Re: Linux and Software Freedom

Am 16.08.2011 04:32, schrieb Eric Mitchell:
> All of this would seem to ignore a significant point: how the new update model affects Linux users and maintainers and how removing the version number from the About box and moving to automated updates affects the users' right to know exactly what is changing in their computer.
> 
> It is my understanding that the various components get spread out as per the Linux filesystem standards when Firefox is installed from a .deb or other package file (depending on its construction). The automatic update is looking for the local folder install like I can download from getfirefox.com but would not properly update a package based install and would actually need root permissions to properly update on Linux without drastically changing the location of the install.

As a Firefox maintainer for a Linux dist I can only confirm that all
that ignores the fact that Firefox is shipping with them and automatic
updates simply do not work there.

I just filed https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=679324 to get
rid of even more useless cruft from the about box btw.

There were many changes during the last year which were pretty annoying
for Linux distributions. Actually we more or less hit the point where
Firefox has no advantage anymore to Chrome/Chromium and I'll have a hard
time fighting to keep Firefox as a default browser instead of switching
to Chromium. Even worse I'm not sure if that fight is worth it given
what happens currently @Mozilla.


Wolfgang