How to Install Pale Moon on Debian 12 or 11

Pale Moon is an open-source web browser based on the Firefox engine, specifically designed to provide a lightweight, customizable, and efficient browsing experience. It is favored by users who prefer a more traditional interface and require a browser that uses fewer system resources while maintaining compatibility with many modern web standards. Pale Moon is particularly known for its focus on user control, privacy, and performance.

On Debian 12 or 11, Pale Moon can be installed using a PPA (Personal Package Archive) maintained by Steven Pusser, which is hosted on the openSUSE Build Service. This repository is actively maintained and provides Debian and Ubuntu users with dedicated releases for each distribution version, making it simple to keep Pale Moon updated. This guide will walk you through the process of adding this PPA to your system and installing Pale Moon via the command-line terminal.

Update Debian Before Pale Moon Installation

To avoid any potential conflicts during the installation process, updating your system and ensuring that all existing packages are up to date is essential. This step will help ensure a smooth and error-free software installation.

Open your terminal and use the following command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Install Pale Moon Initial Required Packages

To successfully install Pale Moon, you will need to install specific dependencies. While some of these packages may already be on your system, running the installation command will help ensure all necessary dependencies are installed and the installation process goes smoothly.

sudo apt install curl apt-transport-https -y

Import Pale Moon APT Repository

To install the Pale Moon browser on Debian, you must import the GPG key that verifies the authenticity of packages from the repository and then the repository itself. It is essential to ensure that you import the correct GPG key and repository to match your Debian distribution.

The following commands can be used to import the Pale Moon repository:

Debian 13 Trixie: Import GPG Key and APT Repository commands:

curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:stevenpusser/Debian_Testing/Release.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home_stevenpusser.gpg > /dev/null

Note: This is Debian’s testing release; the above source must be updated once Trixie is out of the Debian testing phase.

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/stevenpusser/Debian_Testing/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:stevenpusser.list

Debian 12 Bookworm: Import GPG Key and APT Repository commands:

curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:stevenpusser/Debian_12/Release.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home_stevenpusser.gpg > /dev/null

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/stevenpusser/Debian_12/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:stevenpusser.list

Debian 11 Bullseye: Import GPG Key and APT Repository commands:

curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:stevenpusser/Debian_11/Release.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home_stevenpusser.gpg > /dev/null

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/stevenpusser/Debian_11/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:stevenpusser.list

After importing the repository, run an APT update to reflect the changes:

sudo apt update

Finalize Pale Moon Browser Installation on Debian

You can now install the browser on your Debian system with the Pale Moon repository successfully imported. To install the browser, run the following command in your terminal:

sudo apt install palemoon

This command will initiate the installation and automatically install the Pale Moon browser on your system. Once the installation is complete, you can verify the version of the browser using the following command:

palemoon -v

Running this command will display the version of the Pale Moon browser installed on your system, confirming that the installation was successful.

Launch Pale Moon Browser

After successfully installing the Pale Moon browser on your Debian system, you can quickly launch it by following these steps:

1. Click on the “Activities” button in the top left corner of your screen.
2. In the Activities menu, select “Show Applications.”
3. From the list of applications displayed, click on “Pale Moon.”

Alternatively, you could use the following terminal command:

palemoon

Additional Commands For Pale Moon

Update Pale Moon

To ensure that your Pale Moon Browser is up-to-date with the latest security patches and features, you can run an APT update in your terminal as you would to check for system updates. To do this, enter the following command in your terminal:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

This command will check for updates for your entire system, including the Pale Moon browser.

Remove Pale Moon Browser

If you no longer require the Pale Moon browser, you can remove it from your system by running the following command in your terminal:

sudo apt remove palemoon

This command will uninstall the Pale Moon browser from your system.

Ideally, you will also want to remove the repository you added earlier. To do this, enter the following command in your terminal:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:stevenpusser.list

This command will remove the Pale Moon repository from your system.

Conclusion

By installing Pale Moon on your Debian system using the Steven Pusser PPA, you ensure that you have a browser that is regularly updated and optimized for your distribution. This method provides a straightforward way to keep Pale Moon up-to-date, leveraging a repository that is specifically tailored for Debian and Ubuntu users. With Pale Moon installed, you can enjoy a customizable and resource-efficient browsing experience, with the peace of mind that your browser is maintained by an active and dedicated community.