Why the old FPR version?

[typonaut]

Just found your Intel builds of TenFourFox. Super! The PPC builds under Rosetta seem to get slower and s-l-o-w-e-r.

Just wondering why you are building on FPR7, where TenFourFox PPC is on FPR30.

Keep up the good work!

[OlgaTPark]

Hello,

Yes, I know, my fork is kinda old, not moving forward fastly and I don't forget to mention it!

Actually, my goal is not only to port TenFourFox for Intel but also to provide an "enhanced" Intel release. I'm, like a paranoïd, checking everything to see if nothing related to the Intel platform is missing. I'm also ensuring that no security fix that applies to Intel or some features that I reactivated in my various Ten*Fox variants aren't missing (in fact, those are missing in the PowerPC variant of TenFourFox because the original developer don't target any of the Intel platforms targeted by this fork — don't sue him, Intel was never a goal for him and he doesn't have the time to also maintain TenFourFox for Intel. In fact, I'd never start to work on an Intel release without his great work for 10.4 ppc).

So, this explains why my fork is about two-years late in comparison with the PowerPC version and why I'm so slow.

Anyway, happy browsing and happy new year!

Footnote 1: Of course, even if I'm trying to do "my best", I cannot guarantee that my fork has no error at all or has no security hole;
Footnote 2: Ensuring that every security fix applying to this fork seems nonsensical when you see how late I'm in comparison with the latest version of PPC TenFourFox, I'm still doing it in the case if I ever (hypothetically) address my delay.

[typonaut]

I suppose I am just wondering why you are so far behind – is it too difficult to jump forward to FPR30 and take you changes with you?

If you want to incorporate features that PPC TenFourFox is missing, then a javascript revision would be a good start.

[OlgaTPark]

In fact, it wouldn't be difficult to take FPR30 in a whole but my methodology is specific:

• I just want to check everything (which takes time);
• I want to keep a "clean" commit history. I.e., each of "my" FPR release will contain Mozilla's security fixes at the time the corresponding PowerPC TenFourFox FPR was released (in addition of the changes of the said PowerPC FPR version). The goal of this is to provide a nice and comprehensible base for future software archeologists who wants to dive into my work;

Even if this looks stupid, I don't intend to change my methodology for now, especially for the sake of some users. If you want your FPR30, just DIY or use the Intel builds of the other Intel contributors! EDIT: Adding this other unofficial builds

What do you mean by a JavaScript revision? Adding in my fork JavaScript features added between FPR7—FPR30? [In this case, I answered above.] Adding JavaScript features added in newer Firefox versions? [This is not planned on my side because 1) The JavaScript engine is a kinda fragile component; and 2) I don't want my fork diverge too much from the PowerPC version by adding features that could also benefit the PowerPC version. If I ever get some ideas of new features that could be added to both my fork and the PowerPC one, I'll suggest them to the maintainer of the PowerPC version (what I've already done for FPR28/29).]

Please also note that, when I mentioned features missing in PowerPC TenFourFox, it's features that were enabled in Mozilla's build of Firefox 45 for Snow Leopard but disabled in TenFourFox because incompatible with Tiger (notably 64-bit, HiDPi, WebGL, WebRTC and Plugins). All those features are (normally) re-enabled in my TenSixFox builds (so TenSixFox is like an "enhanced" Firefox 45).