News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Firefox 84.0 by ducktective on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @11:26AM (#25431744)
Basic fear is that it becomes yet another chromium spawn some ~5 years down the line. Recent dramas surrounding FF on Android and unasked-for UI changes in desktop surely didn't win FF any new users...But...I'm still clinging to it.
Re:Firefox 84.0 by distances on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @11:58AM (#25432116)
What's the drama on Android? It's been working great for me for years now.
Re:Firefox 84.0 by input_sh on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:13PM (#25432303)
They've completely redesigned it about a year ago, making it much faster, but losing add-on compatibility. So pretty much the same thing that happened to desktops on v57, except a bit worse: only 17 add-ons are currently available in nightly.

Still more than what's available on Chrome and Safari on mobile, so it always remained my browser of choice on a phone.

Re:Firefox 84.0 by cpeterso on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:55PM (#25432839)
You can install any add-on from addons.mozilla.org in Firefox Nightly for Android: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extensio...
Re:Firefox 84.0 by CameronNemo on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @01:31PM (#25433300)
IIRC fennec (from fdroid) is going to allow all add ons too.
Re:Firefox 84.0 by ce4 on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @07:47PM (#25437570)
Thanks for the info! What a relief, I'm currently still on v68 to not lose uMatrix, bypass paywalls, amp redirect to html, old reddit redirect and others.

I'm really waiting for this

Re:Firefox 84.0 by Macha on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @01:08PM (#25433013)
Right, but choosing between power user features and stability is clearly worse as a user than not having to choose between power user features and stability.

Also isn't there more telemetry on by default in nightly?

Re:Firefox 84.0 by cpeterso on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @01:41PM (#25433432)
Installing unsupported add-ons also risks instability. Mozilla didn't restrict the initial list of supported add-ons because they don't want to allow add-ons. They continue to expand the list of add-ons supported in Firefox for Android as more add-ons and APIs are tested.

Mozilla uses Firefox telemetry to fix bugs, identify areas to optimize, and guide product decisions. How else can Mozilla know which devices or problems to prioritize?

Re:Firefox 84.0 by input_sh on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @01:37PM (#25433370)
Neat! I had no idea. Thanks for sharing!
Re:Firefox 84.0 by brianush1 on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:12PM (#25432294)
They removed about:config, for one
Re:Firefox 84.0 by cpeterso on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:54PM (#25432819)
You can use about:config in Firefox Nightly for Android: https://support.mozilla.org/lt/questions/1300502
Re:Firefox 84.0 by ducktective on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @12:39PM (#25432624)
Same but I've disabled its updates since like a year.
Re:Firefox 84.0 by lxgr on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @02:26PM (#25433972)
Is that a good idea though, considering that your browser is arguably the largest attack surface there is on your computer?
Re:Firefox 84.0 by fwn on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @05:24PM (#25436057)
It's not a good idea. That's also why it's very important to provide updates that do not disable functionality important for the user. That way you don't force users to choose between security or functionality.

Mozilla still does not allow non-store extensions on their new firefox. Until they're back I have to keep old Firefox around. ...which sucks.

Re:Firefox 84.0 by xnx on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @01:32PM (#25433322)
Me too. Waiting for the current branch to properly support extensions, or for an Android Chrome fork to support the extensions I use.
Re:Firefox 84.0 by as_ on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @05:35PM (#25436197)
Kiwi Browser let install Chrome extensions :)
Re:Firefox 84.0 by xnx on Wednesday December 16, 2020 @05:44PM (#25449799)
Yes! I've tried that, but one of my most-used save page extensions doesn't work.
Re:Firefox 84.0 by corty on Tuesday December 15, 2020 @04:08PM (#25435285)
They broke all addons and made the Tabs and Bookmarks UIs unusable imho.