Cluttermagnet Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Hi, All- Reading from one of my favorite websites on the subject of the new, chilling imposition of web censorship by Google, YouTube et al, I got inspired to try installing the Opera web browser. Previously I had been using FF and basilisk. (...and I still am...) The install went generally OK. I first downloaded the Debian package but I couldn't find an executable in the extracted files that would launch Opera. So I did a search for 'install opera in Linux Mint 18' and came up with a couple of likely tutorials (linked below). Using the Terminal, I did get Opera to install. The only problem so far seems to be that the install didn't create a 'click to launch' icon listed under Internet (Applications/Internet). I will list a blow by blow of the terminal commands below. I tried the simple command "opera" in a second Terminal window and that did launch the browser. So I am typing to you from a session of Opera right now. I assume that if I were to close that second Terminal window my session of Opera would go 'poof', right? So my question is what Terminal commands might I use to create a launch icon under Applications/Internet? I'm wondering if the missing dependency libcurl4 never got installed? Here are the links to the two tutorials I borrowed from, and the Terminal session follows that... Thanks, guys! Clutter https://www.tecmint.com/install-opera-browser-in-linux/ https://www.linuxhelp.com/how-to-install-opera-51-on-linux-mint-18-3 clutter@clutter-Precision-WorkStation-T3400 ~ $ sudo dpkg -i opera-stable_64.0.3417.92_amd64.deb [sudo] password for clutter: dpkg: error processing archive opera-stable_64.0.3417.92_amd64.deb (--install): cannot access archive: No such file or directory Errors were encountered while processing: opera-stable_64.0.3417.92_amd64.deb clutter@clutter-Precision-WorkStation-T3400 ~ $ cd /home/clutter/Downloads clutter@clutter-Precision-WorkStation-T3400 ~/Downloads $ sudo dpkg -i opera-stable_64.0.3417.92_amd64.deb Selecting previously unselected package opera-stable. (Reading database ... 1326827 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack opera-stable_64.0.3417.92_amd64.deb ... Unpacking opera-stable (64.0.3417.92) ... dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of opera-stable: opera-stable depends on libcurl3 (>= 7.16.2) | libcurl4 (>= 7.58.0); however: Package libcurl3 is not installed. Package libcurl4 is not installed. dpkg: error processing package opera-stable (--install): dependency problems - leaving unconfigured Processing triggers for shared-mime-info (1.5-2ubuntu0.2) ... Unknown media type in type 'all/all' Unknown media type in type 'all/allfiles' Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.15-0ubuntu1.1) ... Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1ubuntu5.2) ... Processing triggers for mime-support (3.59ubuntu1) ... Errors were encountered while processing: opera-stable clutter@clutter-Precision-WorkStation-T3400 ~/Downloads $ linuxhelp Downloads # apt-get install -f linuxhelp: command not found clutter@clutter-Precision-WorkStation-T3400 ~/Downloads $ sudo linuxhelp Downloads # apt-get install -f sudo: linuxhelp: command not found clutter@clutter-Precision-WorkStation-T3400 ~/Downloads $ sudo apt-install -f sudo: apt-install: command not found clutter@clutter-Precision-WorkStation-T3400 ~/Downloads $ sudo apt install -f Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done Correcting dependencies... Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: gist ruby-json Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them. The following additional packages will be installed: libcurl3 The following NEW packages will be installed: libcurl3 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 42 not upgraded. 1 not fully installed or removed. Need to get 186 kB of archives. After this operation, 565 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y Get:1 http://mirror.atlantic.net/ubuntu xenial-updates/main amd64 libcurl3 amd64 7.47.0-1ubuntu2.14 [186 kB] Fetched 186 kB in 0s (539 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package libcurl3:amd64. (Reading database ... 1326953 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../libcurl3_7.47.0-1ubuntu2.14_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libcurl3:amd64 (7.47.0-1ubuntu2.14) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu11) ... Setting up libcurl3:amd64 (7.47.0-1ubuntu2.14) ... Setting up opera-stable (64.0.3417.92) ... update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/opera to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: skip creation of /usr/share/man/man1/x-www-browser.1.gz because associated file /usr/share/man/man1/opera.1.gz (of link group x-www-browser) doesn't exist update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/opera to provide /usr/bin/gnome-www-browser (gnome-www-browser) in auto mode update-alternatives: warning: skip creation of /usr/share/man/man1/gnome-www-browser.1.gz because associated file /usr/share/man/man1/opera.1.gz (of link group gnome-www-browser) doesn't exist Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu11) ... clutter@clutter-Precision-WorkStation-T3400 ~/Downloads $ Edited November 9, 2019 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Instead of sideloading it, just install it directly from LinuxMint: https://community.linuxmint.com/software/view/opera 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 What SB said is the path of least resistance. But if you want to continue for knowledge's sake, your terminal output indicates you're missing the dependencies libcurl3 and libcurl4, but only libcurl3 was installed with your -f option. not sure if libcurl3 and libcurl4 are "either, or" dependencies or if they're stacking dependencies, but you might want to try installing libcurl4 and see if it wants to remove libcurl3 and replace with libcurl4, or just install side-by-side, like python2 and python3 did for awhile. OR...you can create your own launcher icons by creating a *.desktop file. You can do this yourself, from scratch, by creating a blank text file and save it with the name "launcher.desktop", where launcher=name of the icon you're creating (In your case Opera.desktop) and by providing some basic information in the file that is needed to create a launcher, such as relative path to the executable file, path to the icon, menu categories, etc... Here's a quick tutorial on how to do that from scratch: https://www.maketecheasier.com/create-desktop-file-linux/ Alternatively, I often use a "shortcut" method where I copy a similar *.desktop file, contents and all, but change the relative information. In your case, I might suggest the following: - From ROOT file manager (open as root), navigate to usr/share/applications directory - find another web browser desktop icon (Firefox, Chrome?), right click, and "open" as text file, or open with text file editor (gedit, leafpad, mousepad, etc...) - save file with a different name, but ending in *.desktop, such as Opera.desktop - change "exec" line to the terminal command used to run the program - change "icon" line to the ABSOLUTE path of the icon you want displayed as the launcher (doesn't have to be Opera, although that's what I'd choose) - edit the "name" line for the application description displayed on "mouse over". Again, can be anything you want - optionally, I usually delete any additional lines that aren't in English (if you're multi-lingual, edit what you want to keep, delete the rest?!) - lastly, save these changes to file again, and exit the text editor Voila, you've created your own custom-icon launcher, which will show in menu under appropriate categories, and is available for desktop icon or launcher bar placement. Just like any other application launcher on your system! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 9, 2019 Author Share Posted November 9, 2019 49 minutes ago, securitybreach said: Instead of sideloading it, just install it directly from LinuxMint: https://community.linuxmint.com/software/view/opera Obviously this is what I should have done- but I didn't know about this resource at the time. OTOH I have a good half dozen or more desktops scattered around the house, so I will get a chance to try it this way fairly soon. So no direct experience with this method- yet- but it looks like a great way to go... Thanks, Josh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Not a problem. Linuxmint offers the normal way through their package manager but if the package is not available, most of the time it is via their community page. You could probably chase down the deps like Hedon mentioned but I just assumed that the the .deb file that you downloaded wasn't compatible with LM as far as lib versions and such. Sometimes they will work just fine but I have seen instances where they would not work as they were compiled for debian and not a derivative. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 9, 2019 Author Share Posted November 9, 2019 18 minutes ago, Hedon James said: What SB said is the path of least resistance. But if you want to continue for knowledge's sake... Some great suggestions! I think I will look deeper into what you suggest. You also quickly saw that libcurl3 and 4 were both mentioned during my session, but apparently libcurl4 wasn't installed for some reason. Maybe that's where I'll start- finding out what these libraries or utilities actually are and do... I like your idea of using another launcher as a template and editing to get it to be an Opera launcher. That's very much how I think. So you have left me a goodly few things to mull over... Thanks for your help! Short term, my major learning experience is simply to learn how to operate Opera. Thank goodness it's fairly intuitive, but there is definitely a lot to learn here. Clutter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 9, 2019 Author Share Posted November 9, 2019 4 minutes ago, securitybreach said: Not a problem. Linuxmint offers the normal way through their package manager but if the package is not available, most of the time it is via their community page. You could probably chase down the deps like Hedon mentioned but I just assumed that the the .deb file that you downloaded wasn't compatible with LM as far as lib versions and such. Sometimes they will work just fine but I have seen instances where they would not work as they were compiled for debian and not a derivative. Yep. That very well might be the case. BTW I just wanted to mention that I tried but ruled out doing the install with synaptic. For some reason Opera isn't in there? I find that rather puzzling... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 3 minutes ago, Cluttermagnet said: Yep. That very well might be the case. BTW I just wanted to mention that I tried but ruled out doing the install with synaptic. For some reason Opera isn't in there? I find that rather puzzling... That is because Opera is not in their main repos. It is available in their community repo as shown by the link I provided earlier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Just go there and click the "Install" button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 9, 2019 Author Share Posted November 9, 2019 1 minute ago, securitybreach said: Just go there and click the "Install" button. Ahhh, main vs. community repos. I had failed to grasp the difference. Another thing to study, no big deal though. I am just so grateful Linux was available in graphical OS form back in 2007 when I was more than ready to make the big leap... One of several good choices I made back in that decade that improved my life! David 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 RULE #1 for Linux (any Linux) NEVER install applications/software of any kind from ANY source other than your Linux distribution's repos! This is the strength of Linux. It prevents installing bad ju-ju stuff from elsewhere out there in the world. The repos are maintained by the distribution's volunteers/employees. All items in the repos are clean and safe and also (usually) come with the required dependencies. I would not recommend trying to install your missing lib files from your current Opera install. You could end up in... If I were you, I'd undo your current installation and use Josh and Jim's advice to install via the Linux Mint repos. :) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 51 minutes ago, V.T. Eric Layton said: RULE #1 for Linux (any Linux) NEVER install applications/software of any kind from ANY source other than your Linux distribution's repos! This is the strength of Linux. It prevents installing bad ju-ju stuff from elsewhere out there in the world. The repos are maintained by the distribution's volunteers/employees. All items in the repos are clean and safe and also (usually) come with the required dependencies. I would not recommend trying to install your missing lib files from your current Opera install. You could end up in... If I were you, I'd undo your current installation and use Josh and Jim's advice to install via the Linux Mint repos. Yes!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 9, 2019 Author Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) What does a Terminal command look like which would accomplish that? (uninstall) Thanks, Clutter P.S. Do you think I have picked up any software that is tainted, source of my install having been the Opera group themselves? Edited November 9, 2019 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 sudo apt remove opera-stable 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 9, 2019 Author Share Posted November 9, 2019 Goodness! Well, that's easy enough... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 9, 2019 Author Share Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Done. Uninstalled. Re-installed using the linuxmint url you gave me above, Josh. It was an easy enough process. Haven't yet figured what version of opera is installed. I'm a total newbie with opera. May well be an earlier version- because it opens to a broken link welcome page 'url not found' etc. Whereas my slapdash previous install took me to a current Opera welcome page FWIW. I had to laugh- still no launcher Icon appears under Applications/Internet. This session launched from a Terminal window... I'm posting this with the re-installed opera. This thing inserts superfluous line feeds and then won't let me correct them. When I try to create a line feed it ignores me at times. Thus the extra wide spacing you see here. Weird... this editor is just really flaky under opera... Often this thing won't let me insert the cursor at the beginning of a line. I have to settle for one character in, then when I backspace, it erases that one character and allows undoing line feeds. At the end, I have to add back in the one character I was forced to erase. Yikes! The semi-brokenness of it all... Nope, took care of the extra line feeds now... this thing rather flaky. I liked the previous install better, frankly, if only Eric hadn't scared me off by invoking security concerns... Clutter Edited November 9, 2019 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Sorry I do not know as I havent used opera in over a decade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 19 hours ago, Cluttermagnet said: Do you think I have picked up any software that is tainted, source of my install having been the Opera group themselves? I wouldn't think so. Not to worry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 18 hours ago, Cluttermagnet said: Haven't yet figured what version of opera is installed. I'm a total newbie with opera. When Opera is open, click Help on the toolbar at the top, then click About. The version in the Linux Mint repos may not be the cutting edge version from Opera. It takes time (especially for Debian-based distros) for software to appear in repos because the maintainers need to make sure all dependencies are met and that the new versions actually work. 18 hours ago, Cluttermagnet said: I liked the previous install better, frankly, if only Eric hadn't scared me off by invoking security concerns... You can install from other sources other than the distribution's repos as long as you know and trust the source. In the case of Opera, the source is probably safe. HOWEVER, you will often end up in Dependency Heck doing this because source packaging does NOT normally include dependencies for all distributions. --- As for not having a launch button in Linux Mint after your install, you can manually add one to your taskbar or to the menu. - adding an item to the taskbar - adding items to the menu And there you go... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 Those are some useful links, Eric. I think I can add a Menu item once I identify which is the opera executable to point to. I went nosing around in the clutter home folder and I could easily find the folders for FF (Mozilla) and Opera. I couldn't find any .bin or suchlike files in that folder. I imagine the executable might live elsewhere and not within the opera folder? Once I figure out where it's hiding I will make a custom launcher inside the Menu. Thanks! Clutter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 10, 2019 Author Share Posted November 10, 2019 (edited) I cannot see any Help in Opera in any toolbar anywhere. And what it does put up is pretty darned minimal... In FF I have something like 4 levels of toolbars up at the top. Clutter Edited November 10, 2019 by Cluttermagnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 Hi Cluttermagnet. I have MX-18 on my ToughBook and have never used Opera so thought I would try to install it and have a play after reading your post. I could not find Opera in Synaptic, I see Josh has explained why. So using FF I went to the Opera home site and used their download link. This opened up the MX downloader showing GDebi Package Installer as the program to run once the download had completed. Ran GDebi and Opera installed. I could not find an icon in the Internet section of the menu bot did find an icon in the All section and added it to the Favourites section. So it looks like your MX install is missing something. Do you have it fully updated ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 10 minutes ago, abarbarian said: So it looks like your MX install is missing something. Do you have it fully updated ? He is running LinuxMint, not MX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 23 hours ago, Cluttermagnet said: I cannot see any Help in Opera in any toolbar anywhere. And what it does put up is pretty darned minimal... In FF I have something like 4 levels of toolbars up at the top. Clutter Maybe RIGHT click on the top of your browser to activate additional toolbars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 23 hours ago, Cluttermagnet said: I think I can add a Menu item once I identify which is the opera executable to point to. Most executables (except those installed from binary packages in /home/user or /opt) will be found in /usr/bin. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 On 11/9/2019 at 7:10 AM, Cluttermagnet said: Linux Mint 18 I must be loosing it, I read that as MX-18. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 Eric- I see a file called opera under /usr/bin Next question- what is the exact syntax needed to point to this? I can imagine: clutter/usr/bin/opera also just /usr/bin/opera and perhaps a few others... so which would be 'letter perfect'? Thanks, Clutter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cluttermagnet Posted November 11, 2019 Author Share Posted November 11, 2019 I should probably try MX 18 again. I forget if it can be previewed in 'live session' or not... Clutter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 1 hour ago, Cluttermagnet said: Next question- what is the exact syntax needed to point to this? I can imagine: clutter/usr/bin/opera also just /usr/bin/opera and perhaps a few others... so which would be 'letter perfect'? /usr/bin/ should be in your PATH, so the simple way should work: $ opera Try that in a terminal. If it opens that should be all you need in your launcher. PS. MX can be run live from CD/USB. It even has an advanced persistence utility which will set up a USB flash drive to retain all you changes and data. You can use that every day instead of installing to HD. And MX-19 is out now! I have it installed and it's quite good. Got a glowing review at DistroWatch - https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20191104#mx PPS. MX has Opera in the MX Package Installer. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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