Why isn't Mozilla SeaMonkey available in the repositories? How can I install it?

Question

I wanted to install SeaMonkey on Ubuntu 13.04, but was surprised to see that it was nowhere to be found.

Am I missing something? How can I install it?

Answer 1

SeaMonkey was removed of the repositories, seen in the publishing history, for the following reason:

requested by micahg; unsupportable for five years without dedicated maintenance, contact #ubuntu-mozillateam to help; LP: #987713

This means, that since Ubuntu can't offer support for 5 years to the package they decided to remove it. Looking at the bug report we see more details:

Since we have no one stepping up at the moment to maintain this for 5 years, I think it makes the most sense to remove it from precise. We can always backport from later releases if someone volunteers to help with this.

For volunteers, please join #ubuntu-mozillateam on irc.ubuntu.com to discuss.

They offer a way to still installing the package, but in this case there's no support from Ubuntu:

SeaMonkey package is available in Ubuntuzilla depot (tested successfully on Ubuntu 13.04):

To install, type the following commands:

echo -e "\ndeb http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com C1289A29
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install seamonkey-mozilla-build

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More info: SourceForge.net: ubuntuzilla

Alternatively, you may use Joe Lesko's PPA ( Seamonkey Development )but it doesn't support Raring Ringtail yet.

I really hope that someone will step up to maintain this high profile software. I wish I had the time to do it... :-/

If you really wants this package again in the main repositories, you should join and see what you can do to help.

Answer 2

It was probably removed from the Ubuntu default PPAs.

To get it back, open a terminal and type

 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:joe-nationnet/seamonkey-dev

Type your password, there will be no characters.

When (if) prompted, hit ENTER.

When that's done,

 sudo apt-get update

After THAT is done,

 sudo apt-get install seamonkey-dev

And you'll have SeaMonkey installed. Look for it in your Dash.

DISCLAIMER:

While this PPA is a trusted one, some PPAs have dangerous malware disguised as benign packages. I have tested this PPA and it has resulted "safe". You can see the PPA details here: launchpad.net/seamonkey-dev