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 The Kazehakase (KH) version in the Ubuntu repos is (very) outdated - thus the need for this guide.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/packag...ehakase/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...ges-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...e-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.