Firefox is an [[MPLv2]] licensed web browser written in [[C++]] and [[Rust]]. - [Website](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/) - [Source](https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/) (a [[Mercurial]] host) - [Documentation](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox) - [AlternativeTo](https://alternativeto.net/software/firefox/) > It uses the [Gecko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gecko_(software) "Gecko (software)") [rendering engine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_engine "Browser engine") to display web pages, which implements current and anticipated web standards. # Notability My current daily driver browser. # Philosophy ## Ownership and Funding Trademarks and copyrights are ultimately owned by the [[Mozilla Foundation]] - a non-profit organization - but the employees and direct ownership of Firefox belongs to the [[Mozilla Corporation]] which is not. The full details of funding across all of the entities connected to the Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation are complex, but a large percentage of their funding has come from [[Google]] since the early days, but also [[Yahoo!]], [[Microsoft]], [[Amazon]], [[eBay]] and other massive organizations. Google remains the default search provider in Firefox, as it has been for the vast majority of its existence. Coincidentally, Yahoo! was the provider during the worst time in Firefox's history. While theoretically in competition with its major sources of funding, this relationship is very similar to the one Microsoft had with Apple in the 90s. Microsoft kept Apple afloat in order to dodge many monopoly proceedings and influence what Apple could do. This tactic reduces the threat of the competition while making it work for them. ## Consumer Behavior Although some extensions have been removed from the store, Firefox does not present artificial obstacles to ad blocking in the browser itself - unlike Chrome. There have been concerns around the relationship with Google and how some of the information that Mozilla may share with them may be used. While it may be paltry compared to what Chrome and most of its derivatives deliver, it is always worth looking into. ## Privacy Integrates multiple telemetry packages, including the [[Adjust marketing Platform]]. # OS Support - Linux - Windows - BSD - Mac - FreeBSD (semi-official) - OpenIndiana ([unofficial](https://github.com/OpenIndiana/oi-userland/tree/oi/hipster/components/web/firefox)) - Haiku (formerly - since Quantum it has not been successfully ported) # History In the wake of the first browser wars eventually Firefox - code named "phoenix" - emerged from the ashes. It became the only real alternative to Internet Explorer and eventually forced major changes in the browser and web space. It had some significant issues in the mid 2010s which caused a lot of attrition, myself included, departing for Google Chrome and derivatives. Although I still always kept it installed. In 2017 Firefox began a major overhaul dubbed "Quantum" which coincided with the development of the [[Rust]] programming language to do so. Due to major privacy violations, anti-ad-blocking, monopolistic and anti-consumer behavior behind the scenes, Chrome and its derivatives became less usable and less attractive to me and I returned to Firefox as my primary browser in 2019 or so. # Features Supports most things that Chrome-based browsers support, and several important things that they do not. # Tips ## Enable Touchscreen Scrolling Set the `MOZ_USE_XINPUT2` environment variable for Firefox to pick up touchscreen input. A simple way to do this is by modifying the [[Linux Desktop Entry Files]] for Firefox and editing the exec to set that variable: ``` env MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 firefox ``` There is a chance that the wrong input device will be mapped here, so other numbers may be needed instead. I didn't look into the how or why of it though. ## Exporting Synced Tabs Using [this Gist by `jscher2000`](https://gist.github.com/jscher2000/b7094b3e74b95e5ba9c26f1f685bda6e) it is possible to export an HTML file of all of your Firefox Sync'd tabs. Using the `About Sync` extension it is possible to export JSON files of Firefox Sync data. ## Auto-Complete Broken Auto-complete, such as for credit cards and addressed may break without warning. This may be due to corruption in the data, which ends up storing invalid characters. It [may](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1320107) be possible to fix this by removing all entries? (currently testing) ## Disabling Generative AI Integration The plague of [[Generative AI]] has infected Firefox and must be disabled in `about:config`. | Option | Value | | --------------------------- | ------- | | `browser.ml.chat.enabled` | `false` | | `browser.ml.chat.shortcuts` | `false` | | `browser.ml.chat.sidebar` | `false` | ## Globally Disabling Ad Integrations - https://blog.zgp.org/turning-off-browser-ad-features-from-the-command-line/ # Resources ## Forks of Note - [[Waterfox]] - [[Zen Browser]] - [[LibreWolf]] - [[Basilisk Browser]] - [[Pale Moon]] - [[SeaMonkey]] - a fork of Mozilla Suite from when Mozilla abandoned it to focus on Firefox, shares a common lineage of Netscape ## Extensions ### Ad, Privacy, and De-Enshittification Extensions ```cardlink url: https://adnauseam.io/ title: "AdNauseam - Clicking Ads So You Don't Have To" description: "A browser extension that clicks on every blocked ad to fight advertising surveillance." host: adnauseam.io favicon: img/icon-32.png image: http://adnauseam.io/AdNauseam/img/adnauseam.png ``` ```cardlink url: https://github.com/cowlicks/privacypossum title: "GitHub - cowlicks/privacypossum: Privacy Possum makes tracking you less profitable" description: "Privacy Possum makes tracking you less profitable. Contribute to cowlicks/privacypossum development by creating an account on GitHub." host: github.com favicon: https://github.githubassets.com/favicons/favicon.svg image: https://opengraph.githubassets.com/59664237518bbe46525a5651e1eda95d0c11397c79a801bfd5f94b95b3fe7bcf/cowlicks/privacypossum ``` ```cardlink url: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/facebook-container/ title: "Facebook Container – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)" description: "Download Facebook Container for Firefox. Prevent Facebook from tracking you around the web. The Facebook Container extension for Firefox helps you take control and isolate your web activity from Facebook." host: addons.mozilla.org image: https://addons.mozilla.org/user-media/previews/full/216/216775.png?modified=1622133074 ``` ```cardlink url: https://home.oniprojekt.ninja/ title: "Projekt:ONI" host: home.oniprojekt.ninja ``` ```cardlink url: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/trackmenot/ title: "TrackMeNot – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)" description: "Download TrackMeNot for Firefox. An artware browser add-on to protect privacy in web-search. By issuing randomized queries to common search-engines, TrackMeNot obfuscates your search profile and registers your discontent with surreptitious tracking." host: addons.mozilla.org image: https://addons.mozilla.org/user-media/previews/full/8/8071.png?modified=1622132312 ``` ```cardlink url: https://gitlab.com/magnolia1234/bypass-paywalls-firefox-clean title: "magnolia1234 / Bypass Paywalls Firefox Clean · GitLab" description: "GitLab.com" host: gitlab.com favicon: https://gitlab.com/assets/favicon-72a2cad5025aa931d6ea56c3201d1f18e68a8cd39788c7c80d5b2b82aa5143ef.png image: https://gitlab.com/uploads/-/system/project/avatar/22624144/thailand-magnolia-emblem.jpg ``` ```cardlink url: https://phoennix.gitlab.io/youtubesearchfix/ title: "Home : YSF Addon" description: "YouTube Search Fixer is an extension designed to fix YouTube search and de-clutter your search page to make it less distracting. It remove suggestions like For you, People also search for, Related to your search, etc from your feed. Install this to remove Shorts from Search Results as well." host: phoennix.gitlab.io favicon: img/favicon.ico ``` ```cardlink url: https://getindie.wiki/ title: "Indie Wiki Buddy" description: "Indie Wiki Buddy, a browser extension to help you find quality, independent wikis" host: getindie.wiki favicon: img/favicon-16.png image: https://getindie.wiki/img/indie-wiki-buddy-banner.png ``` ```cardlink url: https://github.com/Lusito/forget-me-not title: "GitHub - Lusito/forget-me-not: Make the browser forget website data, except for the data you want to keep." description: "Make the browser forget website data, except for the data you want to keep. - GitHub - Lusito/forget-me-not: Make the browser forget website data, except for the data you want to keep." host: github.com favicon: https://github.githubassets.com/favicons/favicon.svg image: https://opengraph.githubassets.com/62fb52be831d0f71869c75d287f6308f8c2d61829bbc7cd60ab7d9277bdb8b5b/Lusito/forget-me-not ``` ```cardlink url: https://sponsor.ajay.app/ title: "Home" description: "SponsorBlock is a crowdsourced browser extension to skip sponsor segments in YouTube videos." host: sponsor.ajay.app favicon: https://sponsor.ajay.app/favicon-32x32.png?v=2190b8dd66c9e760a732842073d0a087 image: https://sponsor.ajay.app/LogoSponsorBlockSimple256px.png ``` ### Paid Extensions ```cardlink url: https://dearrow.ajay.app/ title: "DeArrow - A Browser Extension for Better Titles and Thumbnails" description: "DeArrow is a browser extension for replacing titles and thumbnails on YouTube with community created accurate versions. No more clickbait." host: dearrow.ajay.app favicon: https://dearrow.ajay.app/favicon-32x32.png?v=6f203adf3dc83cd564c279fa5c263c62 image: https://dearrow.ajay.app/logo-1024.png ``` # References - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_wars - https://superuser.com/questions/1151161/enable-touch-scrolling-in-firefox - https://askubuntu.com/questions/853910/how-to-enable-touchscreen-scrolling-in-firefox - https://www.jwz.org/blog/2016/10/they-live-and-the-secret-history-of-the-mozilla-logo/ - https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/18/foxstuck_firefox_browser_bug_boots/