Installing qutebrowser
======================

toc::[]

NOTE: qutebrowser recently had some bigger dependency changes for v1.0.0, which
means those instructions might be out of date in some places.
https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/blob/master/doc/contributing.asciidoc[Please help]
updating them if you notice something being broken!

On Debian / Ubuntu
------------------

How to install qutebrowser depends a lot on the version of Debian/Ubuntu you're
running.

Debian Jessie / Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / Linux Mint < 18
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those distributions only have Python 3.4 and a too old Qt version available,
while qutebrowser requires Python 3.5 and Qt 5.7.1 or newer.

It should be possible to install Python 3.5 e.g. from the
https://launchpad.net/~deadsnakes/+archive/ubuntu/ppa[deadsnakes PPA] or via
https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv[pyenv], but nobody tried that yet.

If you get qutebrowser running on those distributions, please
https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/blob/master/doc/contributing.asciidoc[contribute]
to update this documentation!

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS / Linux Mint 18
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ubuntu 16.04 doesn't come with an up-to-date engine (a new enough QtWebKit, or
QtWebEngine). However, it comes with Python 3.5, so you can
<<tox,install qutebrowser via tox>>.

You'll need some basic libraries to use the tox-installed PyQt:

----
# apt install libglib2.0-0 libgl1 libfontconfig1 libx11-xcb1 libxi6 libxrender1 libdbus-1-3
----

Debian Stretch / Ubuntu 17.04 and 17.10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those versions come with QtWebEngine in the repositories. This makes it possible
to install qutebrowser via the Debian package.

You'll need to download three packages:

- https://packages.debian.org/sid/all/python3-pypeg2/download[PyPEG2] (a library
  used by qutebrowser which is not in the earlier repositories)
- https://packages.debian.org/sid/all/qutebrowser/download[qutebrowser] itself
- Either https://packages.debian.org/sid/all/qutebrowser-qtwebengine/download[qutebrowser-qtwebengine]
  or https://packages.debian.org/sid/all/qutebrowser-qtwebkit/download[qutebrowser-qtwebkit]
  (or both) depending on the backend you want to use. QtWebEngine is the
  default/recommended choice.

After downloading, install the packages (make sure to install all the
downloaded qutebrowser deb files in one apt command):

----
# apt install ./python3-pypeg2_*_all.deb
# apt install ./qutebrowser*.deb
----

For an update after the initial install, you only need to download/install the
qutebrowser package.

Debian Testing / Ubuntu 18.04
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Debian Testing, qutebrowser is in the official repositories, and you can
install it with apt:

----
# apt install qutebrowser
----

Additional hints
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Alternatively, you can <<tox,install qutebrowser via tox>> to get a newer
  QtWebEngine version.
- If running from git, run the following to generate the documentation for the
  `:help` command:
+
----
# apt install --no-install-recommends asciidoc source-highlight
$ python3 scripts/asciidoc2html.py
----

- If you prefer using QtWebKit, there's an up-to-date version available in
  https://packages.debian.org/buster/libqt5webkit5[Debian Testing].
- If video or sound don't work with QtWebKit, try installing the gstreamer plugins:
+
----
# apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-{bad,base,good,ugly}
----

On Fedora
---------

NOTE: Fedora's packages used to be outdated for a long time, but are
now (November 2017) maintained and up-to-date again.

qutebrowser is available in the official repositories:

-----
# dnf install qutebrowser
-----

However, note that Fedora 25/26 won't be updated to qutebrowser v1.0, so you
might want to <<tox,install qutebrowser via tox>> instead there.

Additional hints
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fedora only ships free software in the repositories.
To be able to play videos with proprietary codecs with QtWebEngine, you will
need to install an additional package from the RPM Fusion Free repository.
For more information see https://rpmfusion.org/Configuration.

-----
# dnf install qt5-qtwebengine-freeworld
-----

On Archlinux
------------

qutebrowser is available in the official [community] repository.

----
# pacman -S qutebrowser
----

There is also a -git version available in the AUR:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/qutebrowser-git/[qutebrowser-git].

You can install it using `makepkg` like this:

----
$ git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/qutebrowser-git.git
$ cd qutebrowser-git
$ makepkg -si
$ cd ..
$ rm -r qutebrowser-git
----

or you could use an AUR helper, e.g. `yaourt -S qutebrowser-git`.

If video or sound don't work with QtWebKit, try installing the gstreamer plugins:

----
# pacman -S gst-plugins-{base,good,bad,ugly} gst-libav
----

On Gentoo
---------

NOTE: Gentoo's packages used to be severely outdated for a long time, but are
now (October 2017) maintained and up-to-date again.

qutebrowser is available in the main repository and can be installed with:

----
# emerge -av qutebrowser
----

To use QtWebKit instead of QtWebEngine, you'll need a newer QtWebKit using
https://gist.github.com/annulen/309569fb61e5d64a703c055c1e726f71[this ebuild].

If video or sound don't work with QtWebKit, try installing the gstreamer
plugins:

----
# emerge -av gst-plugins-{base,good,bad,ugly,libav}
----

To be able to play videos with proprietary codecs with QtWebEngine, you will
need to turn off the `bindist` flag for `dev-qt/qtwebengine`.

See the https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Qutebrowser#USE_flags[Gentoo Wiki] for
more information.

On Void Linux
-------------

qutebrowser is available in the official repositories and can be installed
with:

----
# xbps-install qutebrowser
----

It's currently recommended to install `python3-PyQt5-webengine` and
`python3-PyQt5-opengl`, then start with `--backend webengine` to use the new
backend.

Since the v1.0 release, qutebrowser uses QtWebEngine by default.

On NixOS
--------

Nixpkgs collection contains `pkgs.qutebrowser` since June 2015. You can install
it with:

----
$ nix-env -i qutebrowser
----

It's recommended to install `qt5.qtwebengine` and start with
`--backend webengine` to use the new backend.

Since the v1.0 release, qutebrowser uses QtWebEngine by default.

On openSUSE
-----------

There are prebuilt RPMs available at https://software.opensuse.org/download.html?project=network&package=qutebrowser[OBS].

To use the QtWebEngine backend, install `libqt5-qtwebengine`.

On OpenBSD
----------

WARNING: OpenBSD only packages a legacy unmaintained version of QtWebKit (for
which support was dropped in qutebrowser v1.0). It's advised to not use
qutebrowser from OpenBSD ports for untrusted websites.

qutebrowser is in http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/www/qutebrowser/[OpenBSD ports].

Install the package:

----
# pkg_add qutebrowser
----

Or alternatively, use the ports system :

----
# cd /usr/ports/www/qutebrowser
# make install
----

On FreeBSD
----------

qutebrowser is in https://www.freshports.org/www/qutebrowser/[FreeBSD ports].

It can be installed with:

----
# cd /usr/ports/www/qutebrowser
# make install clean
----

At present, precompiled packages are not available for this port,
and QtWebEngine backend is also not available.

On Windows
----------

There are different ways to install qutebrowser on Windows:

Prebuilt binaries
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prebuilt standalone packages and installers
https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/releases[are built] for every
release.

Note that you'll need to upgrade to new versions manually (subscribe to the
https://lists.schokokeks.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/qutebrowser-announce[qutebrowser-announce
mailinglist] to get notified on new releases). You can install a newer version
without uninstalling the older one.

The binary release ships with a QtWebEngine built without proprietary codec
support. To get support for e.g. h264/h265 videos, you'll need to build
QtWebEngine from source yourself with support for that enabled.

https://chocolatey.org/packages/qutebrowser[Chocolatey package]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* PackageManagement PowerShell module
----
PS C:\> Install-Package qutebrowser
----
* Chocolatey's client
----
C:\> choco install qutebrowser
----
* Scoop's client
----
C:\> scoop bucket add extras
C:\> scoop install qutebrowser
----

Manual install
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Use the installer from http://www.python.org/downloads[python.org] to get
Python 3 (be sure to install pip).
* Install https://testrun.org/tox/latest/index.html[tox] via
https://pip.pypa.io/en/latest/[pip]:

----
$ pip install tox
----

Then <<tox,install qutebrowser via tox>>.

On macOS
--------

Prebuilt binary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The easiest way to install qutebrowser on macOS is to use the prebuilt `.app`
files from the
https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser/releases[release page].

Note that you'll need to upgrade to new versions manually (subscribe to the
https://lists.schokokeks.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/qutebrowser-announce[qutebrowser-announce
mailinglist] to get notified on new releases).

The binary release ships with a QtWebEngine built without proprietary codec
support. To get support for e.g. h264/h265 videos, you'll need to build
QtWebEngine from source yourself with support for that enabled.

This binary is also available through the
https://caskroom.github.io/[Homebrew Cask] package manager:

----
$ brew cask install qutebrowser
----

Manual Install
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alternatively, you can install the dependencies via a package manager (like
http://brew.sh/[Homebrew] or https://www.macports.org/[MacPorts]) and run
qutebrowser from source.

==== Homebrew

----
$ brew install qt5
$ pip3 install qutebrowser
----

Since the v1.0 release, qutebrowser uses QtWebEngine by default.

Homebrew's builds of Qt and PyQt don't come with QtWebKit (and `--with-qtwebkit`
uses an old version of QtWebKit which qutebrowser doesn't support anymore). If
you want QtWebKit support, you'll need to build an up-to-date QtWebKit
https://github.com/annulen/webkit/wiki/Building-QtWebKit-on-OS-X[manually].

Packagers
---------

There are example .desktop and icon files provided. They would go in the
standard location for your distro (`/usr/share/applications` and
`/usr/share/pixmaps` for example).

The normal `setup.py install` doesn't install these files, so you'll have to do
it as part of the packaging process.

[[tox]]
Installing qutebrowser with tox
-------------------------------

Getting the repository
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First of all, clone the repository using http://git-scm.org/[git] and switch
into the repository folder:

----
$ git clone https://github.com/qutebrowser/qutebrowser.git
$ cd qutebrowser
----

Installing dependencies (including Qt)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then run tox inside the qutebrowser repository to set up a
https://docs.python.org/3/library/venv.html[virtual environment]:

----
$ tox -e mkvenv-pypi
----

If your system comes with Python 3.5.3 or older (such as Ubuntu 16.04 LTS), use
`tox -e mkvenv-pypi-old` instead. This installs an older Qt version (5.10) due
to bugs in newer versions.

This installs all needed Python dependencies in a `.venv` subfolder.

This comes with an up-to-date Qt/PyQt including QtWebEngine, but has a few
caveats:

- Make sure your `python3` is Python 3.5 or newer, otherwise you'll get a "No
  matching distribution found" error. Note that qutebrowser itself also requires
  this.
- It only works on 64-bit x86 systems, with other architectures you'll get the
  same error.
- If your distribution uses OpenSSL 1.1 (like Debian Stretch or Archlinux),
  you'll need to set `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` to the OpenSSL 1.0 directory
  (`export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib/openssl-1.0` on Archlinux) before starting
  qutebrowser if you want SSL to work in certain downloads (e.g. for
  `:adblock-update` or `:download`).
- It comes with a QtWebEngine compiled without proprietary codec support (such
  as h.264).

See the next section for an alternative.

Installing dependencies (system-wide Qt)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alternatively, you can use `tox -e mkvenv` (without `-pypi`) to symlink your
local Qt install instead of installing PyQt in the virtualenv. However, unless
you have a new QtWebKit or QtWebEngine available, qutebrowser will not work. It
also typically means you'll be using an older release of QtWebEngine.

On Windows, run `set PYTHON=C:\path\to\python.exe` (CMD) or ``$Env:PYTHON =
"..."` (Powershell) first.

Creating a wrapper script
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Running `tox` does not install a system-wide `qutebrowser` script. You can
launch qutebrowser by doing:

----
.venv/bin/python3 -m qutebrowser
----

You can create a simple wrapper script to start qutebrowser somewhere in your
`$PATH` (e.g. `/usr/local/bin/qutebrowser` or `~/bin/qutebrowser`):

----
#!/bin/bash
~/path/to/qutebrowser/.venv/bin/python3 -m qutebrowser "$@"
----

Building the docs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To build the documentation, install `asciidoc` (note that LaTeX which comes as
optional/recommended dependency with some distributions is not required).

Then, run:

----
$ python3 scripts/asciidoc2html.py
----

Updating
~~~~~~~~

When you updated your local copy of the code (e.g. by pulling the git repo, or
extracting a new version), the virtualenv should automatically use the updated
code. However, if dependencies got added, this won't be reflected in the
virtualenv. Thus it's recommended to run the following command to recreate the
virtualenv:

----
$ tox -r -e mkvenv-pypi
----
