Why FirefoxESR 68 instead of Firefox78?

[Member anilkagi]

Hello there,

Why does Antix-19-x64-Base, have by default firefoxESR68?

Is it to keep Antix, easy for the low resource computers, as per the slogan “Lean & Mean”.

It certainly is a great advantage to old computers.

However, on some mid-range computers, can we just remove FF-ESR-68 and install FF-78 from the synaptic?

Or will there be any issues?

I have a mid range Laptop and would like to change to FF-78, to take the advantages of the latest package with the latest security and other updates.

If I do so, will my system, an Antix-19.2.1-x64-Base, be unstable or have any problems?

Thanks & Regards

• This topic was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by anilkagi.
• This topic was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by anilkagi.

[Member sybok]

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1) Why?
This is similar to Debian that has switched to providing the Firefox ESR in the stable/testing versions, see e.g. stable and/or testing and search for ‘firefox’.

Providing ESR only/mostly saves time to the developers and may be more suitable for companies/conservative-users.

2) Security:
ESR is properly maintained which includes security fixes.
The main difference with respect to the latest versions is that it may be missing some features included in the latest versions.
I would definitely not worry about security of ESR.

3) Remove ESR install FF-78 – possible to remove?
Definitely possible, as with other packages.

4) Remove ESR install FF-78 – will it lead to issues?
Not quite sure about that.
There are some symbolic links firefox <- firefox-esr which may be re-set correctly with the latest version… or not.

[Member anilkagi]

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Oh! fine sybok. Thanks. That cleared my mind. I will stay with FF-ESR.

[Member ModdIt]

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One reason to be running ESR is that since introduction of Monthly releases Mozilla ends up with 2 or 3 versions a month.
If you are not wanting to present them with a feast of personal information that will cost you time, I need about 10 Minutes
for each release. BEFORE starting firefox with an Internet connection.

You might like to read through the thread “How to make Firefox more secure”.

We warmly recommend Palemoon for most browsing needs. It is lighter and works well on most sites. It also does not come with
Mozillas lies. No hidden extensions, no remote settings changes observed either, I think that improvement to user experience
with firefox is an eye opener. My cipher settings were changed remotely by mozilla = Firefox is a trojan.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by ModdIt.

[Member anilkagi]

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Really Moddit,

You spoke my mind.

A couple of days ago I read this CNET article (A dangerous conflict of interest between Firefox and Google), I was really dumbfounded, since till now I had thought FF to be the best, privacy protecting, secure, browser out there.

I have taken suggestions from the web to make FF more secure. Your link to the thread “How to make Firefox more secure” is not working.

I have used Palemoon but haven’t tweaked it for security. Are there any links that guide over this?

I am going to start a new thread to get more light on this.

Thanks

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by anilkagi.

[Member Xecure]

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https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/how-to-make-firefox-more-secure/

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/managing-extensions-in-palemoon-firefox-and-derivatives/

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member anilkagi]

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Thanks Xecure, for the links. I shall go through them.

[Member ModdIt]

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Thanks X Secure,
Sorry, I just gave a forum search term, not a link, (I dont know how)there is plenty of info in the mentioned threads.

Waterfox is 64 bit only and had same hidden extensions, a feature I intensly dislike, as they may be remotely
usable, in my test it was using a lot of memory. That may have changed but it caused me to remove the package.
Palemoon is pretty memory efficient, the privacy policy clear and concise, no hidden extensions, search
is not sent to google as default. Firefox has that feature no matter which search engine you use.

We (Moddit is a group) use tor Browser bundle for many sites, it can in some cases get around geoblocking and thwart ad blocker blocking. I do not consider it very private, often my exit node is in Netherlands, most
likely run by an agency. My IP is Vodafone, Tier 1 Intelligence Provider for UK.

anilkagi: you said
I had thought FF to be the best, privacy protecting, secure, browser out there.
That is the dirty deceiving message, it is not. Others are probably worse though.

https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/badwolf-a-recent-standards-compliant-minimal-web-browser/
might interest you. hopefuly at some stage there will be a deb package available, at present it is more
a DIY effort. It is fast and efficient but not particularly comfortable, not yet anyway.

Now I know how to add a link 🙂

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by ModdIt.

[Anonymous]

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We may also consider Gnu IceCat which is based on current ff-esr with enhaced privacy tweaks.

[Member ModdIt]

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Hi Atlanelan,
Gnu Ice cat looks prety much abandoned, last released version 60.7.0 (stable)
from 2 June 2019. it does not look as if it is being maintained or updated.
some very strange links in the German repo list. I have notified webmaster.

Any further information on the state of this project is of course welcome.

A fast release version from chocolatey website is windoze 64 only.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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In fairness, both to our own personal desire for some measure of privacy and security, and also for free software efforts like Mozilla and others:

1) Most Web browsers, (and definitely both Firefox and Google Chrome (and Microsoft Edge and Apple Safari) all use cookies and other mechanisms. at least when configured in standard form.

Originally these mechanisms were for “convenience”, but even as far back as the late eighties and early nineties, there were discussions and concerns about security versus openness and ease of use. Many of the protocols developed early on, particularly as the Internet progressed from the standard interfaces of the early days, FTP, Gopher, and a few others, toward http, and later https, and once again, as Java became a common byte compiled programming language and the Web languages – Javascript (not very much like Java at all, just a “convenient name to indicate that it was a “script” language with slight similarity to Java because both were used for network programs), then PHP, Perl, Python, and others, there were MANY concerns about security.

Java, over the years, has made great strides, and some of the other languages have, too, but to truly “secure” the fort, so to speak, not only have Firewall technologies improved, but much more data and network encryption technologies have evolved, and various multi-factor authentication strategies have been developed.

2) The typical browser is not necessarily guilty alone of data insecurity, but unless the modern browser has provisions for all of these technologies, and fewer defects concerning memory leaks, wide open insecure ports, etc., there is work to do.

3) So here’s the deal: by default, very few (if any) Web browsers are set up by default for MAXIMUM SECURITY, unless they are part of a company’s enterprise security software suite. Most consumer products are designed with default settings aimed at ease of use – but the trade-off is that they transmit details that can potentially be used by companies, and even by hackers, to gain information about your buying habits, browsing habits, and maybe more, depending on what you do when you use your computer.

Is this “dangerous”? I put that word in quotation marks. Why? I have been using Web Browser technology since it’s earliest inception, even a couple of years before companies like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google, and others started using the Internet for Electronic Commerce.

I’ve had spammers and hackers send me stuff, and once I had someone find my phone number and try to get me into a scam. I ALMOST got caught that once, but I was suspicious about it, so I called a friend of mine in the local police department for his opinion and he agreed that it was a scam.
I assisted him and the local PD, who cooperated with Federal agencies, and they actually CAUGHT the perpetrators.

Could that happen again? Maybe. But the fact is that I have been doing network computing since the eighties; I use standard products; sometimes I add Firewalls, but I rarely add EXTRA protection or modify all of the defaults. I have never once (not even from the scam) lost money from someone stealing information from me.

4) Could someone else be compromised? Sure, it’s still possible. But using antiX, MX Linux, or most Linux distributions, with at least standard packages, and more if you are paranoid, is QUITE LIKELY to provide sufficient security for most people. If you operate a business, then you need BETTER protection, but there are MANY enterprise grade tools – SSL security additions, SECURITY ENHANCED Linux features, etc. Many intranet / extranet features should be added to add a fortress around your information, plus tools within your network to protect against insider theft, insider trading or leaking of company secrets, etc. I worked as a project testing manager with network security for a couple of financial service companies just prior to retirement, and Linux has some of the best software to work in conjunction with this type of protection.

CONCLUSION: Bottom line: don’t fret for routine personal browsing; use what is comfortable for you, just exercise reasonable caution. For small business, look into your options for more. For enterprise computing, get a network management team with expertise in network performance AND security. That’s FREE advice from an experienced, retired software professional.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Brian Masinick.

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Brian Masinick

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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So yes, there is some “insecurity” in the way that nearly all consumer network tools are constructed.

It’s only dangerous if you have a lot to lose from the information that you use and share.

IF that IS the case, THEN it is YOUR OWN responsibility to make sure that you use the available options and configurations to make your network tools and browsers AS SECURE AS POSSIBLE. But for routine stuff, what is standard works fine.

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Brian Masinick

[Member ModdIt]

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@ Masinik, It’s only dangerous if you have a lot to lose from the information that you use and share.

For most of us that caveat applies which is why we discuss, among other things browsers.

I think You live in USA, a country on the edge of civil war or new right take over and think you are safe.

Many users live there and elswhere and know they are not safe. in many countrys even reading the wrong
newspaper can get you jailed tortured and killed. take a look at turkey egypt, russia and many more.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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ModdIt wrote:

@Masinick, It’s only dangerous if you have a lot to lose from the information that you use and share.

For most of us that caveat applies which is why we discuss, among other things browsers.

I think You live in USA, a country on the edge of civil war or new right take over and think you are safe.

Many users live there and elsewhere and know they are not safe. in many countries even reading the wrong
newspaper can get you jailed tortured and killed. Take a look at Turkey, Egypt, Russia and many more.

I am very thankful that I have lived a life of relative freedom. Even with stories of COVID-19 invading may things and at the present time reducing SOME of what we do, only last evening my wife and I enjoyed an outdoor dinner with some friends who we hadn’t seen in about a year.iomn

We’ve had to be careful so we don’t either catch or spread disease, but even within all of that “chaos” I still consider (with thankfulness) that each day we are able to make choices. For the sake of those who follow us, I pray that freedom of choice and independence, along with more consideration than ever, may be possible for future generations – either here or elsewhere.

We saw “Hamilton”, a long movie based on a play by the same name. Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr were among many of the “early colonists” in the USA during the late 1700s and early 1800s. Hamilton was one of the freedom seekers who helped to write the early laws of our country. Needless to say, even here, not everyone agreed with him. Within a five year span of time, Hamilton’s oldest son was SHOT dead in a gun duel around 1800, and in 1805, Aaron Burr, previously a political ally, shot Alexander Hamilton in 1805 when Hamilton supported the nomination of Thomas Jefferson for President INSTEAD of political ally, Aaron Burr. From this, you can see that American history has also been tainted by power struggles, first with Great Britain in the early days, then within it’s own government. Today, we still deal with acts of racism and power struggles between the rich and poor. In spite of all of that, we still have a great number of freedoms, including this freedom.

I don’t worry about tomorrow. Whatever may come, I’ve faced good, bad, happiness, sadness, joy, anger, even rage, but in the balance, it is good to be kind, caring, sharing, and optimistic about what is possible, and do whatever is possible as an individual to share in good things instead of selfishly holding tight to them.

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Brian Masinick

[Member anilkagi]

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Masinick, they were very informative and kind posts. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge.

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