
uMatrix has been archived - bscphil
https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix
======
bscphil
IMO the genius of uMatrix was that Raymond realized that an in-browser
requests firewall should have two dimensions, instead of one: (1) the
(sub-)domains that the requests pointed at, and (2) the _type_ of request
(i.e. cookie, image, XHR, etc).

Now, obviously you could always write an ABP compatible filter that could
block any combination of these two, but that's _hard_. What uMatrix did is
present the underlying complexity in a way that's easy to intuit for a power
user, giving you point-and-click request filtering power over both domains
simultaneously.

For that reason, I'm skeptical that uMatrix can be replaced with a traditional
blocker, not even one with an advanced mode like uBo, because it simply
doesn't allow the specificity that a two-dimensional model like uMatrix did.
That makes uMatrix's being archived incredibly tragic and a great loss for the
web. I hope someone as trustworthy and competent as Raymond will pick it up in
the future, and I thank him for all his work on it up to this point.

~~~
cookiengineer
This is so true, the two dimensions allow such a nice simplification of what
should be rendered even in UX terms.

What I personally didn't like about it though are the tech specific parts
(e.g. xhr and other both require script anyways, as not a single website will
work with xhr disabled).

So for my browser project [1] I decided to split it up into "text", "image",
"audio", "video" and "other" which I hope will make more sense for most
people.

Back in February when the debate about the manifest and requests api started,
I started my own semantic browser project which aims to filter out all UX-
interfering CSS and HTML and probably won't allow JS anyhow.

It tries to focus on the automation and caching parts that are broken in
current web browsers, so that everything is peer to peer, and that other
trusted peers can be used to share bandwidth, content, or metadata with each
other and that each one has a 100% persistent local cache that only gets
refreshed once the user tells the browser to.

If there'll be a need to support webapps later, they will probably be
sandboxed in a new window that represents a temporary cache located in
/tmp/... in order to prevent abuse of local storage and cookies. I've learned
to not trust any site these days, even my bank's website uses foreign
overseas-located trackers, which is technically a GDPR violation.

[1] [https://github.com/tholian-network/stealth](https://github.com/tholian-
network/stealth)

~~~
bonestamp2
> and probably won't allow JS anyhow.

You're not going to allow JS? I don't know the answer, but I'm curious what
percentage of sites are unusable without JS? It might be fine for basic
browsing, but nearly any ecommerce or site with "interactive" content uses JS.
Many video players require JS. It seems like a very niche solution that won't
have mass appeal if you're not going to allow JS.

To me, the perfect solution would be something similar to uMatrix where power
users can choose the settings they think are best. Anyone else can use
simplified controls to indicate if they're seeing ads or if site functionality
is broken.

Then there's some aggregation software that looks at all of those inputs and
determines the best default settings for each site. If ads are seen then the
blocking levels are increased toward the fringe of advanced user inputs, if
functionality is broken then it walks back the blocking levels until broken
functionality reports end.

This would be a never ending eb and flow for each site so it would be
important to automate it as much as possible.

~~~
m463
I think it should be clear how to use umatrix.

Turn everything OFF for all sites by default. I turn off third party stuff and
all scripting.

Then visit a new site. Then opt-in until you either - decide the site sucks
and leave, or get something acceptable and read your article. Then press SAVE
to save the settings for that site.

It's worth mentioning that many sites do not render well without javascript,
but reader mode renders a perfectly readable article.

but also it's much MORE prevalent that you turn on javascript and the site
will do much worse things.

~~~
Technetium
This is the point to me, and this is the way I've used it for years.
Everything always loads almost instantly, I enjoy not burning my bandwidth for
things I don't care about. I regularly have over 150 tabs, and at that point
blocking unneeded/unwanted content makes a very noticeable difference,
especially on older machines.

I enjoyed the ride.

------
soulofmischief
The developer, Raymond Hill had this to say on reddit a month ago:

 _I will never hand over development to whoever, I had my lesson in the past
-- I wouldn 't like that someone would turn the project into something I never
intended it to become (monetization, feature bloat, etc.). At most I would
archive the project and whoever is free to fork under a new name. For now I
resisted doing this, so people will have to be patient for new stable
release._

 _What would actually help is that people help to completely investigate
existing issues instead of keep asking me to add yet more features. Turns out
people willing to step in the code to investigate and pinpoint exactly where
is an issue (or that there is no issue) is incredibly rare._

[https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/i240ds/reques...](https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/i240ds/request_for_a_stable_umatrix_release_for_cname/g0bh51n/)

~~~
NelsonMinar
Presumably referring to the mess that happened with uBlock when he tried to
step away. That's why it's called "uBlock Origin" now; the original name was
taken over by someone who then developed it in ways against Gorhill's
intentions.

~~~
propogandist
>the original name was taken over by someone

it was taken over by the same people behind "AdBlockPlus" which is a shakedown
operation. They're allowing ads to be unblocked if advertisers pay them money.

Some history;
[https://old.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/32ory7/ublock_is_ba...](https://old.reddit.com/r/chrome/comments/32ory7/ublock_is_back_under_a_new_name/)

~~~
saagarjha
Well, today that is what it is. Before that it was just a "donate to the
developers" that was basically a money grab for the person running it.

~~~
propogandist
The developers running it should be able to accept monies from the users of
the product, especially donations. They have built something and are keeping
the end users interests at heart while evolving the capability. It needs to be
sustainable, else the intrinsic motivation will dry up.

The adblockplus model is extortion. They're not incentivized to serve the end
user well, especially when their primary source of revenue is the advertisers
the users are attempting to block.

~~~
saagarjha
The problem was that the person was essentially squatting on the name (in
spirit; the name had been legitimately transferred) to gather donations for
himself while not actively developing it. Then he sold it to the "Acceptable
Ads" people.

------
pa7x1
This is a tragic loss, I can't be grateful enough to the author, such a
fantastic tool.

I even started installing it in my parent's computers (not advanced users),
reducing to 0 the amount of time I had to intervene to fix their computers.
The trick is to configure it in blacklist mode, instead of whitelist. This way
it only blocks requests from domains in the blacklist and frame elements. Just
with this change you get non-power users out of trouble in their surfing
habits and impacts negligibly their use.

I have taught them that if a web is blocked or doesn't work properly is most
likely not a web they want to use but that there is also the possibility to
turn it off using the on/off button (that they should use very judiciously).
In this mode it is not too different from setting up Hosts file but they can
understand better what's going on and how to turn it off if needed.

EDIT: fixed typos

~~~
ffpip
> The trick is to configure it in blacklist mode, instead of whitelist.

Or you can use it in whitelist mode, but with all things like Cloudflare and
ReCaptcha globally whitelisted. It's good that way too.

But yes, for your parents, black list mode would be good. It would be like
uBlock Origin.

~~~
02020202
> Or you can use it in whitelist mode, but with all things like Cloudflare and
> ReCaptcha globally whitelisted.

those two specifically are always the first entries in my blacklist :D

~~~
josephcsible
Most people want to block annoyances like advertising or tracking without
breaking the pages they want to visit. What you're suggesting does the
opposite.

~~~
daveFNbuck
If that's your goal, why would you use uMatrix and not ad and tracking
blockers?

~~~
fuzxi
Granularity.

~~~
daveFNbuck
How does the granularity help block trackers and ads if you're not doing
enough of it to regularly break sites?

------
ffpip
Thank you Gorhill. For such great resources. Your extensions are the only
reason I use FF on mobile and desktop.

uMatrix helped me realize how much of 3rd party resources are crap. Actual
crap. Completely unnecessary. It also helped me get familiar with new 3rd
party crap that pops up on the internet.

I'll use uMatrix 1.4.0 as long as it works. Many thanks

~~~
newyorker2
Haven't used any chromium in years, hence the question. Is uMatrix not
available on their addon store?

~~~
ffpip
In my experience uMatrix and uBO work better in Firefox compared to Chromium.
You don't have to completely reload the whole page to see what's blocked or
hidden. They can also block the sneakiest trackers that hide behind other
domains. Not possible in Chromium.

Chromium mobile doesnt even have addons because they are shit scared of
adblockers.

~~~
pmoriarty
_" Chromium mobile doesnt even have addons because they are shit scared of
adblockers."_

Paradoxically, I'm kind of half-happy to hear this.

It means that finally a large number of users are using adblockers.

For many years the standard theme of many threads on adblockers was that
companies like Google didn't care about them because too small a percentage of
their users used them for it to matter.

Now finally there are enough adblocker users for it to hurt their bottom line,
and that means that there are more people than ever who clearly just don't
want to see ads.

That gives me hope that there will some day be anti-advertising legislation,
and that we might not even need adblockers... some day... some day...

~~~
bad_user
I think your hope is misguided.

People dreamed of an Internet where sharing of information was free (as in
freedom). Then DRM happened. And even if DRM cannot be 100% reliable, being
broken by design, it's reliable enough, plus in the US at least it's a felony
to break it. And as years go by, we see more DRM, not less. This happens,
because the practice is normalized, and because small inconveniences are taken
care of (usually by monopolies winning the market—e.g. you stop complaining
that alternative e-book readers don't work, when everybody is using the Kindle
or the Audible apps).

Similarly, for the open web — the action has been moving on mobile devices. A
majority of people now consume content via mobile devices. So what do you see?
More websites? Or more apps? And for all ad-blocking happening at the DNS
level (e.g. Pi-hole), how long do you think it is before apps start doing DNS
over HTTPS on their own, bypassing the OS's stack?

This is a wack-a-mole game, and the big publishers have enough resources to
push for both technical and legal changes for outlawing ad-blocking. I'm
actually surprised that content blockers remained legal thus far. But the
writing is on the wall IMO.

\---

There's also another side of this coin. I see more and more people on HN
complaining that articles are submitted from publications that are setting up
paywalls.

People also hate paying for content. And even those that pay for content, they
don't recognize what an incredible privilege it is to afford it.

Either content is monetized somehow, or the only content that we get will be
content created by hobbyists, in their spare time, for free, while working a
regular job.

Well I for one don't want a world in which the poor don't get access to online
resources, or a world in which people can't make ends meet doing what they
love.

~~~
a1369209993
> Either content is monetized somehow, or the only content that we get will be
> content created by hobbyists, in their spare time, for free

Yes, that's why we need to make it impossible to monetize content.

~~~
bad_user
I definitely like the free labor of others.

~~~
a1369209993
Yes, because when it comes to creative works, it produces much better results
than professional labor.

------
4cao
There is a comment from @gorhill saying:

> Anyway, as it is, I've archived uMatrix's repo, I can't and won't be
> spending any more time on this project, and neither on all such issues
> [linking to all issues closed as invalid].

[https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uMatrix-
issues/issues/291#is...](https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uMatrix-
issues/issues/291#issuecomment-694988696)

So it's really confirmed then. Very sad news.

Edit: there's also a glimmer of hope:

> Whoever is free to fork under a new name -- I may re-open and resume
> development in some future if ever I feel for it.

~~~
jiofih
That is actually a quite hostile move for OSS, which has become common lately.

Unless you have trademarked the name, you don’t get to reserve it for a rainy
day, anyone should be able to pick up the torch and continue the project
without having to start from scratch with a new unknown name.

~~~
chrismorgan
Are you familiar with the story about uBlock and uBlock Origin?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBlock_Origin#History)

gorhill stopped doing uBlock and passed it to others, who subsequently took it
in a direction he didn’t like, so that he resumed maintenance under the name
uBlock Origin (since the name “uBlock” had been transferred).

So this time when he stops maintaining a project, he’s avoiding the same thing
happening.

~~~
Aengeuad
The wiki link somewhat explains the situation but to reiterate it for HN:
gorhill no longer wanted to work on uBlock full time so he transferred the
project to chrisaljoudi who immediately registered ublock.org in order to
solicit donations under the valuable uBlock branding. Development on uBlock
all but stopped and the project died, some 3 years later chrisaljoudi sold the
project to AdBlock who are essentially an advertising company. Meanwhile
gorhill continued development at a slower pace on his personal fork, uBlock
Origin, which is still maintained to this day.

Contribution graph for the original uBlock project during this time frame:
[https://github.com/uBlock-
LLC/uBlock/graphs/contributors?fro...](https://github.com/uBlock-
LLC/uBlock/graphs/contributors?from=2015-03-01&to=2015-10-01&type=c)

and now compare to the 'personal fork' that is uBlock Origin:
[https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/graphs/contributors?from=2...](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/graphs/contributors?from=2015-03-01&to=2015-10-01&type=c)

So if 'squatting' the name of your own OSS project is considered 'user
hostile' then let this be a lesson to people considering giving up their
project: the person you give it to may abuse your trust and the trust of the
community in order to further their own agenda, in this situation it was all
just pretty harmless petty drama but it might not always work out so well.

Random Github projects aren't organisations with funding and staff with rules
and responsibilities to keep the project running, it's okay to archive the
project and let the community decide what to do, giving the project to the
first person who asks may end up achieving the same thing as archiving the
project or it may come back to bite you in the arse damaging your reputation
in the process.

~~~
doc_gunthrop
Maybe there ought to be a blacklist for unscrupulous devs who do things like
what chrisaljoudi did with Ublock.

------
TekMol
Uhm, what??

uMatrix is an essential part of my everyday life.

Will it still work? If not, is there a trustworthy replacement?

I don't want an "ad blocker" with blocking lists etc. I just want to see the
page I navigated to. And then allow it to load additional resources as I see
fit.

If uMatrix goes out of existence, then that would be the biggest loss due to
discontinued software in my lifetime.

~~~
throwaway2048
uBlock origin advanced mode is very similar to uMatrix

~~~
Arnavion
AFAICT uBO even in advanced mode doesn't differentiate between the kinds of
requests that can be filtered, so filtering is only per domain and filters
every kind of request for the domain equally. uM on the other hand
differentiates between scripts, CSS, images, XHR, media and frames, and allows
you to filter them individually.

But most importantly, uM also allows you to filter cookies with the same
fidelity, which is the number one thing I would miss if I had to rely solely
on uBO, because it means I can default to blocking even first-party cookies
from sites I don't want leaving cookies on my machine. FF by itself gets
close, by letting me set a policy that says "block all cookies except for
cookies from these domains", but that doesn't let me filter which site is
allowed to access those cookies.

Frankly, I find uBO redundant if one has uM installed but for two things: uBO
can use the usual content-blocker lists (I personally don't need them because
my router's DNS server does filtering using those same lists already, but it's
useful for people without such a setup), and uBO can block remote fonts
whereas uM can't. It would be great if uM's kind-based filtering was merged
into uBO and remote fonts were kept as just another kind of request that can
be filtered, but I don't know what gorhill plans to do.

~~~
rasz
> uBO even in advanced mode doesn't differentiate ....scripts, CSS, images,
> XHR, media and frames

$script $image $subdocument $stylesheet $first-party $third-party
$xmlhttprequest $csp $inline-script $inline-font ...

[https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Static-filter-
syntax](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Static-filter-syntax)

~~~
Arnavion
Good to know. So it's supported for static filters and not for dynamic
filters, which is presumably why it isn't exposed through the UI like uM does.

So it looks like the equivalent of this uM rule:

    
    
        github.com raw.githubusercontent.com xhr allow
    

would be:

    
    
        @@raw.githubusercontent.com^$domain=github.com,xhr
    

... or something. (I have to spend some time RTFMing.)

So then, like I said in my previous comment, it seems it would be the best of
both worlds if gorhill took the UI from uM and put it in uBO.

------
jonchang
Looks like the maintainer just didn't have time and there weren't enough
people in the community willing to step up and do issue triage or contribute
code.

> What would actually help is that people help to completely investigate
> existing issues instead of keep asking me to add yet more features. Turns
> out people willing to step in the code to investigate and pinpoint exactly
> where is an issue (or that there is no issue) is incredibly rare.

~~~
jobigoud
It's a general trait we have as a civilization, everybody wants to innovate,
nobody wants to do maintenance.

------
fxtentacle
This is sad for me as a user, but I can fully understand his unwillingness to
further engage with requests from entitled users. I myself had bad experiences
with releasing open source, too.

That said, this is clearly a useful tool and I wouldn't be surprised if the
user base was 10,000+ which means that if you'd make it $3 monthly to use as a
commercial product, the revenue (after attrition) should be enough to pay for
at least one part time employee to do the maintenance.

I would also expect that releasing this as a paid product, as opposed to open
source, will actually reduce entitlement by users. Or at the very least, you
can always just issue a refund and be done with it.

I would still hope for source code insight to make it transparent how this
tool works. But that is not necessary a hindrance towards productizing it.
Unreal Engine 4 is a commercial success, despite shipping with full source
code.

~~~
jsjohnst
> I would also expect that releasing this as a paid product, as opposed to
> open source, will actually reduce entitlement by users.

That is the very opposite of what I’d expect and have observed personally over
the years. The folks who’ve paid a small amount are virtually always the most
demanding and refunding them and asking them politely to go away just fuels
their indignation further.

~~~
fxtentacle
I've been selling a $9 Windows app for 5 years now and never had a case where
someone continued to contact support after a refund. We did have people who
had a system straight from hell where nothing worked as planned, but then
again the users of those systems seemed to be aware that it's their computer
and not my app.

~~~
jsjohnst
So you are lucky I guess? That’s the great thing about anecdata, everyone will
have a somewhat different experience.

------
makecheck
Many notable or even vital software projects are literally maintained by one
person, sometimes even in companies. I am certain that most users don’t “get”
this about software. And from experience, most users don’t contribute anything
_at all_ , not even the most basic bug reports. They do however complain.

The best way to “mourn” a lost software project is to ask yourself what you
will do to maintain the software ecosystem. How many things do you use for
free? How many things have bugs you never bothered to tell anyone about? Has
each of you contributed _something_ (even a short E-mail thank-you) to some
software project?

------
hardwaresofton
For those who are wondering the difference between ublock origin and umatrix,
a cursory quick search turned up this forum post[0]:

> uMatrix is a blocker(cookie,css,image,plugin,script,XHR,frame, and other)
> you can control what you block and what you want to allow(like uBlock Origin
> dynamic filtering but way more flexible and can be way more strict) uMatrix
> just blocks ads through the use of host files, uBlock Origin blocks them
> more deeper per se then uMatrix because of cosmetic and patteren-based
> filtering like adblock plus. I use both of them together just uncheck the
> malware domains in uBlock and peter Lowe's and the host files. Also you have
> more privacy and security when running uMatrix because of the switches(user
> agent spoofing and referrer spoofing, clearing blocked cookies, blocking
> hyperlink auditing attempts etc.) and also if you run uBlock it gets
> whatever ads uMatrix does not get from its blocking) Look at my sig to see
> how I run them. If you need help just PM me.:thumb::):cool:

I personally run ublock origin and have been super happy with it, never even
think about it these days, if I was supposed to switch to uMatrix at some
point (I know uBlock and uBlock origin are different now and origin is
preferred) I must have missed it.

[0]: [https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/ublock-vs-
umatrix.37...](https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/ublock-vs-
umatrix.376016/)

~~~
pimlottc
Thanks, the project readme could definitely do a better job of introducing the
project to those not familiar with it.

------
pineyboi
uMatrix is awesome. I wish there were more tools like this -- just advanced
enough to do some real heavy lifting yet still quick and intuitive after even
a little investment. The browsers brought SSL awareness with the padlock, but
most users are still woefully unaware of just how many websites they hit when
they load any page. It's insanity.

I hope this isn't due to browser vendors making things difficult, but it
wouldn't surprise me. Since the concerns are similar, it would be great if
there was a way to marry the two. uBlock - advanced interface mode or
something. Just a thought, not a feature request.

Thank you Gorhill for all your work. Sad to see it go, I actually can't fathom
how I'll surf the web without it.

~~~
ffpip
> just advanced enough to do some real heavy lifting yet still quick and
> intuitive after even a little investment.

This describes uMatrix perfectly. I didn't understand a single thing after
installing it, but one day, I spent 20 mins reading the wiki on Github and
then understood what to use each tool for.

------
Drawde
If you're using uBlock Origin already, then you don't really need uMatrix or
NoScript. Just enable medium mode or hard mode:

[https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-
mode:-medium...](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode:-medium-
mode)

[https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-
mode:-hard-m...](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Blocking-mode:-hard-
mode)

~~~
dastx
Medium and hard mode are nowhere near as flexible as as uMatrix. It's good,
but it's not uMatrix.

~~~
Lammy
I’m willing to put up with if it it means gorhill will have the energy to
maintain just uBO instead of burning out entirely :)

~~~
dastx
Definitely! I'm going to keep using uMatrix until it starts getting in my way,
but otherwise uBO will do.

------
Maha-pudma
What's the alternative to this?

This was on all my browsers, with ublock origin, the first extension I
install. Now what?

I'm not a good enough programmer to take this on but I suggest 'uMatrix
Reloaded' as the new name.

~~~
ffpip
Are there any issues with uMatrix that you are looking for alternatives?

Only the repo has been archived. The extension is perfect. Just think you
haven't seen this post and continue to use it.

~~~
bscphil
Mozilla has modified their extensions API pretty regularly (with major changes
every few years at least, recently), and they're also still in the process of
developing the API for the Android browser, which is likely to remain
incomplete and different from the desktop API for the forseeable future.
Granted, maybe not a lot of people use uMatrix on their phone, but both of
these seem like valid reasons to worry.

~~~
ffpip
You can't use uMatrix on phone. Mozilla updated their browser right? Also very
few can manage it on such a small screen.

>they're also still in the process of developing the API

The API is there. They are just whitelisting addons.

~~~
bscphil
> You can't use uMatrix on phone.

You can't use it _currently_ if you have a release version of Firefox after
68, yes. The API is buggy and in fact quite a few extensions don't work, even
if you force-install them. It's still unclear if they will ever whitelist
stuff that's outside of their "recommended extensions" program, and presumably
the best chance it would have of getting whitelisted is if it were actively
maintained and bugs encountered with the new FFA could be worked on in
coordination with the developer.

------
sippingjippers
I seem to remember this movie. In the following scene, some spammer forks the
code and claims to be the new maintainer, but threads some horrible spammy
behaviour into the code. The spammy fork (under the original name) gains
significant popularity. Final scene. In disgust, the valiant OP returns with a
new fork, possibly called "uMatrix Origin". Curtains and lights

~~~
srtjstjsj
That's a miscomprehension of what happened with uBlock. The problem with
uBlock was that gorhill legally gave away the trademark to a spammer.

~~~
ffpip
He got tired of kids complaining of issues without contributing code. Just
filter list issues, which are not really his fault but the list maintainers.

------
arendtio
I like uBlock Origin better than uMatrix, so my primary concern is what I can
do to support uBO so that it won't share the same fate?

~~~
srtjstjsj
Gorhill has clearly stated: if you want to help, fix bugs. He doesn't want to
do this as a job, so if you want to pay someone to help instead of helping
directly, then find someone who wants to be paid to fix bugs in uBO.

[https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-
accept-...](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-
donations%3F)

------
noisy_boy
uMatrix has been the first app where I can exactly see what domains are being
used and over a period build a whitelist that basically works seamlessly while
blocking the analytics stuff. I'm just hoping browser internal security
changes in the future don't render it broken.

------
Bayart
uMatrix has to have been the most useful, all-rounded, intelligent browser
extension I've ever used. I see it as a gold standard. It truly _extends_ the
browser, rather than use it as a platform to deploy « apps ».

~~~
acomar
treestyle tabs and container tabs are the others I can think of. they also
integrate very well with each other.

------
jccalhoun
I could never figure out how to use umatrix or the advanced mode of ublock
origin. I've read the instructions and could never figure them out.

~~~
Lammy
There’s a “save” button you have to click to persist your changes after you’ve
toggled the green/red cells of the media-types-per-domain table to suit what
you want to block and what you want to allow. i gave up on uMatrix once before
figuring that out.

------
t0astbread
A huge loss but thank you gorhill for developing this awesome extension! Like
many others I'll probably keep using it while it still works.

On another note, how does uMatrix even work internally? I guess the bulk of
its functionality is based on the webRequest API and I think it uses some kind
of CSP hack for inline scripts and workers? (And is it only my perception or
does uMatrix have to resort to a lot of hacky workarounds to implement some of
its features?)

------
CincinnatiMan
Man, I absolutely love uMatrix. Now I feel bad for not contributing back to
it, maybe that would have helped the author keep going with it.

------
asymmetric
Some more info here:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/i240ds/reques...](https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/i240ds/request_for_a_stable_umatrix_release_for_cname/)

TL;DR: gorhill didn’t have time to maintain both extensions, and won’t
transfer the repo after having been burnt once already.

------
squanch
I am sad to hear this. I have been using uMatrix now for quite some time, it
has always been one of the extensions I install directly after setting up a
new browser (together with uBlock Origin).

If the author, Raymond Hill, ends up reading this: thank you Sir, for all the
(probably unpaid!) effort you have been putting into this extension for years.
It's certainly an inspiration to actively contribute to the open source
community.

------
antonyh
This is so critical to my internet use, I plan to maintain a fork. No new
features, no distribution, just minimum changes to make it run on FF desktop.

I don't have the time to do it justice, and I expect others will do a better
job of running a project, but it's something I can't work without. Fingers
crossed it's just version bumps when new FF versions come out.

------
cameronhowe
Noooooooo, why?

I hope this addon keeps working without patches for a long time, I absolutely
love how it has improved my web experience. So easy to use.

------
propogandist
uMatrix is one of the first add-ons I've installed on my browsers for many
years. It exposes so much crap on the web that browsing the www without
uMatrix feels unsafe.

The fine grain controls on uMatrix are so powerful and quite intuitive,
especially once you get oriented. You can see (and block) websites trying to
load in crap asynchronously, see the problematic iFrame that's loading in a
scripts, see all the trackers and even the cloudflare endpoints that may be
responsible for bringing in malicious content.

Gorhill's uBo project is nice, but geared towards simplicity and it's too
simple, even with the advanced interface, imo.

Although Gorhill never accepted donations, someone forking uMatrix will
hopefully use something like github.com/sponsors to ensure it's sustainable.

I'd love to see uMatrix around for the long haul.

------
sloshnmosh
uMatrix IMHO is an absolute necessity when viewing the web these days.

It is said that 20% of the ads on the web are malicious so browsing the web
without a dependable script/adblocker is just asking for trouble.

And until the adtech industry finds a way to stop malvertising I will continue
blocking scripts and ads.

------
doublesCs
Can someone clarify for a layman what this means in practice? I still want to
use uMatrix on Firefox. Does this mean that over time, uMatrix will eventually
stop working?

Separate question, is there somewhere can we can read from the author about
this decision to archive uMatrix?

~~~
stjohnswarts
It will until they change their extension API or some detrimental bug is found
and they block it.

------
Semaphor
This is a shame, I find the interface for uMatrix much more intuitive than
uBO’s.

------
chippy
Good project for someone to pick up on and carry forward I guess?

~~~
srtjstjsj
No. Gorhill is protecting it from seizure. But someone can fork it.

------
einpoklum
I have been a (lay) user of uBlock Origin for some years now. I haven't heard
about uMatrix before.

Can someone link to a tutorial or a detailed review for it?

~~~
dredmorbius
uMatrix extends the notion of uBlock (DNS-based content blocking) to a
_matrix_ of domains, subdomains, and sites (the vertical column) against
specific Web capabilities; content, images, CSS, JS, XSR, and other elements.
It affords fine-grained control over what sites are permitted to do on your
browser.

There are numerous explainer videos on YouTube:

[https://youtube.com/watch?v=TVozpo3zUBk](https://youtube.com/watch?v=TVozpo3zUBk)

Search:
[https://youtube.com/results?search_query=umatrix](https://youtube.com/results?search_query=umatrix)

------
unethical_ban
What does uMatrix do that uBlock Origin can't? I use uBO and it seems powerful
enough to block the vast majority of nonsense.

~~~
Drdrdrq
Blocks the rest of the nonsense? :) I see it as a very configurable privacy
tool for powerusers. It also clearly shows the parts of the page and where
they were (not) loaded from.

Incredible tool, sad to see it go.

------
boomboomsubban
I wonder why uMatrix was completely shelved while he created a new team to
continue uBlock.

~~~
wyclif
I think it's because uBlock Origin has a lot more users. uMatrix was always
for power users.

~~~
squarefoot
He probably could have saved time and resources by incorporating uMatrix most
granular blocking functions into uBlock Origin, say as an "expert mode" users
had to enable explicitly. I mean, many of us probably have both installed;
since they do essentially the same things, although at different levels,
merging some functionalities of the latter into the former doesn't seem that
absurd to me. Anyway, big thanks to gorhill for putting great effort in
software that today is absolutely necessary to surf the web, and that makes it
even more sad to see uMatrix go.

~~~
wyclif
Can you explain the advantage of installing both uBlock Origin and uMatrix? I
never tried that, thinking that there was too much functional overlap and
guessing that I would have to check and uncheck numerous lists to keep one
from stepping on the other. Or maybe I'm just lazy and didn't feel like diving
deeply into how to make them play nice together.

~~~
boomboomsubban
They don't interfere with each other much, if something is broken 90% of the
time it's uMatrix and 10% of the time it's both. From my understanding, uBlock
Origin will stop a few things uMatrix misses, but mostly I already had uBlock
set up and have never seen a reason to ditch it.

------
Havoc
Literally 12 hours after I switched from Noscript. :(

------
elorant
Dear HN community. Pretty, pretty please with sugar on the top, keep
maintaining this project. It's absolutely essential for a sane browsing of
contemporary web.

~~~
marcinzm
You're free to fork it or organize a fork of it yourself or start an
initiative for paying maintainers of a fork.

~~~
elorant
I'd gladly pay an annual subscription for anyone willing to maintain it.

~~~
anaganisk
Instead fork it and pay some freelancer to fix bugs if any.

------
hernan604
Was grohill paid to archive it ?

------
LargoLasskhyfv
/me sniffles in sadness.

------
Raed667
I tried using uMatrix a few times and always ended-up disabling it. It was too
disruptive and breaking too many things compared to uBlock Origin.

I hope whoever forks the project can work on the UI and onboarding experience.

~~~
boomboomsubban
I did the same thing twice, then actually spent ten minutes reading the wiki.
It's very simple to use, and I doubt a new UI could perform the same functions
any easier.

