How to Install LibreWolf on Linux Mint 21 or 20
If you’re tired of the cookie‑tracking default browser and want a clean, privacy‑first alternative that still feels like Firefox under the hood, LibreWolf is your next stop. In this guide I’ll walk through the quick ways to get it up and running on both Linux Mint 21 (the newer LTS) and 20, with some real‑world tweaks you might need along the way.
Why LibreWolf matters on Linux Mint
LibreWolf strips out telemetry, removes bundled add‑ons that track you, and ships a hardened build of Gecko. If your Mint install has been acting odd after a kernel or driver update—I've seen crashes in the networking stack right after an NVIDIA driver flip—it can be because the stock Firefox pulls in libraries that clash with newer system packages. LibreWolf sidesteps those conflicts by bundling its own lightweight set of libraries, which is why it feels smoother on older hardware and after major updates.
Installing via the official repository (Mint 20)
1. Open a terminal and make sure your package lists are fresh:
sudo apt update
This step pulls the latest repo data; skip it and you’ll get an old version stuck in your cache.
2. Add LibreWolf’s PPA (Personal Package Archive):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:librewolf-community/ppa
The PPA is the easiest way to keep the browser auto‑updated without fiddling with .deb files.
3. Update again to pull in the new repo information:
sudo apt update
4. Install LibreWolf:
sudo apt install librewolf
apt will handle all dependencies and set up a launch icon for you.
5. Launch it from your application menu or run librewolf in the terminal to confirm it starts.
That’s it for Mint 20—no extra fuss, no manual downloads. The downside? The PPA is maintained by volunteers; if you hit a build that doesn’t work with your kernel, you’ll need to wait for the next update.
Installing via Snap (Mint 21 and 20)
If you prefer a sandboxed install or want to stay on the bleeding‑edge without touching PPAs, Snap is a solid fallback:
1. Install snapd if it’s not already present:
sudo apt install snapd
2. Log out and back in (or reboot) so your user can run snaps.
3. Pull the latest LibreWolf from the Snap Store:
sudo snap install librewolf --classic
The --classic flag gives it access to the full file system, which is required for Firefox‑based binaries.
4. Launch via the menu or by typing librewolf in a terminal.
Snap packages auto‑update themselves; you’ll get new security patches faster than with the PPA method, but they’re also larger on disk and can be slower to launch initially.
Troubleshooting common hiccups
- “LibreWolf fails to start after a system upgrade.”
The most common culprit is a broken shared library that was upgraded in the same tick as LibreWolf. Run librewolf --check-features to see which libraries it can’t load, then reinstall or downgrade those packages.
- Driver issues showing up after an NVIDIA update.
If you’ve experienced “kernel panic” or network stalls right after installing a new driver, roll back the kernel with sudo apt install linux-image-<old-version> and reboot. LibreWolf will keep running because its own binaries avoid pulling in the problematic libraries.
- “Cannot open file ‘/usr/lib/firefox/libxul.so’.”
That means your system is still pointing at the stock Firefox library path, which may have been removed during an uninstall. Delete any lingering symlinks with sudo rm /usr/lib/firefox/* and reinstall LibreWolf.
- Performance lag on older machines.
Enable “Hardware acceleration” in the preferences to offload rendering to your GPU—works great if you’re running a recent Mesa stack, but can cause hiccups on very old drivers.
If none of these fixes work, check the LibreWolf GitHub issues page; often a fresh release resolves the problem, or the community will have posted a quick patch.
Happy browsing—and may all your privacy settings stay as tight as your code!
