Opera 24 has been released to developers on Linux, following a testing phase on the Ubuntu distributions of the OS.
It will be the first version for Linux based on Chromium, the open source edition of Google Chrome, which has formed the foundation for Opera on Windows since last year.
Arjan van Leeuwen, Linux software developer at the company, said: "Many of us at Opera use Linux as our primary platform. It’s great to be able to try out the newest developments of Opera on Linux once again."
He hinted that it was playing with tab behaviour on Windows and Linux, but did not reveal any further details.
The release marks the first time Linux users will be able to trial Opera’s Discover, which seeks out articles relevant to the user, and Stash, which collates web pages the user has browsed so they can compare products from different sites.
"We’ve had many questions about Opera on Linux from our users," said Zhenis Beisekov, product manager of desktop products at Opera.
"For us, it was just a matter of time to deliver it. We focused on rebuilding the entire browser, adding a new engine and the same features you can find in the Windows and Mac versions."
Since May of last year the browser’s global market share fell from 1.77% to 1.16%, according to NetMarketShare, with its nearest competitor Safari still enjoying a share of more than 5%.
"Releasing to the Developer stream means that all the usual considerations regarding Developer builds also apply to this one," van Leeuwen added.
"With all that said, many of us have been using Opera for Linux as our default browser, and find it to be pretty robust."
