discovered about alien at http://strabes.wordpress.com/2006/11/17/installing-rpm-packages-in-ubuntu/.
* Requires an .rpm of kazehakase 0.4.8 and the alien package.

[fuscia]

you have mixed versions in your instructions.


edit: it seems faster than the version in the repos.

[quixotic-cynic]

you have mixed versions in your instructions.

Thanks. I changed the faulty line mentioning kazehakase-0.4.7 to sudo alien -i ./kazehakase-0.4.8-1.fc7.i386.rpm as it should be.

[el mariachi]

you have mixed versions in your instructions.


edit: it seems faster than the version in the repos.
Have you compared it to Epiphany? Is it noticeable?

[quixotic-cynic]

Opened up each browser on this page then left for 10 minutes. These are the (approximate) resource usages via ps -aux. I have 768mb of memory. Of course, it has been said that unused ram is wasted ram (but I cant help myself).


%CPU %MEM COMMAND
0.5 5.1 /usr/bin/galeon
0.5 5.0 /usr/bin/epiphany
0.9 4.9 /usr/lib/firefox/firefox-bin
0.7 4.8 kazehakase
0.6 4.4 /usr/local/iceweasel-2.0.0.6-g2-i386/iceweasel-bin
0.8 0.8 rxvt
0.0 0.7 /usr/bin/links2 -g


I find KH loads faster than the others (excluding links2 -g obviously). Epiphany is quite quick (though not good wrt resources?) but not as fast at loading as KH (and I just cant stand it's menu-for-dummies approach). Iceweasel seems to load fast too (how?!?) and I am suprised at it's results above (when compared with firefox).

[K.Mandla]

As an added bonus, a lot of the "speed tweaks" for Firefox that float around the Internet work for KH too.

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/kazehakase-on-steroids/

[Polygon]

i tried this and when i try to enter a URL and press enter, it seg faults....... any ideas?

[quixotic-cynic]

i tried this and when i try to enter a URL and press enter, it seg faults....... any ideas?

Did you copy the required files into the /usr/lib/kazehakase directory (see above)? The seg fault is usually what happens when it can't find the gecko engine.

I would suggest you check that the files that should have been copied are actually there (through the terminal and ls or a file manager like nautillus or thunar. Which method did you use to get the files - from the .deb or copied from the FF directory? Either way, the most effective way to check you have all the files is to compare with the /usr/lib/firefox directory of a working FF version - you should have the 'components' folder and any files ending in .so. I could post a file list if you need it.

[Polygon]

yeah i did, and i checked and there are folders and .so files in the /usr/lib/kazehakase folder

and when i start the program, it actually stars and appears to work, its only when i type something in the bar that it dies =/

i can edit the preferences and stuff and open the bookmarks, but as soon as it loads anything it dies..... hmm

[quixotic-cynic]

That was exactly the behaviour I had before I copied the files across - as soon as I entered any web address or clicked any link it seg faulted. Copying the files resolved it perfectly for me. I can't help that much more (because my knowledge is finite on this subject) but I will post a list of files on the off chance there is a discrepancy. Btw - I take it you have firefox 2.0.0.6 (I should have said that is the version I used I guess). If you have a different version it suggests another thing to check.

Here are the files that I have:

corcorigan@deidre:/usr/lib/kazehakase$ ls
components libgtkembedmoz.so libmozjs.so libxpcom.so
libgfxpsshar.so libgtkxtbin.so libxpcom_compat.so libxpistub.so
libgkgfx.so libjsj.so libxpcom_core.so

corcorigan@deidre:/usr/lib/kazehakase/components$ ls
accessibility-atk.xpt libbrowsercomps.so nsDictionary.js
accessibility.xpt libbrowserdirprovider.so nsExtensionManager.js
alerts.xpt libcaps.so nsFilePicker.js
appshell.xpt libchrome.so nsHelperAppDlg.js
appstartup.xpt libcommandlines.so nsInterfaceInfoToIDL.js
autocomplete.xpt libcomposer.so nsMicrosummaryService.js
autoconfig.xpt libcookie.so nsProgressDialog.js
bookmarks.xpt libdocshell.so nsProxyAutoConfig.js
browsercompsbase.xpt libeditor.so nsResetPref.js
browser-feeds.xpt libembedcomponents.so nsSafebrowsingApplication.js
browsersearch.xpt libfileview.so nsSearchService.js
caps.xpt libgfx_gtk.so nsSearchSuggestions.js
chardet.xpt libgfxps.so nsSessionStartup.js
chrome.xpt libgklayout.so nsSessionStore.js
commandhandler.xpt libgkplugin.so nsSetDefaultBrowser.js
commandlines.xpt libhtmlpars.so nsSidebar.js
composer.xpt libi18n.so nsUpdateService.js
content_base.xpt libimglib2.so nsUrlClassifierLib.js
content_htmldoc.xpt libjar50.so nsUrlClassifierListManager.js
content_html.xpt libjsd.so nsUrlClassifierTable.js
content_xmldoc.xpt libmork.so nsURLFormatter.js
content_xslt.xpt libmozfind.so nsXmlRpcClient.js
content_xtf.xpt libmyspell.so oji.xpt
cookie.xpt libnecko2.so passwordmgr.xpt
directory.xpt libnecko.so pipboot.xpt
docshell.xpt libnsappshell.so pipnss.xpt
dom_base.xpt liboji.so pippki.xpt
dom_canvas.xpt libpermissions.so plugin.xpt
dom_core.xpt libpipboot.so prefetch.xpt
dom_css.xpt libpipnss.so pref.xpt
dom_events.xpt libpippki.so profile.xpt
dom_html.xpt libpref.so progressDlg.xpt
dom_loadsave.xpt librdf.so proxyObjInst.xpt
dom_range.xpt libremoteservice.so rdf.xpt
dom_sidebar.xpt libsearchservice.so safebrowsing.xpt
dom_storage.xpt libspellchecker.so satchel.xpt
dom_stylesheets.xpt libstoragecomps.so saxparser.xpt
dom_svg.xpt libsystem-pref.so search.xpt
dom_traversal.xpt libtoolkitcomps.so sessionstore.xpt
dom_views.xpt libtransformiix.so shellservice.xpt
dom_xbl.xpt libtxmgr.so shistory.xpt
dom_xpath.xpt libuconv.so spellchecker.xpt
dom.xpt libucvmath.so storage.xpt
dom_xul.xpt libuniversalchardet.so toolkitprofile.xpt
downloads.xpt libwebbrwsr.so toolkitremote.xpt
editor.xpt libwebsrvcs.so txmgr.xpt
embed_base.xpt libwidget_gtk2.so txtsvc.xpt
extensions.xpt libxmlextras.so uconv.xpt
exthandler.xpt libxpcom_compat_c.so unicharutil.xpt
fastfind.xpt libxpconnect.so update.xpt
FeedConverter.js libxpinstall.so uriloader.xpt
FeedProcessor.js locale.xpt url-classifier.xpt
feeds.xpt lwbrk.xpt urlformatter.xpt
FeedWriter.js microsummaries.xpt webBrowser_core.xpt
filepicker.xpt migration.xpt webbrowserpersist.xpt
find.xpt mimetype.xpt WebContentConverter.js
gfx.xpt mozbrwsr.xpt webshell_idls.xpt
gksvgrenderer.xpt mozfind.xpt websrvcs.xpt
history.xpt necko_about.xpt widget.xpt
htmlparser.xpt necko_cache.xpt windowds.xpt
imglib2.xpt necko_cookie.xpt windowwatcher.xpt
inspector-cmdline.js necko_data.xpt xml-rpc.xpt
inspector.xpt necko_dns.xpt xpcom_base.xpt
intl.xpt necko_file.xpt xpcom_components.xpt
jar.xpt necko_ftp.xpt xpcom_ds.xpt
jsconsole-clhandler.js necko_http.xpt xpcom_io.xpt
jsconsole.xpt necko_res.xpt xpcom_obsolete.xpt
jsdservice.xpt necko_socket.xpt xpcom_threads.xpt
layout_base.xpt necko_strconv.xpt xpcom_xpti.xpt
layout_printing.xpt necko_viewsource.xpt xpconnect.xpt
layout_xul_tree.xpt necko.xpt xpinstall.xpt
layout_xul.xpt nsBookmarkTransactionManager.js xulapp.xpt
libaccessibility.so nsBrowserContentHandler.js xuldoc.xpt
libappcomps.so nsBrowserGlue.js xultmpl.xpt
libauth.so nsCloseAllWindows.js
libautoconfig.so nsDefaultCLH.js


I hope that helps somehow.

[johnraff]

Unfortunately that fedora download link just redirects to the Fedora 8 home page now.
A Google search came up with this list of kazehakase .rpms:
http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3?stat=3&limit=1&srodzaj=3&dl=40&search=kazehakase

Any idea which one might work (if any ???)...

[quixotic-cynic]

Thanks for letting me know. I updated the instructions and it should work now.

[johnraff]

Cheers.
I'll have a go tomorrow when I'm awake... :)

<the next day>
Ahh... shame, the installation seemed to go OK but it won't start up for me.
I get this error in the terminal:
kazehakase: symbol lookup error: /usr/lib/kazehakase/libkazehakase.so.0: undefined symbol: g_once_init_enter_impl
Any ideas?

[yotama9]

Hi all.

I just discovered KH this morning (the gutsy default version) and loved it.

I searched around and found that there is a new version and I tried to install it using your instructions.

all went well but I didn't noticed the cp part afterwards (and of course KH crashed every time). I rechecked the forums and in did, there was a missing part. I copied the file as instructed (I have firefox installed, as well as iceape) and retried running KH only to get the following errors:

(kazehakase:6393): Gtk-WARNING **: RubyDialog: missing action RubyDialog

(kazehakase:6393): Gtk-WARNING **: ReloadRuby: missing action ReloadRuby

(kazehakase:6393): Gtk-WARNING **: InstallAsRubyExtension: missing action InstallAsRubyExtension
Segmentation fault (core dumped)


I'm pretty sure I have ruby installed (check in synaptic) and I don't know what is wrong.

can you please help me?

Yotam

[yotama9]

can anybody help me with it?

searching Google for that kind of problem didn't give much help :(

thanks.

[koolkatkiwi]

As an added bonus, a lot of the "speed tweaks" for Firefox that float around the Internet work for KH too.

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/kazehakase-on-steroids/

Hi. I did those tweaks that you mention, or something very similar, that I found on the internet. I can't find the page now, but it looked like an official page. After I did the tweaks, the browser would no longer open at all, so I'm now in the process of finding and installing another browser. I've learned my lesson about believing what someone says to do to your configuration files.

I tried Dillo first, after Kazehakase got stuffed. Boy, I don't want to use THAT browser again! It's painful. I'm off to try Swiftfox if I can figure out how to install it. (I'm using Fluxbuntu on an old laptop.)

Cheers,
Kath.

[quixotic-cynic]

Kath,

If the config is at fault then just deleting it will fix the problem - you'll have to enter your preferred options again but the browser would work:

rm ~/.kazehakase/mozilla/kazehakase/prefs.js

If that doesn't work and kazehakase is still broken then I guess the easiest thing to do is purge it (sudo aptitude purge kazehakase) and reinstall.