Using Firefox in Whonix.

Whonix is not officially associated with Mozilla Firefox. See Disclaimer.

Warning:

In Whonix, for better anonymity it is recommended to use only Tor Browser for browsing the internet. Use of any browsers such as Chromium, Firefox, Opera and others is discouraged. Reasons for that are elaborated on the Tor Browser wiki page.

Whonix is The Everything Tor operating system (OS). All internet traffic is routed through the Tor anonymity network, without exceptions. Whonix is the "All Tor Operating System", featuring reliable IP hiding.

This of course also includes Chromium, Firefox, Opera and other browsers. Due to Whonix's Watertight Privacy Architecture, Whonix provides the strongest protection of your IP address.

The reason why browsers other than Tor Browser are discouraged is because hiding your identity is harder than just hiding your IP. See also IP Hiding is an Outdated Threat Model. This is also elaborated on the Tor Browser wiki page.

Stable Version

Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) is installed by default in Kicksecure^™. It is installed from Debian packages sources.

Other Versions

Rapid Release

For information on how to get the rapid release version of Firefox, please press Expand on the right.

Installation

One option might be to install the rapid release version of Firefox using might be using flatpak from flathub. Special instructions are also required in this case.

Install org.mozilla.firefox via flatpak.

Add a Flatpak repository.

Select your platform.

===

Non-Qubes-Whonix

Already enabled by default. (system-wide). No additional steps needed to enable the Flathub repository.

===

Qubes-Whonix Template (whonix-workstation-17)

Already enabled by default. (system-wide). No additional steps needed to enable the Flathub repository.

Qubes-Whonix App Qube (anon-whonix)

The user needs to Enable the Flathub Repository. Must be enabled per-user.

Install the flatpak org.mozilla.firefox package.

Non-Qubes-Whonix ^[1]

flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

Qubes-Whonix Template (whonix-workstation-17) ^[2]

Note: Advanced users that uninstalled the qubes-core-agent-passwordless-sudo package should see forum thread Warning: Flatpak system operation Deploy not allowed for user.

http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 https_proxy=$http_proxy flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

Qubes-Whonix App Qube (anon-whonix) ^[3]

flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

flatpak --user install flathub org.mozilla.firefox

Done.

The procedure of installing org.mozilla.firefox is complete.

Upgrades notice.

Note: this procedure will not keep the software up-to-date. How to update installation installed by flatpak is also documented on the Operating System Software and Updates wiki page.

Usage

flatpak run org.mozilla.firefox

Update

Non-Qubes-Whonix^™: flatpak update
Qubes-Whonix^™ Template: http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:8082 flatpak update

Qubes Specific

flatpak installed applications do not show up in Qubes start menu

Disclaimer

There are two different entities.

A) Mozilla: Developer of the Mozilla Firefox browser. Versus,
B) Kicksecure: An independent Linux distribution.

Kicksecure is not officially associated with Mozilla Firefox. The Mozilla Firefox logo is trademarked by Mozilla.

Why this disclaimer? See Firefox Potential Legal Risk.

Footnotes

↑
Non-Qubes-Whonix:
- A) system-wide (requires administrative ("root") rights) (compatible with noexec): flatpak install flathub {{{package}}}
- B) per-user (no administrative rights required) (probably not compatible with noexec): flatpak --user install flathub {{{package}}}
What is better? System-wide or per-user?
- usability: Flathub is enabled by default system-wide but not per-user.
- multi-user: On a multi-user system (probably if multiple human users use the same computer, which is rare nowadays), system-wide might be preferable as this saves disk space.
- At preset: Does not make any difference.
- Future-proof: Per-user might be more future-proof. It would be compatible with future Whonix security improvements user-sysmaint-split. However, noexec for the home folder is to be considered later, at which point this documentation needs to be updated once that has been implemented.
↑ Qubes-Whonix Template: flatpak cannot be used with the --user option. This is because in case of using a Qubes Template, the flatpak needs to be installed system-wide into the /var/lib/flatpak folder. This is due to Qubes Persistence. If the --user option was used, the flatpak would only be available in the Template's home folder but not in any App Qube based on that Template, because App Qubes have their own independent home folder.
↑ Qubes-Whonix App Qube: flatpak should be used with the --user option. This is because in case of using an App Qube, the flatpak needs to be installed per-user only into the ~/.local/share/flatpak folder and not system-wide. This is due to Qubes Persistence. If the --user option was not used, the flatpak would only be available in the App Qube's non-persistent /var/lib/flatpak folder located in the root image.

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[1] Non-Qubes-Whonix:
A) system-wide (requires administrative ("root") rights) (compatible with noexec): flatpak install flathub {{{package}}}

B) per-user (no administrative rights required) (probably not compatible with noexec): flatpak --user install flathub {{{package}}}
What is better? System-wide or per-user?
usability: Flathub is enabled by default system-wide but not per-user.

multi-user: On a multi-user system (probably if multiple human users use the same computer, which is rare nowadays), system-wide might be preferable as this saves disk space.

At preset: Does not make any difference.

Future-proof: Per-user might be more future-proof. It would be compatible with future Whonix security improvements user-sysmaint-split. However, noexec for the home folder is to be considered later, at which point this documentation needs to be updated once that has been implemented.

[2] A) system-wide (requires administrative ("root") rights) (compatible with noexec): flatpak install flathub {{{package}}}

[3] B) per-user (no administrative rights required) (probably not compatible with noexec): flatpak --user install flathub {{{package}}}

[4] usability: Flathub is enabled by default system-wide but not per-user.

[5] ulti-user: On a multi-user system (probably if multiple human users use the same computer, which is rare nowadays), system-wide might be preferable as this saves disk space.

[6] At preset: Does not make any difference.

[7] Future-proof: Per-user might be more future-proof. It would be compatible with future Whonix security improvements user-sysmaint-split. However, noexec for the home folder is to be considered later, at which point this documentation needs to be updated once that has been implemented.

[2] Qubes-Whonix Template: flatpak cannot be used with the --user option. This is because in case of using a Qubes Template, the flatpak needs to be installed system-wide into the /var/lib/flatpak folder. This is due to Qubes Persistence. If the --user option was used, the flatpak would only be available in the Template's home folder but not in any App Qube based on that Template, because App Qubes have their own independent home folder.

[3] Qubes-Whonix App Qube: flatpak should be used with the --user option. This is because in case of using an App Qube, the flatpak needs to be installed per-user only into the ~/.local/share/flatpak folder and not system-wide. This is due to Qubes Persistence. If the --user option was not used, the flatpak would only be available in the App Qube's non-persistent /var/lib/flatpak folder located in the root image.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Firefox

Contents

Stable Version

Other Versions