Install Opera Browser on openSUSE Leap 15

Opera is a freeware, cross-platform web browser developed by Opera Software and operates as a Chromium-based browser. Opera offers a clean, modern web browser that is an alternative to the other major players in the Browser race. Its famous Opera Turbo mode and its renowned battery-saving mode are the best amongst all known web browsers by quite a margin, along with a built-in VPN and much more.

In the following tutorial, you will learn how to install Opera Browser on openSUSE Leap 15.

Prerequisites

• Recommended OS: openSUSE Leap – 15.x.
• User account: A user account with sudo or root access.
• Required Packages: wget

The tutorial will use the terminal for installation found in  Activities> Show Applications > Terminal.

Example:

Update Operating System

Update your openSUSE operating system to make sure all existing packages are up to date:

sudo zypper refresh

Once refreshed, run the update command.

sudo zypper update

The tutorial will be using the sudo command and assuming you have sudo status.

To verify sudo status on your account:

sudo whoami

Example output showing sudo status:

[joshua@opensuse ~]$ sudo whoami
root

To set up an existing or new sudo account, visit our tutorial on adding a User to Sudoers on openSUSE.

To use the root account, use the following command with the root password to log in.

su

Create & Import Opera Repository on openSUSE Leap

By default, Opera Browser is not included in the standard openSUSE repositories. However, you can quickly create and import the official repository on your system by doing the following.

First, copy and paste the following into your openSUSE terminal to create the repository.

sudo tee /etc/zypp/repos.d/opera.repo <<RPMREPO
[opera]
name=Opera packages
type=rpm-md
baseurl=https://rpm.opera.com/rpm
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://rpm.opera.com/rpmrepo.key
enabled=1
autorefresh=1
keeppackages=0
RPMREPO

Next, import the GPG to verify the authenticity of the package.

sudo rpm --import https://rpm.opera.com/rpmrepo.key

Now refresh your repository cache to make sure everything is in working order.

sudo zypper refresh

If you followed the tutorial and already imported the GPG key, this should work quickly without any prompts for GPG importing.

Install Opera Browser on openSUSE Leap

Now that you have imported the repository, you can install Opera using the following command.

sudo zypper install opera-stable

Example output:

Type “Y,” then press the “ENTER KEY” to proceed with the install.

Verify Opera Browser Stable

Once installed, confirm the version of Opera Browser installed. This will also verify the installation was successful.

opera --version

Example output:

82.0.4227.43

Optional. Install Opera Browser Beta or Developer build

Alternatively, you can install Brave Beta or Developer builds if you have downloaded the repositories. These two versions are not recommended daily, especially not on a main desktop or production server. However, you can install alternative versions for those who want to live on the edge.

Install Opera Browser Beta

sudo zypper install opera-beta

Install Opera Browser Developer

sudo zypper install opera-developer

Note, these do not replace your stable version, and they are installed separately.

Next, verify the installation of beta or unstable, use the following command.

Verify Opera Browser Beta

opera-beta --version

Example output:

83.0.4254.9

Verify Opera Browser Developer

opera-developer --version

Example output:

84.0.4274.0

How to Launch Opera Browser

With the installation complete, you can run Opera in a few different ways.

First, while you are in your terminal, you can use the following command:

opera

Alternatively, run the opera & command in the background to free up the terminal:

opera &

However, this isn’t practical, and you would use the following path on your desktop to open with the path: Activities > Show Applications > Opera.

If you cannot find it, use the search function in the Show Applications menu if you have many applications installed.

Example:

Now open Opera Browser, you will see the landing page. Looks nice?

Congratulations, you have successfully installed Opera Browser on your openSUSE Leap 15 desktop.

How to Update Opera Browser

To update, run the zypper refresh & update command in your terminal as you would check your entire system for any updates.

sudo zypper refresh

If one is available, use the upgrade option:

sudo zypper update

How to Remove (Uninstall) Opera Browser

To remove the Vivaldi Browser, execute the following terminal command:

Remove Opera Browser Stable

sudo zypper remove opera-stable

Remove Opera Browser Beta

sudo zypper remove opera-beta

Remove Opera Browser Developer

sudo zypper remove opera-developer

Note that this will remove any unused dependencies originally installed with Opera Browser.

Remove Opera Browser Repository

To remove the repository from your openSUSE system, use the following command.

sudo zypper rr opera

Example output:

Removing repository 'Opera packages' ................................................[done]
Repository 'Opera packages' has been removed.

As above, this time, you are using “rr” instead of “ar”, to check if this was successful, use the following command to see if the Vivaldi repository remains in your repo list.

zypper lr -d

This list should contain no Opera repositories, and you have successfully removed Opera Browser and its repositories in full.

Comments and Conclusion

In the tutorial, you have learned how to import the Opera RPM and install the web browser by choosing either stable, beta, or developers branches.

Overall, Opera uses the Chromium page-rendering engine, so you’ll rarely run into site incompatibilities. Performance is fast, perhaps not the feast in the field. Still, it keeps its own and has unique features that make this an attractive alternative for many mainstream Linux users who want something different besides Firefox that comes standard on nearly all Linux machines.