Install MIDORI web browser in Fedora 13

A few days back a friend of mine introduced me to the Midori web browser. Its a browser that aims to be lightweight and fast. It has other features like it uses the webkit rendering engine and the GTK+2 interface. So i thought of giving it a try and dowloaded the file midori-0.2.6.tar.bz2 from the following link:

http://www.twotoasts.de/index.php?/pages/midori_summary.html

I also noticed while searching the web that .deb packages were available for Ubuntu users and others who use the Debian package management system in their distro. Thus installation should not be a problem if they the synaptic packet manager as it would resolve the dependencies.

I on the other hand use Fedora 13 on my laptop and thus to work with the tar file provided. So first I unpacked the file with the following command:

# tar -xjvf midori-0.2.6.tar.bz2                      (note the #, I am obviously working as the root)

Then peeked inside the extracted folder and opened the README file to look for instructions for the installation which in turn asked me to read the INSTALL file for the same. So I did, I opened the file and found the a step by step procedure for installing Medori on my system and they are as follows

Step 1

# ./waf configure

This is the first command that needs to be run and it checks your system for the dependencies. Here is the list of things that you need to have in order to install Midori on your system:

gcc, cpp, ar, ranlib, valac, glib-genmarshal, glib-mkenums, rst2html.py, rst2html, msgfmt, intltool-merge, gtk+-2.0, gio-2.0, gthread-2.0, rsvg-convert, x11, unique-1.0, sqlite3, webkit-1.0,

And some other library files, header files and some functions like inet_addr. Now when you are running './waf configure'. It will automatically check for the all the above and if anything really important is missing the process comes to a halt and notifies you of the missing packages that you need to install separately.

For me the folowing three packages were missing.

msgfmt, intltool-merge and gtk+-2.0

So I looked for the rpm package files for these (which were readily available when I searched in Google). I had to download following files:

gettext-0.17-16.1.fc13.i686.rpm for msgfmt

intltool-0.41.1-1.fc13.noarch.rpm for intltool-merge

gtk2-devel-2.20.1-1.fc13.i686.rpm for gtk+-2.0

I installed them with YUM(as i did not want to resolve their dependencies manually)

i.e. # yum install package.rpm

Note: Your system needs to have Python 2.4 or above installed as well (Which is a part of the default package for most distros)

Step 2

Now that we all the programs that we need, the next step is to build.

# ./waf build

Step 3

Finally I installed the package with the following command:

# ./waf install

And thats it. To run the application you can either click on the icon in your applications menu or type the following on the terminal

$ midori

Happy browsing!

5.5 reasons why people should try Linux!

1.Stability – The Linux operating system is probably the best option available if you are looking for stability on your computer. Most major distros come with stable kernel version that hardly ever crash. Unlike Windows it wont through errors at you or simply hang when you login everyday or every time you try run an application.

2.Security – Virus problems anyone? Do you spend most of your time scanning for worms in your HDD or choosing the right anti-virus? How about switching to a virus-free (theoretically debatable) computing environment. All I can say is that I am yet to come across my first virus problem ever since i made the switch. Besides this, distros provide comprehensive security updates covering every loop hole one can think of.

3.Software – what are you looking for? software to convert media files, a tool to edit photos or an IDE for writing your programs. Its all here and more almost any thing that your heart desires. Plus the packet management systems make installing software feel like shopping from your favorite mall.

4.Look and Feel – Lets face it Linux looks good! Both Gnome and KDE desktops are awesome looking and easy to use. They can be easily customized to match your taste. With Compiz you can create stunning 3D effects that will make your friends(windows) envy you.

5.Support– This I believe is the strongest part about Linux. Linux delivers its support mainly through its support forums. These highly efficient forums present in huge numbers and easily accessible to all. They are open to questions of all types and i have always found them to be very helpful towards newbies.

0.5 Its Free – Thats right its free. Free to get, use, change and share.


Anybody game???