Installation

Two paths. One unmodified browser.

PrivacyFox currently supports Debian and Ubuntu-family Linux. Choose the local package path if you prefer a system-managed install, or run the source installer directly — the latter can even install LibreWolf itself for you on a supported OS.

Before either path

1. LibreWolf, one way or another. Install it yourself from LibreWolf's own official package source, or let Path 02's installer offer to do it for you on a supported OS. No need to launch it first either way — if you never have, the installer creates a profile automatically.

2. Close LibreWolf if it's open. It rewrites profile preferences on exit, so it must not be running while PrivacyFox writes its files. The installer checks for this and refuses to run otherwise.

3. Read what you run. The full source, including the package scripts, is public and MIT licensed.

Already using LibreWolf? Try it risk-free first.

Since user.js lives entirely inside your profile folder, you can test PrivacyFox against a completely fresh profile without touching your real one at all — and undo it completely if you don't like it.

  1. 1. Close LibreWolf, then rename your existing profile folder out of the way: mv ~/.librewolf ~/.librewolf.bak (if your install already uses the newer XDG path instead, back up ~/.config/librewolf/librewolf instead)
  2. 2. Launch LibreWolf once — this creates a brand new, empty profile — then close it again.
  3. 3. Run either install path above against this fresh profile.
  4. 4. Like it? Delete ~/.librewolf.bak — you're done.
  5. 5. Don't like it? Delete the new ~/.librewolf, rename ~/.librewolf.bak back to ~/.librewolf, and restart LibreWolf — everything is exactly as it was.

One caveat: policies.json is system-wide, not per-profile — installing the package affects every LibreWolf profile on the machine the moment you install it, including your real one, regardless of which profile you're actively testing against.

Path 01 / Debian package

Recommended

Install the local .deb, then apply your profile.

The package installs system-wide policy configuration and the privacyfox command (--apply/--revert). A separate user command is intentional: Debian package scripts cannot safely write into a particular person’s home directory.

  1. 1

    Download the package

    wget -q https://github.com/rjc3rd/PrivacyFox/releases/download/v0.3.2/privacyfox_0.3.2_all.deb
  2. 2

    Install it as an administrator

    sudo apt install -y -qq ./privacyfox_0.3.2_all.deb
rm privacyfox_0.3.2_all.deb

    The second line is optional tidiness — apt keeps everything it needs from the package internally, the downloaded file itself is safe to remove.

  3. 3

    Apply your profile as yourself

    privacyfox --apply

    No sudo for this step. It writes the hardening file and cosmetic cleanup into your own LibreWolf profile.

Path 02 / Direct source install

Run the repository’s installer directly.

This path layers the same three files straight onto the existing LibreWolf installation and profile. It asks for sudo only for the system-level policy file; profile files remain yours. LibreWolf itself doesn't even need to be installed yet — it offers to add LibreWolf's own official APT repo (via extrepo, Debian's own trusted-repo tool) and install it for you first, the same three commands working universally across Debian-based distros.

  1. 1

    Clone the public source

    git clone https://github.com/rjc3rd/PrivacyFox.git
cd PrivacyFox
  2. 2

    Run the installer

    ./install.sh

    The installer locates LibreWolf and its default profile, then reports each configuration file it applies.

Why no one-line curl pipe? PrivacyFox is deliberately a repository you can inspect before it changes your browser. Clone or download it, read it, then run it.

After installation

Open LibreWolf yourself, hardened — then verify the pieces.

Both paths back up existing policies.json and user.js files before overwriting them. Neither one launches LibreWolf for you when it's done — you're in charge of opening and closing your own browser.

One thing to expect the first time you open it afterward, completely normal: the seven policy-managed extensions take a couple of minutes to actually finish installing in the background — give it a moment before assuming something's wrong.

  1. 1. Open about:policies. Confirm the browser recognizes the active policy.
  2. 2. Open about:addons. Confirm the seven policy-managed extensions appear (give it a minute or two).
  3. 3. Read and adapt. Inspect the source if a privacy preference conflicts with how you use the web.

Changed your mind? Uninstall cleanly.

Two commands, in this order — --revert first, since purge removes the command that does it:

privacyfox --revert
sudo apt purge privacyfox

--revert restores the newest pre-PrivacyFox backup of your profile's user.js and userContent.css — made automatically every time privacyfox --apply runs — or removes the file outright if no backup exists, meaning that profile had neither before PrivacyFox touched it. sudo apt purge then handles the system side: deletes the system policies.json and any backups — Accounts is no longer disabled by policy, and the extensions stop being centrally managed.

Current scope

Linux automation today. Standard Gecko files underneath.

The policies.json, user.js, and userContent.css mechanisms are not Linux-specific. Manual Windows and macOS placement can use the same configuration, but an automated installer for those platforms has not been built.

Open the PrivacyFox repository →