I would like Ubuntu to automatically use the Tor Browser as its default browser. As it launches from the script start-tor-browser and is perhaps not truly "installed" in the same way as Firefox or Chrome, I can't figure out how to do so even after looking at these relevant answers:
How can I set the Tor Browser as my default browser in Ubuntu and open the appropriate files as "New Window"s in Tor Browser even if the Tor Browser is already up, running, and connected?
Ubuntu 14.04
The default browser is determined by the x-www-browser alternative.
In order to add the Tor browser to the list of available options, you have to run this command:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/x-www-browser x-www-browser /path/to/torbrowser/executable 1
Then, you need to select it as the default by using
sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser
You may also do the same for gnome-www-browser as well.
Note that this is a system-wide change. If you're looking to change it for just your user, let me know.
In order to set this is the default for a single user, a little more work may be required (but not much).
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/torbrowser.desktop
Paste the following into the file and save (be sure to use the real path of the Tor browser script):
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Icon[en_US]=browser
Name[en_US]=Tor Browser
Exec=/path/to/tor/browser
Name=Tor Browser
Icon=browser
Then, execute the command:
xdg-settings set default-web-browser torbrowser.desktop
This approach sets Tor Browser as default browser for a single user. It also makes Tor Browser open a new tab when a link is opened from the operating system.
This script should have the same effect as manually following the instructions below it. For execution it needs the environment variable TOR_BROWSER_PATH set to your PATH/TO/tor-browser_LANG.
#!/bin/bash
set -e
set -x
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
cat > ~/.local/share/applications/torbrowser.desktop << EOF
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Tor Browser
GenericName=Web Browser
Comment=Tor Browser is +1 for privacy and -1 for mass surveillance
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;Security;
Exec=$(realpath "$TOR_BROWSER_PATH")/Browser/start-tor-browser --detach --allow-remote %u
Icon=$(realpath "$TOR_BROWSER_PATH")/Browser/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png
StartupWMClass=Tor Browser
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/unknown;x-scheme-handler/about;x-scheme-handler/https;x-scheme-handler/http;text/html;
EOF
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications
xdg-settings set default-web-browser torbrowser.desktop
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
cat > ~/.local/bin/firefox << 'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/firefox --no-remote "$@"
EOF
chmod u+x ~/.local/bin/firefox
if ! (echo "$PATH" | tr ":" "\n" | grep ~/.local/bin); then
cat >> ~/.profile << 'EOF'
if [ -d "$HOME/.local/bin" ] ; then
PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
fi
EOF
fi
You may need to log out and log in from your Linux to make the settings apply.
Open up the terminal application. Then type or copy&paste the following commands into the terminal:
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
gedit ~/.local/share/applications/torbrowser.desktop
Insert the following into the editor which opened up:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Tor Browser
GenericName=Web Browser
Comment=Tor Browser is +1 for privacy and -1 for mass surveillance
Categories=Network;WebBrowser;Security;
Exec=PATH/TO/tor-browser_LANG/Browser/start-tor-browser --detach --allow-remote %u
Icon=PATH/TO/tor-browser_LANG/Browser/browser/chrome/icons/default/default128.png
StartupWMClass=Tor Browser
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/unknown;x-scheme-handler/about;x-scheme-handler/https;x-scheme-handler/http;text/html;
Replace PATH/TO/tor-browser_LANG by the appropriate path.
Save the file and close the editor. Then run the following commands in the Terminal:
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications
xdg-settings set default-web-browser torbrowser.desktop
Finished! You should now have Tor Browser in your launcher menu.
Try to open a link from the Terminal with the following command. It should now open in Tor Browser. Make sure no other standard-Firefox windows are open before.
xdg-open "https://askubuntu.com"
As Tor Browser uses a modified Firefox under the hood, and Firefox tries to run as a single instance, links could now open in an already running Firefox instance instead of Tor Browser. To work around this, we need to ask the standard Firefox to not accept remote commands.
In the terminal, run these commands:
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
gedit ~/.local/bin/firefox
Paste this into the editor:
#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/firefox --no-remote "$@"
Save and close, then run these commands:
chmod u+x ~/.local/bin/firefox
echo "$PATH" | tr ":" "\n" | grep ~/.local/bin
If the last command did have a (bold red) line containing .local/bin as output, you have finished here. If not, run the following:
gedit ~/.profile
Add this to the end of the file, save, and close:
if [ -d "$HOME/.local/bin" ] ; then
PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
fi
You may need to log out and log in from your Linux to make the settings apply.
The only restriction I found with this approach is, that it is not possible to open new tabs in a running standard Firefox instance from outside of Firefox then.
System-wide installation of Tor Browser is not recommended for privacy reasons (not quite sure).
