If you’re a Linux user and a web developer and need to provide support for the Safari browser, the good news is that there are some workarounds to get Safari up and running on Linux. Although you’ll be restricted to Safari 5, this version still has everything you need for surfing the Web.
Installing Safari Browser on Linux
There are two potential workarounds for installing Safari on Linux: using WINE (the compatibility layer, not the drink) or using WINE and PlayOnLinux, which provides a graphical user interface (UI) for WINE. As an added bonus, you can use WINE and PlayOnLinux to install many other Windows applications beside Safari.
How to Install WINE
WINE is one of the most well-known Linux packages and is found in most Software Center/Package managers. In Ubuntu (or Ubuntu-based distro), you can install WINE with the following command: One thing to note is that the WINE version in Ubuntu is pretty outdated. If you want to get the latest stable version of WINE, do the following: The above command is for Ubuntu 21.10 (impish). If you are using version other than Ubuntu 21.10, change the name accordingly (like “bionic,” “xenial,” etc.) WINE will now be installed. For more information, refer to our guide on installing WINE on Linux.
Installing Safari using WINE
Before downloading Safari, we need to create a download and build directory. Once you’ve completed the standard Safari setup, the web browser will be installed, and you can start using Safari on Linux!
Installing Safari Using PlayOnLinux
WINE isn’t always the most user-friendly software, so you may want to consider installing PlayOnLinux, which provides a graphical user interface for the underlying WINE code. The Safari installer will be downloaded to your computer.
Using the Safari Install Wizard in Linux
Once PlayOnLinux is installed, It will display a custom installation wizard that will guide you through the installation of Safari.
Installing a Safari Theme for Firefox in Linux
While using a native Safari 5 client in Linux can be helpful for some users. This particular version of the browser can present some issues, especially if you are visiting modern websites. This is mostly because the Safari 5 browser no longer receives new updates from Apple. As a result, using this version of Safari can result in either broken or insecure websites. For example, it is not possible to access YouTube from a native Safari 5 client. One way of dealing with this issue is to use a modern browser and convert it to look and feel like the Apple browser. For example, it is possible to take Firefox and theme it to look like the modern version of Safari.
Converting Firefox through White Sur GTK
Converting Firefox to look like Safari is relatively simple with the WhiteSur-gtk theme for Firefox. It’s important to note that the installer will not run if Firefox is currently running. Once done, however, you can reload the browser to look at your converted Firefox instance. If all this talk made you curious about what you can do more with Linux. You can check this article where we discuss how you can use sed for basic tasks. Image credit: Unsplash. All screenshots by Ramces Red. Further, this approach also means that removing a program that you previously installed through PlayOnLinux is incredibly simple: press “Right click” on the “Safari 5” entry in the main menu and select “Remove.” Doing that will allow you to remove all the Safari-related files for Firefox as well as delete all theme files from your machine. With that done, the last thing that you need to do is to restart the browser to reload your default settings.
