7 ms·

Librefox, mainstream Firefox with a better privacy and security

87 points by pplonski86 8y ago

kevingadd 8y ago
Weird to see "better privacy and security" listed when the notes say that it's not safe to use it with Tor. I assume it's just a compatibility issue with extensions or something, but still... Bummer that the performance for videos and stuff is apparently worse. I assume it's because the developer doesn't have access to the PGO/LTCG resources that are used for official Firefox builds, but maybe hardware video playback has to be disabled for privacy reasons? The readme doesn't seem to say why it's slow.
- darkpuma 8y ago
  "Weird to see "better privacy and security" listed when the notes say that it's not safe to use it with Tor. I assume it's just a compatibility issue with extensions or something, but still..." I'm guessing it lacks some of the more obnoxious features used by the Tor Browser bundle, such as the nag dialog when you change the window size. That particular window geometry being common for all tor users may be a good way to keep your browser fingerprint anonymous, but I wager that screen geometry for general internet access is less common than [fullscreen on whatever common size of screen you own.] I suspect that if your traffic isn't coming out of a known tor exit node, you're better off using a normal window geometry.
  - jstanley 8y ago
    Except when do you ever use the browser at actual full screen? Your window decorations, desktop environment, and browser UI cruft reduce the viewport size by a few tens of pixels. And if you do use actual full screen, that's probably even more uniquely-identifying!
    - darkpuma 8y ago
      >Except when do you ever use the browser at actual full screen? Almost always, maybe I'm weird like that... >"Your window decorations, desktop environment" For most people the signal that gets through will be "windows" or "mac". Anybody else may benefit from sending the "window geometry typically used by the tor browser but not coming from a known tor exit node" signal. Maybe. >"and browser UI cruft " That an interesting point, does enabling or disabling the bookmarks toolbar trigger the window geometry nag dialog in the Tor Browser bundle?
      - jstanley 8y ago
        > Almost always, maybe I'm weird like that... Right, so you're definitely producing a very unusual fingerprint in terms of browser dimensions. Yours is exactly the kind of use case that the Tor browser nag popup is supposed to help.
        darkpuma 8y ago
        I wager my "fullscreen on a particular mac" signal is less unique than the "tor browser bundle size but not coming from a tor exit node" signal. Because what browser other than the tor browser uses that geometry? And how many people using that geometry aren't coming through a known tor exit node? I wager the haystack you'd be putting yourself in by doing this is vanishingly small.
  - librefox 8y ago
    Also all tor feature are available nag dialog etc...
- librefox 8y ago
  Thank you for your feedback it's appreciated, Tor compatibility description on the readme have been updated for the matter :) the recommendation was written before having a Librefox-TBB version. Tor works better with Librefox-TBB (Tor) version and classic version is not meant to be torrified even if tor settings are enabled, this is because of the Librefox-tor-addons, they are not included in the classic version for obvious reasons but are bundled in Librefox-TBB (Tor) We do not recommend connecting over Tor on Librefox classic version (because of the missing Librefox-Tor-Addons, they are only included in the tor version for obvious reasons), use instead Librefox-Tor version if your threat model calls for it, or for accessing hidden services (Thus said tor settings have been enabled since v2 on all Librefox versions for user toriffying/proxifying their entire connection).
darkblackcorner 8y ago
The logo just makes me think "Chrome"...
- Hedja 8y ago
  It makes me think "AppVeyor". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor Looks like it's a placeholder. https://github.com/intika/Librefox/issues/20 https://github.com/intika/Librefox/issues/20
  - darkblackcorner 8y ago
    Yep, nevermind :D Knew I'd seen it somewhere.
giancarlostoro 8y ago
I see they add a plugin to add a refresh button to the URL bar. But I have that on my Firefox without an addon. Is there a new version that removed this button moving forward or something?
- m3adow 8y ago
  You can add one via the original customization options if I'm not mistaken.
  - kiwijamo 8y ago
    But as the OP stated it's already there by default. I don't have that plugin yet I see a reload icon in my Firefox. So I'm like the OP, wondering what the point of that plugin is.
    - giancarlostoro 8y ago
      Looks like opencl answered our question. I guess I don't mind them being merged / separate. The one thing I do mind about Firefox is the stupid gaps they ad next to the address bar. I always have to remove those, they make no sense, and even this fork ditched them.
      - intika 8y ago
        I updated the README for the matter :) that addon permit to have the reload button inside the URL-bar
        giancarlostoro 8y ago
        Thank you for the clarification, I like the UI of this browser, maybe it can get adopted officially by ParrotSec OS, looks like they customize Firefox a bit as it is, you may be saving them a bit of effort.
- opencl 8y ago
ukyrgf 8y ago
This is unrelated, but I've never had the opportunity to ask before: in what cultures is it common to put a space before a colon (e.g. "Librefox : Browse With Freedom")? When I see that behavior, I immediately know the author isn't a native English speaker, but I've never known the reason behind it.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- FragenAntworten 8y ago
  I believe it’s French. https://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/learn/french/french-tips/french-punctuation https://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/learn/french/french-t...
  - Nodraak 8y ago
    As a French, I confirm we put a space before colons. (It's a mistake I often see in English presentations made by French and it drives me crazy)
    - abrowne 8y ago
      Since we're on the subject, saying "a French" sounds wrong to me (American native English speaker), even though the same construction is OK for other nationalities. (E.g. "a German" is OK.) You're better off with "a Frenchman"/"a Frenchwoman" or "a French person".
      - chrisdhoover 8y ago
        No no no. As French is the correct English locution
  - infogulch 8y ago
    Interesting. That's always irked me but I passed it off as a typo or some personal preference. I wonder what other typographical differences are due to culture that I passed off as something else.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
solarkraft 8y ago
> This is not a fork ... but they're shipping modified code under the FF logo. Is this okay?
- jmisavage 8y ago
  Probably not. Mozilla will chime in sooner or later. They had a problem with Debian distributing a modified version of Firefox and ended up forcing Debian to call it something different - Iceweasel. Everything got sorted out years later.
- librefox 8y ago
  indeed this is not okay, it's in the to-do list to rebrand everything https://github.com/intika/Librefox/issues/26 https://github.com/intika/Librefox/issues/26 this is scheduled for next release
nhynes_ 8y ago
The packaging instructions are a bit manual. Here's a script which automates the process on MacOS: https://gist.github.com/nhynes/46a01eadf7af747a1915f9a964337e3d https://gist.github.com/nhynes/46a01eadf7af747a1915f9a964337...
- intika 8y ago
  Thanks again for your contribution :)
jamieson-becker 8y ago
Tragic and ironic that we need a libre Firefox.
- dblohm7 8y ago
  Only if you accept that premise to begin with...
- Digital-Citizen 8y ago
  Firefox has been and continues to be libre in the sense of software freedom -- free to run, inspect, share, and modify. Anyone who complains about how Mozilla runs their variant of Firefox should thank Mozilla for that licensing choice so that with other people's hard work, the world has multiple variants to choose from all of which are also free software (as far as I know). You won't see such improvements for non-free (proprietary) software because it wouldn't be legal to prepare or distribute them and because modifying binaries is remarkably difficult. Any improvements the proprietor distributes are untrustworthy unless they are freed. I think it's great that software freedom exists and that people are willing and able to distribute variants that serve their needs.
  - intika 8y ago
    True, and a nice reminder :)
jammygit 8y ago
Installed this out of curiosity, then returned to my usual firefox. Had to re-opt-out-of the sponsored stories again. As somebody who donates to Mozilla, I wish there was a paid version of firefox that removed that sort of thing.

87 points by pplonski86 8y ago

Weird to see "better privacy and security" listed when the notes say that it's not safe to use it with Tor. I assume it's just a compatibility issue with extensions or something, but still... Bummer that the performance for videos and stuff is apparently worse. I assume it's because the developer doesn't have access to the PGO/LTCG resources that are used for official Firefox builds, but maybe hardware video playback has to be disabled for privacy reasons? The readme doesn't seem to say why it's slow.

darkpuma 8y ago
"Weird to see "better privacy and security" listed when the notes say that it's not safe to use it with Tor. I assume it's just a compatibility issue with extensions or something, but still..." I'm guessing it lacks some of the more obnoxious features used by the Tor Browser bundle, such as the nag dialog when you change the window size. That particular window geometry being common for all tor users may be a good way to keep your browser fingerprint anonymous, but I wager that screen geometry for general internet access is less common than [fullscreen on whatever common size of screen you own.] I suspect that if your traffic isn't coming out of a known tor exit node, you're better off using a normal window geometry.
- jstanley 8y ago
  Except when do you ever use the browser at actual full screen? Your window decorations, desktop environment, and browser UI cruft reduce the viewport size by a few tens of pixels. And if you do use actual full screen, that's probably even more uniquely-identifying!
  - darkpuma 8y ago
    >Except when do you ever use the browser at actual full screen? Almost always, maybe I'm weird like that... >"Your window decorations, desktop environment" For most people the signal that gets through will be "windows" or "mac". Anybody else may benefit from sending the "window geometry typically used by the tor browser but not coming from a known tor exit node" signal. Maybe. >"and browser UI cruft " That an interesting point, does enabling or disabling the bookmarks toolbar trigger the window geometry nag dialog in the Tor Browser bundle?
    - jstanley 8y ago
      > Almost always, maybe I'm weird like that... Right, so you're definitely producing a very unusual fingerprint in terms of browser dimensions. Yours is exactly the kind of use case that the Tor browser nag popup is supposed to help.
      - darkpuma 8y ago
        I wager my "fullscreen on a particular mac" signal is less unique than the "tor browser bundle size but not coming from a tor exit node" signal. Because what browser other than the tor browser uses that geometry? And how many people using that geometry aren't coming through a known tor exit node? I wager the haystack you'd be putting yourself in by doing this is vanishingly small.
- librefox 8y ago
  Also all tor feature are available nag dialog etc...
librefox 8y ago
Thank you for your feedback it's appreciated, Tor compatibility description on the readme have been updated for the matter :) the recommendation was written before having a Librefox-TBB version. Tor works better with Librefox-TBB (Tor) version and classic version is not meant to be torrified even if tor settings are enabled, this is because of the Librefox-tor-addons, they are not included in the classic version for obvious reasons but are bundled in Librefox-TBB (Tor) We do not recommend connecting over Tor on Librefox classic version (because of the missing Librefox-Tor-Addons, they are only included in the tor version for obvious reasons), use instead Librefox-Tor version if your threat model calls for it, or for accessing hidden services (Thus said tor settings have been enabled since v2 on all Librefox versions for user toriffying/proxifying their entire connection).

darkblackcorner 8y ago

The logo just makes me think "Chrome"...

Hedja 8y ago
It makes me think "AppVeyor". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AppVeyor Looks like it's a placeholder. https://github.com/intika/Librefox/issues/20 https://github.com/intika/Librefox/issues/20
- darkblackcorner 8y ago
  Yep, nevermind :D Knew I'd seen it somewhere.

giancarlostoro 8y ago

I see they add a plugin to add a refresh button to the URL bar. But I have that on my Firefox without an addon. Is there a new version that removed this button moving forward or something?

m3adow 8y ago
You can add one via the original customization options if I'm not mistaken.
- kiwijamo 8y ago
  But as the OP stated it's already there by default. I don't have that plugin yet I see a reload icon in my Firefox. So I'm like the OP, wondering what the point of that plugin is.
  - giancarlostoro 8y ago
    Looks like opencl answered our question. I guess I don't mind them being merged / separate. The one thing I do mind about Firefox is the stupid gaps they ad next to the address bar. I always have to remove those, they make no sense, and even this fork ditched them.
    - intika 8y ago
      I updated the README for the matter :) that addon permit to have the reload button inside the URL-bar
      - giancarlostoro 8y ago
        Thank you for the clarification, I like the UI of this browser, maybe it can get adopted officially by ParrotSec OS, looks like they customize Firefox a bit as it is, you may be saving them a bit of effort.
opencl 8y ago

ukyrgf 8y ago

This is unrelated, but I've never had the opportunity to ask before: in what cultures is it common to put a space before a colon (e.g. "Librefox : Browse With Freedom")? When I see that behavior, I immediately know the author isn't a native English speaker, but I've never known the reason behind it.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
FragenAntworten 8y ago
I believe it’s French. https://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/learn/french/french-tips/french-punctuation https://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/learn/french/french-t...
- Nodraak 8y ago
  As a French, I confirm we put a space before colons. (It's a mistake I often see in English presentations made by French and it drives me crazy)
  - abrowne 8y ago
    Since we're on the subject, saying "a French" sounds wrong to me (American native English speaker), even though the same construction is OK for other nationalities. (E.g. "a German" is OK.) You're better off with "a Frenchman"/"a Frenchwoman" or "a French person".
    - chrisdhoover 8y ago
      No no no. As French is the correct English locution
- infogulch 8y ago
  Interesting. That's always irked me but I passed it off as a typo or some personal preference. I wonder what other typographical differences are due to culture that I passed off as something else.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

solarkraft 8y ago

> This is not a fork ... but they're shipping modified code under the FF logo. Is this okay?

jmisavage 8y ago
Probably not. Mozilla will chime in sooner or later. They had a problem with Debian distributing a modified version of Firefox and ended up forcing Debian to call it something different - Iceweasel. Everything got sorted out years later.
librefox 8y ago
indeed this is not okay, it's in the to-do list to rebrand everything https://github.com/intika/Librefox/issues/26 https://github.com/intika/Librefox/issues/26 this is scheduled for next release

nhynes_ 8y ago

The packaging instructions are a bit manual. Here's a script which automates the process on MacOS: https://gist.github.com/nhynes/46a01eadf7af747a1915f9a964337e3d https://gist.github.com/nhynes/46a01eadf7af747a1915f9a964337...

intika 8y ago
Thanks again for your contribution :)

jamieson-becker 8y ago

Tragic and ironic that we need a libre Firefox.

dblohm7 8y ago
Only if you accept that premise to begin with...
Digital-Citizen 8y ago
Firefox has been and continues to be libre in the sense of software freedom -- free to run, inspect, share, and modify. Anyone who complains about how Mozilla runs their variant of Firefox should thank Mozilla for that licensing choice so that with other people's hard work, the world has multiple variants to choose from all of which are also free software (as far as I know). You won't see such improvements for non-free (proprietary) software because it wouldn't be legal to prepare or distribute them and because modifying binaries is remarkably difficult. Any improvements the proprietor distributes are untrustworthy unless they are freed. I think it's great that software freedom exists and that people are willing and able to distribute variants that serve their needs.
- intika 8y ago
  True, and a nice reminder :)

jammygit 8y ago

Installed this out of curiosity, then returned to my usual firefox. Had to re-opt-out-of the sponsored stories again. As somebody who donates to Mozilla, I wish there was a paid version of firefox that removed that sort of thing.