Mozilla did something good!

that forced restart is probably going to be a huge win for our rolling release brothers and sisters.

I believe, Firefox bugfix releases get rolled out pretty quickly on most non-rolling distros, too, so I don't think it's a terribly different experience, unless you're on a distro with Firefox ESR, like e.g. Debian.
- Can you expand on this a little for a new guy who is considering a switch from Mint to Debian?
  In my understanding Firefox ESR is like a stable, longstanding version that doesn’t get frequent little updates but still gets occasional large updates. (Like 1.0, 1.1, etc. rather than 1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, etc.)
  Is there a measurable difference in the user experience and or security of ESR?
  And is Debian actually restricted to ESR?
Why? I already reboot daily because everything gets updated so much. (I'm into that)
- When you get into servers, uptime becomes your drug
- I’ve got a super ignorant question; Is the situation with session saving on Linux desktop environments with default settings finally locked in enough that you literally can’t tell when a reboot has happened once the session is restored? Including user space apps? _Redacted_OS has been so good at this for so long that I literally don’t think about uptime on my daily driver anymore.
Why?
Does one reboot their entire system after updating Firefox on Linux?
I never do. I don’t even restart Firefox after updating, if it is already running.
- I never do. I don’t even restart Firefox after updating, if it is already running.
  Clearly you don't use it often, firefox will force you to restart itself and refuse to render webpages.
- On Linux:
  an application's files can be updated while the application is running, and
  there's an OS-wide updater (i.e. package manager) with which you can update most software, including Firefox. (You can also get Firefox with its built-in auto-updater, but most people prefer the OS-wide updater.)
  Both of these are good things. But Firefox, with its relatively advanced multi-process architecture, had a problem here, because it could happen that its files got updated while it was running and then when it started a new process, this new process might be incompatible with the old processes, therefore unable to communicate correctly.
  Their initial solution was to force you to quit Firefox and reopen it, when they detected that the files had changed and you did something in Firefox which might need a new process, so primarily when opening a new tab.
  I'm guessing, they now implemented a way to launch the new process by still using the old files from before the update.

WHAT???? ALL OF THOSE FEATURES HAVE BEEN IN NIGHTLY FOR A MONTH AND I STILL ALWAYS RESTART IT OUT OF HABIT! IT'S LITERALLY PART OF MY ROUTINE AND NOW YOU TELL ME IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE ANYMORE?

Watch out, we got a badass over here. Running a nightly build and not reading the patch notes, so brave.
- Sometimes I'm too tired and/or lazy to read through dozens of commits on their repo
AND THE BEST PART IS THAT YOU STILL CAN RESTART IT IF YOU WANT TO! WELCOME TO THE FUTURE, LUCY!
AND ADD THE OPTION TO REPLACE SPACEBAR HEATING!
https://xkcd.com/1172/

Getting rid of that forced restart will at least help me personally stay more secure and get bug fixes faster

lol I was so confused by Firefox not needing to restart that I tried running update again and then closed it myself because I thought something went wrong

How was memory use actually reduced? I read several articles on this, but I didn’t see anyone talking about how they achieved this.

Fork server - eliminates the need to restart and reduces memory per new process
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1609882
- Awesome! Thanks.
Maybe a missed free() they're too embarrassed to document.

Charlie's still using that gamer version of Opera though. With the fake key stroke sounds enabled.

Charlie is a simple creature.
woah what that sounds horrible lmao

Oh thank god. I've been getting crushed by memory sucking tabs.

My experience with childhood computers conditioned me to close everything instantly when I’m done with it even if it means I might have to reload the page later.
- 1GB RAM netbook represent
Laughs in automatic tab suspender
I can tell, almost double the tabs and still no system crash ! I think it's just discard tabs more aggressively but still, that's better than crashing

Good to know that I am not the only one mistaking Cr1TiKaL aka MoistCr1TiKaL aka penguinz0 aka Charles Christopher White Jr. as Asmongold aka Zack Hoyt (the rightwing influencer).

the guy in the picture isnt the cockroach king?

I swear to God, if I ever have to restart my Firefox again because snap without asking updated Firefox again in secret, I'm going to fucking lose it....

You're going to lose Snap? That is an option, you know.
- Yeah, did that already on my office computer, still gotta do that at home. However, just to ensure they'd screw over the users, they made sure that upon installing Firefox, snap would be installed again unless i sacrifice a goat.
  I so wish Ubuntu would just fuck off with snap, its awful
- Losing snap is an upgrade.
- Oh I know.
  My Ubuntu installations have as step 1: install Ubuntu, step 2: remove snap
Try Fedora bro trust me bro
- Been on Fedora in and off since before it existed, bro. Not a fan, bro

... i was supposed to be restarting after updating Firefox???

Just restarting Firefox, not the entire system.
Which doesn't really matter for 99.99% of users that are sane and only use a couple windows and tabs at a time. Saving things they aren't actively using anymore as bookmarks and using the browsing history for anything they closed previously but need again.
For the 0.01% of insane but vocal users that never close tabs and/or keep dozens of windows open, that's a big deal.
- ah, then yeah I just have "restore previous tabs" selected and restart the app, no biggie
- But also for normal users it's annoying as if you're in the middle of something like filling out a form, clicking onto the next page will tell you you need to restart your browser, and you lose your progress. So yeah, I'm happy about this change.
- I do this, but now I have 10k+ bookmarks, fairly organized, but the bookmark manager is trash. It is slow and getting slower. Also, searching history feels like '90's web search: hopeless if you don't remember exact keywords.
- call me out why don't ya?

Oh, that is good news. Hurray!

When was this? I just had to restart about a week ago

It's in the just released version 141
I had to restart today.

My switch to linux came just in time bby

..............

I miss the days when it was normal to just shut down the pc when you were done with it. Leaving things on all of the time isn't healthy.

- Fans and pumps don't have any moving parts any longer?
- I'm talking about my health, not the machine's health.
When I finish what I want to do on my PC, I type “yay” enjoy text and pacmans going left to right, press enter some times, and type sudo pw some times.
After that I reboot to check, that I am not stuck in TTY and turn off after
I always turn computer off when done, it never sleeps or hibernates, no need since I'm either using it or not, through been leaving it on 24/7 at moment due to wiping some hard drives which takes time, so it's working which is fine 😬
Fully disagree. Just leave it on, restart it once every 7-10 days if you're using windows. Linux, reboot when it asks, could be months.
I leave my work machine on constantly, but am very careful and shut down my home machine when I go to bed.
It just feels wrong to leave it powered up.

to be fair, i thought asmongold and penguinz0 were the same person, and that cr1tikal was a seperate, equally shit-headed person. My poor brain-- so the "woo lets go baby" guy is a decent dude? and its the other guy that has a rat corpse alarm clock? or am i still confused?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr1TiKaL = woo lets go baby
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asmongold = rat alarm clock
There are pictures. Not of the rat.
- The differences are astonishing Asmongold is pretty much a gaming and bad takes second hand streamer. Whose only identity is kissing right wing politician's ass, even when they actively hate and attack him.
  Then Charlie is there with movie and music credits, anime and comics productions, podcasts, business ventures, and also streaming. With every single of his political takes and controversies being morally and ethically sound and consistent.
  They are like Superman and bizarro, mirror images of each other, similar but opposites at the same time.
  Oh, and asswithmold face is the most punchable face on the internet (second only to PirateSoftware's) while Charlie's is sculpted by the gods themselves.
you are correct

I got a forced restart today.

Hopefully the last time, if it was the upgrade to 141

Still does telemetry, and allows easy fingerprinting by default. Use Librewolf instead.

Or you can just opt out if you don't think Mozilla should have this data which is strictly about the browser and whether it's the default browser, and which in no way compromises any personal info.
Just because something uses telemetry doesn't mean it's used in a way that compromises your personal data.
Google, Microsoft, Facebook and many others do that, Mozilla/Firefox does not.
- FF in my experience respects settings too. MS straight up ignores or resets them silently, and Google goes full dark patterns and/or creates new settings to nickel and dime you on data
  Facebook no experience, dumped that shit in like 09
- You probably missed the news. But Firefox is becoming a data seller too.
  Recently they updated their policies, since they are on GitHub you can see the exact changes.
  One of them was the elimination of a phrase like "we won't sell your data, and that's a promise". So promise broken I guess.
by the way some people talk here you'd think "telemetry" was a synonym to "satanism".
telemetry is not automatically evil.
- It would be ok if it was opt in
I thought they specifically take anti-fingerprinting measures by default? Is this not true?
- They do, but just like anything dealing with security or privacy, there are degrees of inconvenience and "breaking" that are not suited for every situation.
  Firefox is a good default, but if you want more privacy, LibreWolf is an option. LibreWolf configures more settings by default to protect your privacy— but these come at a cost. The cost being that more websites are likely to break and/or need "fixing". Look at the list of features that LibreWolf may break here [0]. This is not a browser for your general family or someone who just wants things to "work".
  Interestingly, LibreWolf disable Google Safe Browsing, which they actually recommend you enable as Firefox has implemented it in a privacy preserving way. The devs disable it by default in LibrewWolf for a semi-technical reason [1]. Without Google Safe Browsing you will not get warned about dangerous sites known for phishing, malware, or unwanted software. Technically inclined people may not want this, but I would never disable this feature for friends/family as that would put them at risk.
  Lastly, if your friends/family ran into website that doesn't work, they will not be troubleshooting the problem or trying to find a workaround. They will uninstall the browser and go running back to Chrome- this is the fine line that Firefox needs to navigate to ensure they protect user privacy, but don't inconvenience those who don't have the technical chops or patience.
  [0] https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/#what-are-the-most-common-downsides-of-rfp-resist-fingerprinting
  [1] https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/#why-do-you-disable-google-safe-browsing

Great and all, but until it can play full screen video on my Pi5 I'm going to keep using Brave.

Nice! Good job, Mozilla!

AI sloppa

Why would you use an image of that gross motherfucker to represent something good happening

Are you confusing this guy with Asmongold?
- I was. I should have noticed the lack of black mold in the background. Who is it?
Why do you think he's gross? He's like legit one of the nicest people.
- he probably thinks it's Asmongold or something.
Could you explain, I don't know anything about Moist Critical. I'm just using the 'Woo Yeah Baby! That's What I've Been Waiting For' meme.
- As mentioned in another reply, I thought it was Asmon

Isn't that guy a racist?

I don't understand why people are still using Firefox.

Sarcasm?
I also don't understand why people are not using Firefox.
- Because it's like the US. Well-known, but when stacked up against other browsers, not really good at anything, pretty shit at a lot of things, and certainly more old in the way it goes about doing it all. Then there's Mozilla's behaviour which is like a drunken parent at times.
  But in many people's minds there is only Chrome and Firefox, and they see all the cool kids hate Chrome, therefore Firefox is the best.
Cause atleast it's not chrome
I like Vulpix
Me neither. Looks like self-inflicted pain.