Opera may not be one of the most used and famous web browsers today, but it is a fast browser and offers many useful features. It is supported on nearly all major OS platforms such as Windows, Linux, and Mac. Its main feature because of which most of the users preferred it is its built-in browser-based VPN. Some of its other features are as follows:
- Built-in Adblocker
- Pop-up blocking
- Saves battery
- Video pop-out
- Snapshot tool
This article explains the installation of the Opera browser in a Debian OS. We will describe both the command line and the GUI ways of installing the Opera browser in your system.
The commands and procedures mentioned in this article are performed on a Debian 10 system.
Install Opera via command line
To open the command line application in the Debian OS, go to the Activities tab located in the top left corner of your desktop. Then by using the search bar, search for the Terminal. When the Terminal icon appears, click on it to open.
Method 1 # Download and Install Opera from Official website
Follow the below steps in order to download and install Opera from the official website using the Terminal.
1. Enter the following command in Terminal in order to download Opera using the wget command.
$ wget https://download3.operacdn.com/pub/opera/desktop/60.0.3255.27/linux/opera-stable_60.0.3255.27_amd64.deb
It will take a while depending upon the network speed. The downloaded package will be saved in the current working directory as the .deb file.
2. Once downloaded, run the following command in Terminal in order to install the .deb package.
$ sudo dpkg -i opera-stable_60.0.3255.27_amd64.deb
Now the Opera browser will be successfully installed on your system. To launch Opera, simply type the following command in the Terminal:
$ opera
Remove Opera
In order to remove Opera browser installed via above method, enter the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo dpkg –r opera-stable
The Opera browser will now be removed from your system.
Method 2 # Install Opera from the official repository
Opera is not available in the Debian OS core repositories. So in order to install it, we will need to manually add its repository to our Debian system. Follow the below steps to add the repository and install Opera:
1. First, enter the following command in Terminal to add GPG key for Opera’s repository.
$ wget -qO- https://deb.opera.com/archive.key | sudo apt-key add –
If the results shows OK, then it will mean that the GPG key has been added successfully.
2. Now run the following command in order to add Opera’s repository to your Debian system:
$ sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=i386,amd64] https://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free"
3. After adding the repository, update the local apt repository using the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo apt update
4. As our system has been updated with the Opera repository, now we can install Opera by running the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo apt install opera-stable
The system will ask for confirmation by providing you with a Y/n option. Hit y to confirm and the Opera will be installed on your system.
Once installed you can launch the newly installed Opera browser by typing the following command in Terminal:
$ opera
Remove Opera
1. In case, you want to remove Opera via command line, enter the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo apt-get remove opera-stable
2. The above command will uninstall Opera but will not remove the repository residing on the system. To remove that too, enter the following command:
$ sudo apt-delete-repository "deb [arch=i386,amd64] https://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free
3. You can remove the GPG keys too that you have added for installation. To find the key, enter the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo apt-key list
It will list all the keys added to your system.
4. From the above list, find the key for opera. Once you find the key, note down the last 8 characters that is the key ID. Then delete the key as follows:
$ sudo apt-key del key-ID
Opera will now be removed from your system completely.
Method # 3 Install Opera via Snap
Opera browser can also be installed via snap package. But before that, we will need to first install snapd in our system. For that, run the following commands in Terminal:
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install snapd
Now in order to install Opera snap package, run the following command in Terminal:
$ snap install opera
Remove Opera
In order to remove Opera installed via snap, run the following command in Terminal:
$ sudo snap remove opera
Install Opera via GUI
For those who are not comfortable with the command line can use the following graphical way to install Opera.
Install Opera .deb package downloaded from the official website
Open the following Opera Official page to download Opera for Linux.
https://www.opera.com/download?os=linux
When the page opens, click on the Download now button to download the .deb package of Opera.
By clicking the Download now button, you will see the following dialog box. Click the Save File button and the Opera package will then be saved to your Downloads directory.
Now go to the Downloads directory using the File manager. Locate the downloaded package and right-click it. From the menu that appears, select the Open with Other Application.
You will see the following Select Application dialog box. Choose the Software Install option and then click Select.
Next you will see the following installer opened in the Debian Software center. Click the Install button in order to install the Opera browser.
The following authentication dialog box will appear. Enter the password for the authorized user and click Authenticate.
The installation process will be started and you will see the progress bar as shown in the following screenshot.
When the installation will be completed, you will see the following dialog box.
You can launch Opera by searching it from the application list.
Remove Opera
In case you want to remove opera via GUI method, go to the Downloads directory and right-click the opera .deb package. Select Open with Other Application and next choose the Software Install option.
From there, you can remove the Opera by clicking the Remove button. By doing so, a dialog box will appear, again click on the Remove button and you will be asked to provide an authentication password. Enter the password and click the Authenticate button. Now the Opera browser will be removed from your system.
In this article, we have learned how to install Opera browser using the different command line and GUI ways. Now you can set the newly installed Opera as your default browser. How to achieve that depends on the browser, but nearly all browsers allow you to do this. Enjoy the faster browsing experience with Opera!