Some Mozilla/Firefox updates for you folks!
Quantum Flow updates:
Quantum Flow Engineering Newsletter #1
Quantum Flow Engineering Newsletter #2
These Weeks In...
Firefox:
Rust:
Servo
Servo accepted into the RailsGirls Summer of Code
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Why WebAssembly is faster than asm.js
When the memory allocator works against you
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A Public-Private Partnership for Gigabit Innovation and Internet Health
I always hated the fact that Mozilla implemented pocket into Firefox, since it isn't open-source. I always used Waterfox to solve that, which has pocket removed, but now that they acquired Pocket, I assume they will finally release the source code.
Jsyk the way Firefox is designed, dragging icons off of the ui into the customization panel for things like Pocket actually prevents the code that powers it from even running. Not true for all ui elements but I'm pretty sure it's true for any "system add-on" that they ship (or ever will ship... Dev tools come to mind as I believe they're breaking the dev tools out into a webextension)
ff v53.0
April 19, 2017
Improved graphics stability for Windows users with the addition of compositor process separation (Quantum Compositor)
Two new 'compact' themes available in Firefox, dark and light, based on the Firefox Developer Edition theme
Lightweight themes are now applied in private browsing windows
Reader Mode now displays estimated reading time for the page
Windows 7+ users on 64-bit OS can select 32-bit or 64-bit versions in the stub installer
Various security fixes
Updated the design of site permission requests to make them harder to miss and easier to understand
Windows XP and Vista are no longer supported. XP and Vista users running Firefox 52 will continue to receive security updates on Firefox ESR 52.
32-bit Mac OS X is no longer supported. 32-bit Mac OS X users can switch to Firefox ESR 52 to continue receiving security updates.
Updates for Mac OS X are smaller in size compared to updates for Firefox 52
New visual design for audio and video controls
Ended Firefox Linux support for processors older than Pentium 4 and AMD Opteron
The last few characters of shortened tab titles fade out instead of being replaced by ellipses to keep more of the title visible
Changes for web developers
Support for WebM video with alpha, which allows playing videos with transparent backgrounds
interesting:
Windows XP and Vista are no longer supported. XP and Vista users running Firefox 52 will continue to receive security updates on Firefox ESR 52.
for my installed v52.0.2 on w8.1 64bit it suggests to version v52.0.2esr
Windows 7+ users on 64-bit OS can select 32-bit or 64-bit versions in the stub installer
Does the 64 bit version behave/work properly with plugins and extensions yet?
i dont know.
i have w8.1 64bit
but firefox only with 32bit
I haven't had any issues with 64-bit firefox, but mileage may vary because it totally depends on which plugins/extensions you use. I've had more issues with them not being verified (signed), but my understanding is that's completely independent from 32 vs 64 bit builds, in that if the 32 bit ver is signed the 64 bit ver will be too and vice versa.
Does the 64 bit version behave/work properly with plugins and extensions yet?
Been using Waterfox (which is native 64-bit) for over a year now and never had any issues with plugins or extensions. Many plugins/extensions have been 64-bit long before win64 builds were release because Linux and Mac had 64-bit builds for a long time.
Quantum Flow Engineering Newsletters:
These weeks in firefox....
#15 (I'm mentioned in this one!)
Release notes for nightly.... https://blog.nightly.mozilla.org/2017/04/24/release-notes-for-nightly/
Though I'll be honest, I used to make the MozillaZine nightly threads and they're much more comprehensive if you're interested in nitty-gritty. A user by the name of Josa now maintains these threads here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3029746&sid=50ac71e408503d819c4a7cbcf2da5d10
Out of process web extensions now available for testing:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/Testing-out-of-process
Fathom: a framework for understanding web pages:
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2017/04/fathom-a-framework-for-understanding-web-pages/
AMO on android has a new look:
https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2017/04/11/amo-new-look-android/
Also, Aurora as a branch is no more. The release model has been changed from Nightly- > Aurora -> Beta -> Release to Nightly -> Beta -> Release. Dev Edition users migrated to beta on desktop and aurora users on Android migrated to Nightly.
Also, Aurora as a branch is no more. The release model has been changed from Nightly- > Aurora -> Beta -> Release to Nightly -> Beta -> Release. Dev Edition users migrated to beta on desktop and aurora users on Android migrated to Nightly.
why not changed from nightly to aurora? shame on mozilla...
why not changed from
nightlyto aurora? shame on mozilla...
The DevEdition / Aurora was meant to be a stabilization channel with approximately 10x the users of Nightly. So the cycle was meant to be
Nightly - Experimental changes, rapid development
Aurora - Stabilization phase, focus is on fixing crashes in new features before beta
Beta - Polish phase - only ship-ready or nearly-ship-ready features here. Final stabilization for the release base
But the numbers goal didn't work out and it makes more sense to eliminate an unneeded stabilization phase and just hold features in nighty until they're ready to move to beta, so they can be iterated on more quickly. In the long run it will probably result in features reaching release about six to eight weeks earlier than they would have.
Firefox recently changed the way nightly builds are delivered. They now release a build every time a commit is done. This actually sped up progress a little because now they can pinpoint where exactly a bug happened, so they don't need the developer build anymore. They can combine them into one now. They will probably stick with the every month release cycle, but we will probably more features in every update now.
On a unrelated note, Firefox 53 now requires Rust compiler. 53 actually runs a lot faster for me then 52 did. I am guessing they are getting really close to officially being done transferring to Rust.
Firefox recently changed the way nightly builds are delivered. They now release a build every time a commit is done. This actually sped up progress a little because now they can pinpoint where exactly a bug happened, so they don't need the developer build anymore. They can combine them into one now. They will probably stick with the every month release cycle, but we will probably more features in every update now.
On a unrelated note, Firefox 53 now requires Rust compiler. 53 actually runs a lot faster for me then 52 did. I am guessing they are getting really close to officially being done transferring to Rust.
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2017/04/19/first-big-bytes-project-quantum/
53 is only the beginning Firefox 57 is the target for another few big chunks of quantum.
What black hole did 53.0.1 disappear down???
What black hole did 53.0.1 disappear down???
It is a re-release to fix a security vulnerability.
WebExtensions/RoadMapFirefox57 : https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/RoadMapFirefox57
Some highlights:
The work on Chrome compatibility is mostly complete.
Before Firefox 57 lands, we will complete out of process extensions
There is no plan to support other APIs like history, bookmarks etc [in Android] by Firefox 57.
Per above, providing arbitrary filesystem access in WebExtensions is not currently planned.
There will be no general access to preferences (about:config) planned.
There is no plan to allow WebExtensions to be able to change the default search engine.
There is no plan to change the appearance of tabs or interacting with the XUL in any way.
This bug suggests toolbars will be happening, but it hasn’t been assigned to anyone yet. There’s some discussion around if this is a good feature or not.
There is no plan to support XUL or theming or changes to the UI beyond some basic CSS changes similar to Chrome.
We aim to enable streaming of downloads in the downloads API.
via reddit
Quantum up close:
https://hacks.mozilla.org/2017/05/quantum-up-close-what-is-a-browser-engine/
Thunderbird's future home:
https://blog.mozilla.org/thunderbird/2017/05/thunderbirds-future-home/
TWIS 101: