6.2. Browsers

6.2. Browsers
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FreeBSD does not come with a pre-installed web browser. Instead, the www category of the Ports Collection contains many browsers which can be installed as a package or compiled from the Ports Collection.

The KDE and GNOME desktop environments include their own HTML browser. Refer to Section 5.7, “Desktop Environments” for more information on how to set up these complete desktops.

Some lightweight browsers include www/dillo2, www/links, and www/w3m.

This section demonstrates how to install the following popular web browsers and indicates if the application is resource-heavy, takes time to compile from ports, or has any major dependencies.

Application Name	Resources Needed	Installation from Ports	Notes
Firefox	medium	heavy	FreeBSD, Linux®, and localized versions are available
Konqueror	medium	heavy	Requires KDE libraries
Chromium	medium	heavy	Requires Gtk+

6.2.1. Firefox

Firefox is an open source browser that features a standards-compliant HTML display engine, tabbed browsing, popup blocking, extensions, improved security, and more. Firefox is based on the Mozilla codebase.

To install the package of the latest release version of Firefox, type:

# pkg install firefox

To instead install Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) version, use:

# pkg install firefox-esr

The Ports Collection can instead be used to compile the desired version of Firefox from source code. This example builds www/firefox, where firefox can be replaced with the ESR or localized version to install.

# cd /usr/ports/www/firefox
# make install clean

6.2.2. Konqueror

Konqueror is more than a web browser as it is also a file manager and a multimedia viewer. Supports WebKit as well as its own KHTML. WebKit is a rendering engine used by many modern browsers including Chromium.

Konqueror can be installed as a package by typing:

# pkg install konqueror

To install from the Ports Collection:

# cd /usr/ports/x11-fm/konqueror/
# make install clean

6.2.3. Chromium

Chromium is an open source browser project that aims to build a safer, faster, and more stable web browsing experience. Chromium features tabbed browsing, popup blocking, extensions, and much more. Chromium is the open source project upon which the Google Chrome web browser is based.

Chromium can be installed as a package by typing:

# pkg install chromium

Alternatively, Chromium can be compiled from source using the Ports Collection:

# cd /usr/ports/www/chromium
# make install clean

Note:

The executable for Chromium is /usr/local/bin/chrome, not /usr/local/bin/chromium.