Today I wanted to install the Google Toolbar with SideWiki on my Debian Linux laptop.

There was only one small problem which was that the Google Toolbar will install fine on Firefox for Linux, but Debian systems come with "Iceweasel" which is a rebranded Firefox distribution.

So the problem here was that when trying to install the Google toolbar, the installation did not proceed and that is because with the Google Toolbar (and many other Firefox extensions, browser plugins, websites, etc.) a check was made before install to ensure that I was using Firefox.

Because I have Iceweasel installed, the browser check showed my useragent to be Iceweasel and not Firefox, and I was denied the ability to install the Google Toolbar with SideWiki.

Luckily, and since Firefox and Iceweasel are bit for bit virtually the same browser, Google Toolbar and most any other Firefox extension can be installed on Iceweasel - provided that the useragent string that Iceweasel uses to identify itself is changed from Iceweasel to Firefox.

You can go into about:config to change Iceweasel's reported useragent name, but there's a simpler more convenient way to do it.

Just install the useragent switcher extension (it will install on Iceweasel) and then download and load a Firefox definition file which will make all web applications think that you're using the "real" Firefox browser.

Here's all you need to do:

  1. Install the User Agent Switcher Extension for Firefox.

    Install it like you would install any Firefox extension. I'll assume you already know how to install an extension.

  2. After you've installed the User Agent Switcher and you're prompted to restart Iceweasel, go ahead and restart your browser.
  3. Now go ahead and download this XML Useragent Switcher definition file which will allow Iceweasel to masquerade itself as Firefox/3.06
  4. Now import the useragent information that you just downloaded into the User Agent Switcher extension by going to (From the Iceweasel menu bar) Tools->Default User Agent->Edit User Agents

    Now the "User Agent Switcher Options" dialog box should pop up.

    From there, click on "Import" and you'll be prompted to select the user agent profile you'd like to load. So navigate to where you downloaded your Firefox useragent file in the previous step, select it, and click "Open".

    Once you've done that, you should see "Firefox/3.0.6 (Debian-3.0.6-3)" as one of the choices you have from the User Agent Switcher.

  5. Click on "Ok" to close the "User Agent Switcher Options" menu.

  6. Now activate the Firefox user agent profile. From Iceweasel's main menu bar, go to Tools->Default User Agent->Click the radio button next to "Firefox/3.0.6 (Debian-3.0.6-3)" 

Once you've completed the steps necessary to install and configure the User Agent Switcher extension to have Iceweasel display a useragent string that makes it look like Firefox, you should test your configuration out to find out if everything worked.

You can check your browser's useragent string right now by clicking here.