Future versions of Firefox on Windows 2000

[ppgrainbow]

Hey, everyone!

You might remember this forum post from nearly six years ago when Mozilla made a decision to drop support for Windows 9x/NT4/Me from Gecko 1.9.

After several months of wondering off in bugzilla.mozilla.org as well as mozilla.dev.planning Google newsgroups, I'm starting to feel pretty adventurous to see as if there are some developers here who have good knowledge of C++ programming with interest to keep Windows 2000 alive on our own accord, I've been thinking that this would be the right place to post.

Well...as you might not have already noticed, Asa Doltzer, Mozilla software developer and community coordinator for Firefox marketing projects has called on the Mozilla development team to end all support for Windows 2000, Windows XP RTM, Windows XP SP1 and Windows Server 2003 RTM.

This change will impact all Mozilla-based apps (including official builds of Firefox) off the Gecko 13 branch and beyond. Products built on the Gecko 12 branch will be last to support Windows 2000. When Firefox 13 gets released on 5 June 2012 (less than 18 weeks from now), our options will be limited.

With Firefox 13 (the current version in trunk Nightly) and any Mozilla-based apps built on Gecko 13, developers switched to Visual Studio 2010 which means that the upcoming version of Firefox (and any Mozilla-based apps) will start using EncodePointer, DecodePointer, newer compiler features with numerous entry point dependencies that do not exist on Windows 2000 and older versions of Windows.

Here are the references, if you're interested:

1. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=563318

2. http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/2012/01/end_of_firefox_win2k.html

3. http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.planning/browse_thread/thread/be7d06905e82157f/016ae0cc2a331b8d

4. http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.platform/browse_thread/thread/a6fcb6210f8b3d62

5. http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox/browse_thread/thread/ab0164a039e425e4

That's why there are projects (such as KernelEx for Win2K and KDW/FCWin2K) to help keep Win2K alive. Wouldn't it be interesting to help contribute and try to develop a compatibility library or a custom version of Firefox (or any Mozilla-based app) for Windows 2000?

Well...with less than 18 weeks remaining, there is still a lot of time do this and I've been thinking that it would be a good idea to get discussions started early.

Let's see if anyone here is interested in helping out!

Sadly, I don't have any knowledge of C++ programming, but I'll be glad to see what is going on here. I can't wait to test out some stuff under VMware Player soon to see if it works.

Edited October 19, 2012 by ppgrainbow

[Browncoat]

Where is the actual announcement?

Google groups that you pointed to isn't the real Usenet.

I'm finding hard to swallow but there's always filehippo to get earlier versions for a new system build.

Especially since I haven't been savy enough to suss out BWC's patches.

Isn't Mozilla supposed to be part of the open source community?

I've been using open source stuff mainly Open/LibreOffice and VLC media player on the 2k desktop

and dual booting Linux for modern features.

The only App that has been 'holding me back" has been Protecteer's SignUp Shield which has been stuck

in FF ver. 3.xx.xx for some time, for a long time I've been wanting to upgrade to FF 9 or 10 but their app

hasn't gone forward. See their FAQ.

http://www.protecteer.com/asp/home.asp

The only hardware, my two MyHD - MDP 130s ATSC capture cards that run on 98/2000/XP.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=493691&page=404

I guess I'll have to adapt, using 2000 and maybe XP[for its' better hibernation] for embedded

"one job only" stuff and drift to Linux for full time web surfing because I'll be damned if I'm going

to buy copy after copy of that crap that needs product activation.

Edited February 2, 2012 by Browncoat

[ppgrainbow]

Browncoat, the actual announcement is on Asa's webblog. When I posted this forum thread, I found that the URL link was broken. So, I fixed the link for you.

In the short term, the upcoming beta version of Firefox will be Firefox 11 beta 1. Mozilla is apart of the open source community and has apparently been that way since it started work on Firefox way back in the end of 2002. One thing for sure is that I've been running Windows XP under VMware for quite sometime to take advantage of some of the modern features (even though Windows XP has been obsoleted since it left Mainstream Support in April 2009).

I managed to get some of the extensions working under Firefox 4 and later by extracting the XPI file and hacking the install.rdf to make it run on later versions of Firefox. As for the app that has been holding you back, I believe that it will only run properly on versions of Firefox (up to 3.6). Speaking of Firefox 3.6, the support plug will be pulled when Firefox 10.2 ESR gets released.

Windows XP does require product activation to work and I've been through this before.

Edited February 3, 2012 by ppgrainbow

[blackwingcat]

Hi,

I know that the application can work on Windows 2000, whichi created by Visual Studio 2010,

if we even add a several codes it.

I released add-on library for Windows 2000 with VC++2010

if you install MS11-025, the applications don't work on 98/Me/NT/2000. (Japanese)

How to compile the application for Windows 2000 with VC++ 2010 (Japanese)

And because Windows 2000 has problem about rand_s and RtlGenRandom, then Firefox ignores OOPP option if it is Windows 2000. but it is resolved by several codes.

rand_s and RtlGenRandom (Japanese)

* Note: We can get OOPP available version firefox from here.

Tete's Atelier -software

Wouldn't it be interesting to help contribute and try to develop a compatibility library or a custom version of Firefox (or any Mozilla-based app) for Windows 2000?

Well...with less than 18 weeks remaining, there is still a lot of time do this and I've been thinking that it would be a good idea to get discussions started early.

Let's see if anyone here is interested in helping out!

Sadly, I don't have any knowledge of C++ programming, but I'll be glad to see what is going on here. I can't wait to test out some stuff under VMware Player soon to see if it works.

[tomasz86]

Not being supported does not mean that it won't work...

In case it's compiled in VS 2010 you can just either:

1) Install BlackWingCat's MS VC++ 2010 SP1.

2) Install WildBill's kernel or BlackWingCat's kernel.

[ppgrainbow]

Not being supported does not mean that it won't work...

In case it's compiled in VS 2010 you can just either:

1) Install BlackWingCat's MS VC++ 2010 SP1.

2) Install WildBill's kernel or BlackWingCat's kernel.

Can I have the link to the files in question? Thanks.

I will need to install it in a VM first before I do it on this PC. I will need to back the VM up incase that I screwed up.

By the way, here are the links to the trunk nightly builds of Firefox:

Trunk nightly: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/

ZIP file: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/firefox-13.0a1.en-US.win32.zip

Installer: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-trunk/firefox-13.0a1.en-US.win32.installer.exe

With BlackWingCat's MSVC++ 2010 SP1 runtime and special kernel, I don't know if it's going to work or not. Mozilla developers are now expected to remove the dead support code for Windows 2000 from Gecko.

Edited February 3, 2012 by ppgrainbow

[tomasz86]

You can find WildBill's kernel at bristols updates list. Look for KB2393802. Links to BlackWingCat's kernel & MS VC++ 2010 SP1 are already mentioned in this topic.

They are pretty safe, especially the older version of BlackWingCat's kernel (v5) can be said to be perfectly stable as I don't think any issues with it have been reported.

So should this version of Firefox not work in Windows 2000? It works fine here

Edited February 3, 2012 by tomasz86

[ppgrainbow]

You can find WildBill's kernel at bristols updates list. Look for KB2393802. Links to BlackWingCat's kernel & MS VC++ 2010 SP1 are already mentioned in this topic.

They are pretty safe, especially the older version of BlackWingCat's kernel (v5) can be said to be perfectly stable as I don't think any issues with it have been reported.

So should this version of Firefox not work in Windows 2000? It works fine here

Thanks for the help. I downloaded KB2393082 and I will need to back up the data incase I screw up. Now, I'm gonna try to find BlackWingCat's MSVC++ 2010 SP1 files also.

[blackwingcat]

Does anyone know how to download central version (v13) Firefox source code ?

"hg clone http://hg.mozilla.org/l10n-central/ targetdir" would not work.

[blackwingcat]

I try to run firefox v13 on Kernel v11 environment.

(* note v11(JP)kernel can't apply English environment.)

Does Firefox 13(VC++2010 build version work on WIndows 2000 ?

It seems not to have a problem.

Not being supported does not mean that it won't work...

In case it's compiled in VS 2010 you can just either:

1) Install BlackWingCat's MS VC++ 2010 SP1.

2) Install WildBill's kernel or BlackWingCat's kernel.

[ppgrainbow]

Thanks for trying to run the 2012-02-03 trunk Nightly build of Firefox 13 on Win2k with the Kernel v11 environment!

I was hoping that there is a English language version of Kernel v11 soon.

Along with EncodePointer and DecodePointer what other entry point APIs will it use that don't exist on Win2k? :\

[Wondershare]

future version of Firefox was good , I want to know the basic seo tool which firefox provide in new version.

[Browncoat]

Can't find related news for the Seamonkey suite, still listed as "all windows".

[ppgrainbow]

Can't find related news for the Seamonkey suite, still listed as "all windows".

The SeaMonkey suite and all Mozilla-based apps are affected by this change. The announcement was made through mozilla.dev.apps.firefox and cross-posted elsewhere. The announcement regarding SeaMonkey can be found here: http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.apps.seamonkey/browse_thread/thread/4dbd921b2565f33a

[Browncoat]

I guess then I'll have to adapt, if I can't get Wild Bill's or BWC's kernel to work for me the only

alternative would be one copy of xp pro upgrade for this workstation,then nLite my 2000 CDs

and just use 2000 to run the capture cards in dedicated refurb computers and go to Linux full time.

I'm at least glad I have 'till June 5th.