Firefox ESR 52.9.0 EOL: Drop dead date
Ever since Quantum came out, I have looked and looked for a replacement browser; however, Firefox ESR seems to be the best replacement. I just read the ESR lifecycle plan and noticed that 52.9.0 is going to end on 28 August 2018. Does that mean there are not any plans to keep pre-Quantum Firefox around?
I know this is a Mozilla forum, so I'm asking this in no hopes of getting an answer, but, if that's the case, does anybody know of a browser that can be made as secure as Firefox 52.x ESR? Note: I use a specific set of addons to help control what comes through my browser; for example, we have seen many Javascript attacks on systems trying to exploit the Meltdown/Spectre problems. In Quantum, I am wide open as the so-called JS toggle addons do nothing but obfuscate JS rather than switch the flag in about:config.
Thank you in advance.
Chosen solution
Firefox 60 ESR will be Quantum based. There is no plan to keep the legacy Gecko based Firefox ESR beyond August.
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Chosen Solution
Firefox 60 ESR will be Quantum based. There is no plan to keep the legacy Gecko based Firefox ESR beyond August.
Originally Firefox 52.8.0 ESR was going to be the last but because the next major version ESR was going to be based on was moved from 59.0 to 60.0 they are going to have 52.9.0esr. ESR or Extended Support Release is basically versions supported for an extended time with security and allowed stability fixes as it is not a separate branch of development or such.
That's seems feasible, I mean, I couldn't expect a company to actually own up to their mistakes rather than release condescending, placating sound bites which deflect the problems from what should be the real issues, namely providing a SAFE and SECURE browser rather than "speed something something and UI something something":
https://webkit.org/blog/8048/what-spectre-and-meltdown-mean-for-webkit/
https://misc0110.net/web/files/keystroke_js.pdf
https://react-etc.net/entry/exploiting-speculative-execution-meltdown-spectre-via-javascript
It's so frustrating. For so long, I was a fan of Firefox. After 28 August, apparently the operative term will be "was".
Modified by laquete
James said
Originally Firefox 52.8.0 ESR was going to be the last but because the next major version ESR was going to be based on was moved from 59.0 to 60.0 they are going to have 52.9.0esr. ESR or Extended Support Release is basically versions supported for an extended time with security and allowed stability fixes as it is not a separate branch of development or such.
Just to let you know, in case you missed it in my OP, Firefox ESR 52.9.0 support will end on 28 August 2018. That's just right around the corner.
https://www.mozilla.org/media/img/firefox/organizations/release-overview.e70c7ac4b674.png
laquete said
James saidOriginally Firefox 52.8.0 ESR was going to be the last but because the next major version ESR was going to be based on was moved from 59.0 to 60.0 they are going to have 52.9.0esr. ESR or Extended Support Release is basically versions supported for an extended time with security and allowed stability fixes as it is not a separate branch of development or such.Just to let you know, in case you missed it in my OP, Firefox ESR 52.9.0 support will end on 28 August 2018. That's just right around the corner.
https://www.mozilla.org/media/img/firefox/organizations/release-overview.e70c7ac4b674.png
I am very well aware of the dates as you should notice by my giving you the note that 52.8.0esr was originally going to be the last and they extended it to 52.9.0esr Release.
The July 3rd date is when 52.9.0esr is being Released and the August 28 date is because Firefox 60.2.0 ESR will be the only current ESR then.
There are a couple of Firefox forks that are continuing to use the Gecko engine: