# www/opera status



## YuryG (Aug 24, 2016)

I have simple question about port www/opera. It is not compiling from source, is it? That is, there's no real code compiling when I try to install the port. And what's the reason?


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## Murph (Aug 24, 2016)

Looks like the port is building fine for the official packaging: http://portsmon.freebsd.org/portoverview.py?category=www&portname=opera

We can't possibly offer support with port building when we know nothing about your system, not even the version of FreeBSD, and you don't provide the output from trying to build it.


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## MarcoB (Aug 24, 2016)

Opera is closed source software. The freebsd version in the ports is the last one supported. Newer versions are only for linux/mac/windows.


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## YuryG (Aug 24, 2016)

I mean, I see no real `CC` commands execution during `make` command from /usr/ports/www/opera (unlike www/firefox or www/chromium, for example). I haven't said that it did not work.


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## YuryG (Aug 24, 2016)

There's a page http://sourcecode.opera.com/ that make me confused it still is opensourced.


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## MarcoB (Aug 24, 2016)

Opera from ports gets only installed. No compiling here because it's closed source.


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## MarcoB (Aug 24, 2016)

YuryG said:


> There's a page http://sourcecode.opera.com/ that make me confused I still is opensourced.


Hmm, I didn't know this. Now I'm a little bit confused too. Maybe it only needs to get ported to FreeBSD.


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## YuryG (Aug 24, 2016)

And what about newer Linux versions? Impossible to use?


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## MarcoB (Aug 24, 2016)

My guess is that it would need the 64-bit linuxulator, which is available in FreeBSD 11. Other option is porting to FreeBSD, but that is a little bit more complex.


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## Murph (Aug 24, 2016)

Taking a deeper look at Opera, I noticed that it now seems to be controlled by Chinese interests.  Given the Chinese government's general attitudes towards censorship, alleged cyber attacks, and general human rights, I personally would not be willing to trust it any more.  Sadly, that government has the ability to both force extremely well hidden malware into the code and suppress the fact that it has been inserted.


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## YuryG (Aug 24, 2016)

Don't know about censorship and possible malware, but on my weak Windows laptop, being advertised as fast, Opera is the slowest browser (among others Firefox, Chromium and IE).


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## Phishfry (Aug 24, 2016)

Wow, I did not hear about that. Opera sold to Chinese consortium for $600 million.

Makes me wonder about this recent news:

_On 20 April 2016, Opera announced that free VPN is integrated in the developer's browser to support the private network_


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## abishai (Aug 24, 2016)

Opera has very sad history. They abandoned their original engine (Presto) and switched to Webkit. I remember some drama on russian forums, as Opera positions in Russia was traditionally strong. So, basically, browser becomes just another Chromium clone. They ignored petition to open source presto engine and later, when they lost all of their market positions, they sold Opera trademark to China. Version in ports is just the last version one may want to try (however, I must tell it's almost obsolete nowadays and buggy, most of devs was fired). If you wish recent versions, just go Chromium with some plugins or Yandex Browser, they adopted some of Opera's ideas.


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## Oko (Aug 25, 2016)

YuryG said:


> I have simple question about port www/opera. It is not compiling from source, is it? That is, there's no real code compiling when I try to install the port. And what's the reason?


Opera is dead! Have you been living under a rock?


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## Deleted member 48958 (Aug 25, 2016)

Yes, Opera browser is a Chrome clone now,
it's using the same engine — blink.
So I suggest you to install www/chromium ,
I think it's a better option for now, also there is a new browser from devs of old Opera — Vivaldi,
it's also use blink engine, like Chrome, but some features from old Opera (<= 15 version) are available.
But it isn't avaible for FreeBSD for now, only Win and Linux.


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## drhowarddrfine (Aug 25, 2016)

ILUXA said:


> Opera browser is a Chrome clone now,
> it's using the same engine — blink.


That is the rendering engine only, though Opera also uses the same javascript engine, too. The user interface and a lot of the internals are different.


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## Deleted member 48958 (Aug 25, 2016)

drhowarddrfine said:


> That is the rendering engine only, though Opera also uses the same javascript engine, too. The user interface and a lot of the internals are different.


You tried to use it? In my experience it's a very chrome-like browser.
It has few extra extensions and options, but it don't make much difference IMHO.

Also "rendering engine" means a lot for me, because it determines how browser work with web pages,
it's a "heart" of browser. I "feel" when I use gecko browser, or webkit browser. All engines have its own properties.
All the rest is a theming and default options, which can be extended with extensions. (Also toolkit (GTK2/3/qt) is a very important component IMHO).


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## Atsuri (Aug 25, 2016)

Oko said:


> Opera is dead! Have you been living under a rock?


This. I tried running our Opera version from www/opera and unfortunately, it suffers from some serious memory leaks and is overly buggy. Not to mention the possible vulnerabilities one exposes the computer to when running a vastly outdated browser.

On Lubuntu I once had a look at the Opera 30+ .deb that is officially provided at http://www.opera.com/download. It can be unpacked and run from the attached binary without a problem. However, that's on GNU/Linux. If one is specifically interested in our Opera port, both the related pages in the Handbook and the port entry need a major overhaul.


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## drhowarddrfine (Aug 25, 2016)

ILUXA said:


> You tried to use it? In my experience it's a very chrome-like browser.


I own a web dev company. I use it every day all day long*.  When I drive a Chevy, it's very Ford-like, but I would never consider them to be a clone of each other.

Atsuri Specifically, what memory leaks have you uncovered that no one else has? My web dev company ran that browser all day, every day, and even have online friends at Opera, but this is the first I've ever heard of that. Also, Opera uses the same rendering engine and javascript engine as Chromium/Chrome and is updated on a regular basis just like every other browser vendor does. Specifically, what do you think is "vastly outdated"? According to this respected test, it outpaces Firefox, Safari and Edge (though Edge is easy to outrun). You might check here, too.

* That's a lie. The largest company we managed got too big for us, and they're the only one that had Opera visitors, so we don't test in Opera anymore cause none of our other clients have any visitors with Opera.


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## Murph (Aug 25, 2016)

drhowarddrfine said:


> I own a web dev company. I use it every day all day long*.  When I drive a Chevy, it's very Ford-like, but I would never consider them to be a clone of each other.


The thing is, in that analogy, the engine and chassis are not shared between Ford and Chevy (in general; I'm sure there will be exceptions to that through history).  In this case, the engine, chassis, and running gear of Chrome are directly cloned into Opera, then have minor modifications made before being fitted with an Opera body shell, interior, and accessories.  Sometimes the latter does make a very big difference, such as when Rolls Royce used BMW 7-series chassis, engine, and running gear; but more commonly it's a very small cosmetic difference.


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## Atsuri (Aug 25, 2016)

drhowarddrfine said:


> (...)
> Atsuri Specifically, what memory leaks have you uncovered that no one else has? My web dev company ran that browser all day, every day, and even have online friends at Opera, but this is the first I've ever heard of that. Also, Opera uses the same rendering engine and javascript engine as Chromium/Chrome and is updated on a regular basis just like every other browser vendor does. Specifically, what do you think is "vastly outdated"? According to this respected test, it outpaces Firefox, Safari and Edge (though Edge is easy to outrun). You might check here, too.(...)


I wrote about the old Opera version that we have in the ports tree. It's  the old 12.16 version, not the 30+ I later refer to in my post. My apologies if I was misunderstood . According to Opera's website the 12.16 version is outdated and even the browser itself claims it is so. The first thing it does on start is requesting the user to update.


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## drhowarddrfine (Aug 25, 2016)

Murph said:


> The thing is, in that analogy, the engine and chassis are not shared between Ford and Chevy.


 the only thing shared between opera and chrome are the engines. Otherwise, what's the point?

There are a lot of services and utilities available on opera that are not on chrome or different but I'm out of town now and hate typing on a phone


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## morbit (Aug 26, 2016)

I was a long time user of the old Opera on multiple platforms. It was far superior on FreeBSD to Firefox too. Though now that I was forced to make a switch to the latter, it works very well for me, I guess it had matured finally *knocks wood*.


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## rigoletto@ (Sep 6, 2016)

I am using Opera 39 on my Linux box and I do not experience anything slow there. The new built in ad blocker works better than any onther (IMO). I do not use the VPN but the others integrated features are very good (IMO).

After the Chinese deal I tried a come back to Firefox but I miss some things of Opera...

I tried Vivaldi but I found it too slow. Thought, Vivalvi also realease its source code.

Cheers!


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## morbit (Sep 6, 2016)

I'm curious what you miss from Opera?


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## rigoletto@ (Sep 6, 2016)

Nothing specific indeed, but the experience in general. The Opera "Speed Dial" works very well for me while Firefox I find useless.

EDIT: just to point out I was not a user of the "old" Opera.


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