SwiftFox Debian Repositories

Since Debian is a distribution of Linux that tries to stay as "free" as possible, some of the software it is released with is not exactly useful all the time. Case in point: a site I recently visited complained that I didn't have an acceptable web browser. It said that I could use Firefox, but Debian packages "Iceweasel" instead of Firefox. They are basically the same program, only with different names (as far as I'm concerned). However, there is another program called "SwiftFox," which is a custom build of Firefox that is optimized for various CPU's. This browser is still accepted as Firefox, so this article will explain how to set your Debian system up to be capable of automatically installing and updating SwiftFox.

1. The SwiftFox website does not currently offer a keyring, so you don't have to worry about that right now. Skipping this step will often give you warnings or error messages when you go to update your repositories or install something from the untrusted repository.

2. Install the repositories using the following line:

   deb http://getswiftfox.com/builds/debian unstable non-free

   This line typically goes in the /etc/apt/sources.list file. Just put it on its own line. Some newer Debian systems prefer that you put this line in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/[repository].list (where [repository] would likely be swiftfox in this case).

3. Run apt-get update as root to make sure the repositories are working properly. If they are, you should see no errors or warnings pertaining to swiftfox.com. If you see any such messages, try updating again.

4. Install SwiftFox Since the builds are all optimized for various processors, check this list and this other list to figure out which package you should install. Since I'm running a 32-bit operating system on a Turion 64, I would run the following command as root:

   apt-get install swiftfox-athlon64-32bit

   You'll likely have to explicitly say "yes" when it asks if you really want to install the package.

Once that completes, you should be able to launch SwiftFox without a hitch!