How to Install Otter Browser on Manjaro Linux

Otter Browser is a browser that strives to recreate the best aspects of Opera 12.x using the QT5 framework. The following tutorial will teach you how to install Otter Browser on Manjaro Linux using the command line terminal.

Recommended Steps Before Installation

First, update your system to ensure all existing packages are up to date. This will ensure no conflicts arise as best as possible during the installation.

sudo pacman -Syu

Sometimes, you may need a complete database download if you have not upgraded your Arch Linux system for a while; use the following command if the above update command does not work.

sudo pacman -Syyu

Lastly, for users that have Pamac installed, which most Manjaro desktops do, I would optionally suggest running an update; this will ensure that your Arch Linux and Manjaro packages are fully up-to-date.

sudo pamac checkupdates -a

sudo pamac upgrade -a

Troubleshooting Updating Manjaro Packages

Manjaro/Arch Linux is a rolling release; occasionally, updating packages with Pacman GPG keys can become invalid or corrupt. If both commands do not work, use the following command.

Note, this is only if you have errors updating with the first two commands above if you can skip these.

sudo pacman -S archlinux-keyring manjaro-keyring

sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux manjaro

The above should work in nearly all cases, but if it does not, use the following steps as a last resort.

sudo rm -r /etc/pacman.d/gnupg

sudo pacman-key --init

sudo pacman-key --populate manjaro

sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux

sudo pacman -Syvv manjaro-keyring

Then repeat the update process.

Install Otter Browser

Installing Otter Browser is pretty quick. The first task is to enable the AUR, which is disabled on Manjaro Linux by default unless you have already enabled it. Open the command line terminal and execute the following command.

sudo sed -Ei '/EnableAUR/s/^#//' /etc/pamac.conf

Now run the install command below; you can use install or build, given it’s only available from the AUR, but I would stress using the build command for best practice.

pamac build otter-browser

How to Launch Otter Browser

Desktop users will not open a terminal to launch the browser each time, so use the following path to launch the application icon.

Taskbar > Internet > Otter Browser

Once done, you will see the final landing page, and you are good to go browsing.

Once open, you will notice that Otter’s browser uses DuckDuckGo as its default search engine. Congratulations, you have successfully installed Otter Browser on your desktop.

Additional Commands & Tips

How to Update Otter Browser

The best way to upgrade the software is to use the following terminal command.

sudo pamac checkupdates -a

sudo pamac upgrade -a

How to Remove (Uninstall) Otter Browser

When you no longer want the Otter Browser application installed on your system, use the following command to remove it.

pamac remove otter-browser

Lastly, this is optional but good practice, clear up orphans and clear your cache to reduce clutter.

Clear orphan leftovers that are no longer required.

pamac remove -o

Clear packages deleted from the package cache.

pamac clean -uv -k 0

Clear redundant package versions from the package cache (keep the last two versions)

pamac clean -v -k 2

Lastly, for users that enabled pamac and then had second thoughts about using it and instead wanted to use something else, you can easily disable it using the following command.

sudo sed -Ei '/EnableAUR/s/^/#/' /etc/pamac.conf

Comments and Conclusion

Otter Browser is a work in progress, and it will be interesting to see how its development progresses. It currently lacks some standard features in other browsers. Still, the developers seem passionate about bringing Opera 12’s features and spirit back if you’re looking for an alternative to mainstream browsers or want to try something different