How to Install Pale Moon on Ubuntu 22.04/20.04

Ubuntu users commonly use Firefox and perhaps a secondary browser such as Chromium Browser, Google Chrome, Opera, or Vivaldi browsers, to name a few. However, the Pale Moon browser is an option for users that have been using the internet for quite a while and may prefer its design more than anything else.

Pale Moon is a web browser built on an independently developed source that was forked from Firefox/Mozilla many years ago and offers features and optimizations to improve stability along with the balance of features and performance to satisfy the needs for general use while still evolving technology on Web standards.

As per the introduction, you will learn how to install Pale Moon Browser on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fosa desktop using the command line terminal with tips about maintaining and removing the browser versions.

Note about the Tutorial

The following tutorial was done with a Ubuntu 22.04 release, and example images were taken. Still, it was tested on Ubuntu 20.04. In the future, if Ubuntu makes any changes to break the tutorial for one of the distribution versions, please place a comment for me to investigate so I can update the tutorial.

Please note that this tutorial only instructs how to install the browser on Ubuntu long-term releases, and short-term releases are not supported.

Recommended Steps Before Installation

First, update your system to ensure all existing packages are up to date.

sudo apt update

Optionally, you can list the updates for users who require review or are curious to see what is available to update. This can be good if you have a specific one you forgot to place. Use the apt-hold command.

sudo apt --list upgradable

Proceed to upgrade any outdated packages using the following command.

sudo apt upgrade

Import Pale Moon Repository on Ubuntu Linux

Install Required Packages

The following dependencies will need to be installed to install Pale Moon successfully. Most of these packages are already on your system, but running the command can help ensure they’re installed.

sudo apt install curl apt-transport-https gnupg2 -y

If you skip and encounter issues, return and just run the command.

Import Steven Pusser Pale Moon Repository

The installation will use the third-party repository maintained by Steven Pusser, who maintains versions of Pale Moon for current Debian, and Ubuntu releases.

The first step is to import the GPG key to verify the authenticity of the packages. In your terminal, execute the following command to import to your keychain.

curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:stevenpusser/xUbuntu_22.04/Release.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home_stevenpusser.gpg > /dev/null

Next, import the repository, remembering to match the import command to the version of Ubuntu you have installed.

Import Pale Moon browser for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish:

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/stevenpusser/xUbuntu_22.04/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:stevenpusser.list

Import Pale Moon browser for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/stevenpusser/xUbuntu_20.04/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:stevenpusser.list

Now run an APT update to reflect the newly imported repository.

sudo apt-get update

Install Pale Moon Browser on Ubuntu Linux

Now that you have imported the repository, you can install the browser.

sudo apt install palemoon -y

Next, confirm the version of your browser in your terminal that will verify the successful installation.

palemoon -v

Example output:

Moonchild Productions Pale Moon 31.4.1

Launch Pale Moon Browser on Ubuntu Linux

After the installation, you can run Pale Moon by following the path.

Activities > Show Applications > Pale Moon

Alternatively, if you cannot find it, use the search function in the Show Applications menu if you have many applications installed.

The first time you open Pale Moon Browser, a pop-up message will appear asking you to select the browser as the default for your Ubuntu desktop.

This is a user choice, select your options and click Ok to proceed.

Once done, you can begin using and customizing your Pale Moon browser.

Congratulations, you have successfully installed Pale Moon Browser on your desktop.

Additional Commands & Tips

Update Pale Moon Browser on Ubuntu Linux

To update, run the APT update in your terminal, as you would check your entire system for any updates.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Remove Pale Moon Browser on Ubuntu Linux

Users no longer interested in having Pale Moon installed use the command to remove the browser.

sudo apt autoremove palemoon --purge

Ideally, you will want to remove the repository as well.

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

Conclusion

Pale Moon is worth considering if you’re looking for an alternative browser. The tutorial demonstrated how to import a third-party repository and install the Pale Moon browser on Ubuntu Linux with cli commands and how to update the binary package and remove it if required.