@roytam1 and @Matt A. Tobin

Good morning.  I hope you are doing well.  This question is more from a point of seeking advice, or creating an idea.  I'm not attempting to saddle either of you with more work in any way whatsoever.

Could there be any possibility of building/compiling a browser based on Firefox ESR 60, and backporting updates to it from newer releases of Firefox?  I understand that it would be WebExtensions only (since I really would only use uBlock Origin - that would be OK).  But could a near future-proof browser be built on the ESR 60 base?

I only ask since I REALLY like Quantum between versions 57 and 60 ESR.  It looked modern and worked exceptionally well with Windows 8, but was still somewhat configurable, even with just CSS code.

Thanks for your advice.

 

Edited April 12, 20206 yr by Jody Thornton

no intention for this at the moment

30 minutes ago, roytam1 said:

no intention for this at the moment

I figured so, but what I was more or less asking if it actually "could" be done; I wasn't asking that you be the one to do it.  :)

 

I have to ask: Why? Even newest Edge Chromium can run on these systems.

Customized browsers should (IMHO, so pls dont shoot me) be more focused on 9x and 2k systems.

@Bruninho  I'm not aiming for system or OS target specifics.  I'm aiming for browser release specifics.  No differently than Waterfox Classic aims for Firefox 56 or Basilisk aims for Firefox 52.

No need to shoot you ....lol.  But it's perfectly OK to have different mandates for projects.  So don't shoot me either when I believe people shouldn't use Windows 2000 or 9x/ME on a modern web.  Those releases should be relegated to antique shops or graveyards.  :P  - OK I'm kidding a little, but really....lol

 

I guess Matt & co. will be much more responsible on forums related to his works directly.

Well, you never know if you never ask, and I brought up the subject on Ghacks, so I thought I might as here.

 

On 4/13/2020 at 8:47 AM, Mcinwwl said:

I guess Matt & co. will be much more responsible on forums related to his works directly.

Well I wasn't talking specifically about anything coming out of the Moonchild/Binary Outcast factories.  I was a fan of early Quantum releases, and I just wondered how easy (for a developer/coder), it would be to build ESR 60 with modern updates backported to it  (kinda like how Basilisk 55 is maintained here, without XP compatibility).  Never hurts to ask.

 

Why in gods name would I want to do that dude?

@Matt A. Tobin

Not that you'd want to - just that it was possible.  I found Quantum v57 to 60 to be rather brisk and well performing.  Now I find that Mozilla is going down a questionable path.  I find that Quantum was a performance improvement over Australis, and I tend to prefer the Photon look.  But now that many prefs are being deprecated, and Google seems to be in control of Mozilla's future, things look scary.

 

Even Mozilla now admits in retrospect that a bunch of their initial speed hacks for quantum were dangerous which is why they were reverted over the next 3-5 versions. We told you this as they were doing it, of course.

AFAIK Waterfox (standard) is based on quantum
while Waterfox "Classic" is on pre-quantum

so you already have that ...

 

@vinifera  True, but I want the base to be at ESR 60, not anything newer.  Then I would want updates backported to it, no differently than Waterfox Classic is to 56, Basilisk is to 52, and so forth.

I don't like any Quantum releases past 60x.  60 ESR was modern enough, yet configurable enough.  Anyway, no biggie.  I just wanted to see if it was possible, and then I could approach someone who is possibly open to it.  I know MSFN's focus is elsewhere, which is perfectly fine.  Cheers!

 

You probably don't need any security updates. As long as you stay away from ads, you'd be fine. If someone ported TLS 1.3 to Firefox 3.6.28, it'd probably be safe to use with an adblocker.

Though, the perfect browser for me at least would based off of a version of WebKit ported over to Windows, as it'd have the WebKit advantages, without the Google code.

 

Well I could just install the last ESR 60 revision and just not update.  I'm testing out Waterfox Current 68 right now, and it's working pretty good.

Thanks @asdf2345

 

Edited June 21, 20206 yr by Jody Thornton