
Firefox 27 Released - joshmoz
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/27.0/releasenotes/
======
swannodette
I see no one has mentioned Firefox 27 is the first major browser to have ES6
generators enabled by default -
[http://swannodette.github.io/2013/08/24/es6-generators-
and-c...](http://swannodette.github.io/2013/08/24/es6-generators-and-csp/).
Callback hell begone!

~~~
AlexanderDhoore
I realised yesterday that "yield" in Python (and I guess javascript) is kind
of a baby continuation
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation)).
It can be used to create coroutines and turn async code into sync (looking)
code. Really powerful.

Anyone interested should learn what continuations are (in Scheme).

~~~
lhorie
I never got the point of generators until I saw Koa.js

I always thought generators were merely a way of making convoluted iterators,
but when I realized that you can put your application logic inside a
generator, in my head, it immediately turned it into a "how did I ever code
without this before" kind of feature.

I just hope other browsers (especially IE) follow suit in implementing this
feature

~~~
apaprocki
We (Bloomberg) sponsored Andy Wingo (Igalia) to do the work implementing the
new generators in both V8 & SM in parallel, so the world would essentially get
them in Chrome (+ Node, Opera) and Firefox at roughly the same time.

We don't use JSC here, so I couldn't make a good case for extending the work
to cover Safari as well. Anyone wanting to help implement them in JSC has two
good blueprints to work from.

I reached out to the IE team back when Andy was still early in the
implementation and let them know what we were doing and what the release
timeframe was in the hopes that it would help prioritize generators on their
side, but I have yet to hear a peep about IE support.

Maybe all we need are some benchmarks? :)

edit: typo

------
iagooar
Some time ago I was a Firefox user. Then Chrome came out and I first started
using it for free-time browsing, while still developing on Firefox. Later, I
decided to fully migrate to Chrome.

I've decided to change it again, so I'm going to give Firefox a try during
this month. For now, it looks really nice, performance seems to be quite good
and the feeling of getting at least a small part of my digital life away from
Google feels nice as well.

Tomorrow I'll be trying out the Firefox' developer tools.

I'd be really happy if Firefox convinced me to stay, as I really love what
Mozilla is doing for the web community.

~~~
rubiquity
I think you'll be quite impressed with Firefox's developer tools again. I've
been more and more unhappy with Chrome's tools, mostly the subtle changes of
not having filters and things so readily available anymore. The Firefox tools
are quite slick though. I don't even use Firebug anymore.

~~~
cbaleanu
So glad I am not the only one noticing the filter change. That additional
click to display the filtering options that Chrome introduced really made me
start using FF more and more for work.

I think this dumbing-down approach Google is doing with all their apps and
websites will only alienate more and more professionals out of using their
platform.

~~~
paulirish
(Chrome DevTools team here). We cleaned up the filtering as it was totally
inconsistent across all panels. So now it introduces one more click, but felt
like generally that extra click was OK. I think we can still improve the UX,
however. Which panels do you most use filters on (and for what?) Console,
Network?

~~~
dflt
Hey Paul, I'm trapped on Chromium-30.0.1599.101 (same goes for similar Chrome
version) because DevTools freeze for ~3 minutes after GWT's SuperDevMode
recompilation on newer Chrome/Chromium. There is huge regression in
performance after Chromium 32.x.xxxx.xxx. Chromium-30.0.1599.101 is the latest
version without this problem on my distro.

I've tried to report this but you guys don't have proper bug tracker only form
in the about menu.

~~~
paulirish
[http://crbug.com/](http://crbug.com/) is the place to file tickets for us.
File something and we can take a look!

------
valarauca1
The second bullet is important, having up to date TLS is a big deal in today's
security/spy conscience world. Its possible to currently get (if you monkey
around in about:config), but default settings are powerful since the average
user won't bother. And I mean average-user type average user, not average
hackernews reader/poster.

~~~
erichurkman
How's My SSL? [1] now reports "Your SSL client is Probably Okay." for Firefox
27. Awesome!

[1] [https://www.howsmyssl.com/](https://www.howsmyssl.com/)

~~~
joveian
An error occurred during a connection to www.howsmyssl.com. Peer attempted old
style (potentially vulnerable) handshake.

I don't think I would trust their judgement about how my SSL is doing.

I am happy about this Firefox release; it is not just that you had to be an
advanced user to get TLS 1.2 previously but that doing so would break over
half the web. Now it is possible to use TLS 1.2 where available and not use it
when not available.

~~~
gaius
Maybe that was it probing you?

------
bloodorange
2013 was such a good hear for Mozilla that I now looked at this release and
was thinking - "blah! just another FF release". I then realised what had
happened. They have developed so much momentum and such a good track record
that I have taken their best product's release for granted...

~~~
terabytest
Is that sarcasm?

~~~
LukeShu
I don't think so. It's easy now to look at the headline and think "Oh, just
another Firefox release, it happens what? once a month?". That's a _good_
thing. Users are upgrading, the process is smooth; Mozilla's having a
relatively easy time iterating. Remember when Firefox 3, 4, and 5 came out?
Each time, it was a _big_ deal. Many complained and groaned. The upgrade
process was problematic for many users. Some users would still have problems
upgrading for many releases after that. It's been a great year if they can
push out numerous high-quality releases, and have the process be so smooth
that when users hear of a new version, they think "meh".

~~~
nfoz
I would much rather a long-term-stable product with fewer security
vulnerabilities that didn't need frequent updates.

~~~
nirvdrum
Check out the Firefox ESR builds. They're supported for 1 year. Not super
long-term, but better than 6 weeks:

[http://www.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/organizations/all/](http://www.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/organizations/all/)

~~~
nfoz
That's great, I didn't know this existed. Thanks.

------
jbrooksuk
Chrome has recently started to be more of a burden for us. We use the
Application Shortcuts on our sales teams Windows PCs, which has broken over
the last couple of updates:

* Scrollbars have now changed, there are no up and down arrows. This has really confused our elder staff.

* Application shortcuts have started hanging and throwing the "Jim" screen, but the same web pages work fine usually.

* Java is awful to get installed and unfortunately we need that.

These have made me want to try Firefox even more, and seeing Generators has
made me switch to the nightly build to see what else is up and coming!

Nice work Mozilla!

~~~
SkyMarshal
Fwiw I've been finding Firefox (Ubuntu 12.04 default repo version) to be more
stable than Chrome when I'm abusing tabs (like 50-100 tabs open, yes I'm
pathological). Under such circumstances with Chrome my computer will
occasionally freeze and I have no recourse but to REISUB it. Under similar
circumstances with FF, things slow down and responsiveness gets worse, but no
system freezes have occured yet.

There are some things I use Chrome for, like its JS profiling tools, but every
time it freezes and forces a restart I go back to FF. Been staying with the
latter more and more lately.

~~~
nnethercote
I've heard countless times that Chrome becomes flaky once you get to about 50
or 60 tabs.

In contrast, I know several Firefox users who regularly have open several
hundred tabs, and one guy who sometimes exceeds a thousand. (Yes, a thousand.)

(And if you're about to respond with "why would anybody need that many tabs?",
please don't. It's a tired topic; just accept that there are many different
and valid ways to use a web browser, and yours is just one of them.)

------
fafner
In related news: HTTPSeverywhere is now available for Firefox on Android.
[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/01/making-the-mobile-
web-...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/01/making-the-mobile-web-safer-
with-https-everywhere)

------
joshmoz
Release notes include a link to a list of new contributors and their
contributions. Never noticed that before.

[https://blog.mozilla.org/community/2014/02/03/firefox-27-new...](https://blog.mozilla.org/community/2014/02/03/firefox-27-new-
contributors/)

Looked up some past numbers:

    
    
      Firefox 24: 43 new contributors, 32 volunteers
      Firefox 25: 51 new contributors, 39 volunteers
      Firefox 26: 43 new contributors, 27 volunteers
      Firefox 27: 41 new contributors, 35 volunteers
    

I think Mozilla considers its employees and the employees of known major
contributing companies to not be volunteers.

------
blinkingled
I am using FF on Android (both phone and tablet) with sync and great addons
like adblock/self destructing cookies/lastpass and am mostly a happy camper.
Mozilla has resolved most of the performance issues barring one - compared to
Chrome or stock browser the time it takes for FF to go from link tapped to
page loading started is a bit annoyingly high. Many times after tapping a link
it just sits there doing nothing or showing the spinner in the URL bar for
quite some time.

Not sure if it's the addons but I recall having similar issue on a fresh
install. If anyone from Mozilla reading this has any pointers, please let me
know.

Edit: Also the one other thing that frequently bugs me is FF not honoring the
Android intent system. YouTube and Play Store links when opened in FF give me
no option of opening them in their respective apps - it goes straight to the
URL. I guess I'll file a bug for this issue.

~~~
fpgeek
Firefox is both better and worse than other browsers in dealing with intents.

On the worse side, unlike some other browsers Firefox doesn't raise intents
for redirected URLs, missing some opportunities to match appropriate apps. I
believe the underlying issue is that too many redirect situations are
ambiguous (especially if you might not be the default browser). I mostly deal
with this with an external wrapper (Browser Auto Selector, Unshorten or the
like), but it's still a weakness.

On the other side, the Firefox intnet feature that I love is that when you
long-press/right-click/etc on a URL that matches some non-browser apps, you
get the option of opening it in those apps (for YouTube, the Play Store,
Twitter, etc.). I haven't seen any other browser with that option (though, to
be fair, I spend most of my time in Firefox). It would be extra-wonderful if
there were a reliable way to hit the YouTube link from an embedded video, but
even without that, it's very handy.

~~~
shrikant
You don't even need to long press to find this out -- if the URL of the site
you're on 'supports' being opened in an app, a little grey android icon
appears in the address bar. You can tap this icon to open the URL in the
related app.

~~~
fpgeek
Oh, that's another cool feature! Thanks for mentioning it.

I can quibble that I wish it were a bit more obvious and that the Android icon
appeared before the page started loading (next to the X), but it is still
going to make many things more convenient for me.

------
snarkyturtle
Anybody know when Firefox 28 will be released? That's the one I'm excited for
since it'll finally fix a bug with Firefox and flex-wrap:
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=939901](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=939901)

Edit: Looks like it'll release in March: [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/Firefox/Releases/28](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/Firefox/Releases/28)

Worth noting for designers since it'll implement background-blend-mode too:
[https://medium.com/web-design-technique/6b51bf53743a](https://medium.com/web-
design-technique/6b51bf53743a)

~~~
bzbarsky
[https://wiki.mozilla.org/RapidRelease/Calendar#Future_branch...](https://wiki.mozilla.org/RapidRelease/Calendar#Future_branch_dates)
says March 18, 2014. It's generally pretty accurate.

------
JanneVee
The glsl shader editor isn't announced in the release notes. It is supposed to
be included in FF 27.

[https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/11/live-editing-webgl-
shaders...](https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/11/live-editing-webgl-shaders-with-
firefox-developer-tools/)

~~~
pheelicks
The GLSL editor is really great, with just one thing making it a pain to use.
Namely, the split between the vertex and fragment shader is always vertical
(apart from when the tools are really thin overall). Does anyone know how I
can force it to use a horizontal split?

While I'm whining, is it possible to show the console at the same time as
viewing the source for files? The fact that I have to switch between the
console and source tabs in FF is pretty much the only reason I use Chrome for
debugging.

~~~
padenot
At least in current Nightly, you can hit the Esc. key, to pop up the console
regardless of the panel you're currently using (à la Chromium, basically). I'm
not sure in which release this landed, though.

For the vertical split thing, opening a bug is the easiest way to get the
feature in [1].

[1]:
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Firefox&c...](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Firefox&component=Developer%20Tools%3A%20WebGL%20Shader%20Editor)
(this is a URL with the right bugzilla component. just log in, fill the blanks
and submit)

~~~
bgrins
> At least in current Nightly, you can hit the Esc. key, to pop up the console
> regardless of the panel you're currently using

This split console feature landed in 28 (so it is moving up to Beta now):
[https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/12/split-console-pretty-
print...](https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/12/split-console-pretty-print-
minified-js-and-more-firefox-developer-tools-episode-28/)

------
ahoge
Looks much better now:
[https://www.howsmyssl.com/](https://www.howsmyssl.com/)

------
kyrra
One interesting this is that all JS_ exports in their libraries have been
removed. This kills support for things like GWT DevMode [0] among other
plugins. This is good for security, bad for GWT.

[0] [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/Google-Web-
Toolkit/Q...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/Google-Web-
Toolkit/QSEjbhhHB4g)

~~~
cromwellian
Yes, we knew this was long in coming. Chrome is yanking similar support in
NPAPI as well. That's why 2 years ago we started working on SuperDevMode. This
happened a little quicker than we had planned, but some upcoming changes to
the GWT compiler will make it an incremental compiler more like JavaC, and in
SuperDevMode, compile/refresh should be much much quicker when that lands.

On the IDE side, IntelliJ 13.0.2 can attach a debugger to Chrome and provide
an in-IDE java debugging experience using source maps. Similar work is ongoing
from James Nelson for the Eclipse plugin.

Firefox recently added support for column number support in stack traces, so
eventually, Java IDE debugging using sourcemaps attached to Firefox JS
debugger should be feasible.

In the mean time, GWT developers who use Firefox will need to stick to Firefox
ESRs.

------
dudus
Major browser updates used to be fun. Nowadays they just merge security
updates and bump the numbers. Most won't even notice and just complain about
the mandatory restart.

~~~
veeti
Just wait until Australis.

~~~
lurkinggrue
( _Shudders_ )

------
izietto
> Added support for SPDY 3.1 protocol

Just in time to use it with nginx 1.5.10 :P

------
mda
One disturbing thing about Mozilla security is that most of the "Critical"
flaws[1] in their list would be marked as "High" on Chrome because of Chrome's
superior security model.

[1][https://www.mozilla.org/security/known-
vulnerabilities/firef...](https://www.mozilla.org/security/known-
vulnerabilities/firefox.html)

~~~
ris
I think you put too much faith in the fables that surround what the chrome
security model does and does not do.

In short, no, they wouldn't.

~~~
mda
Really? Care to give an example?

~~~
ris
I don't really want to have to go into process security from scratch, but I
have previously commented on this
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6811368](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6811368)

"Sandboxing" and "process separation" are not magic smoke.

~~~
mda
Oh sure, they are not magic smoke indeed. Still, how do you explain that Use
after free bugs are marked Critical in Firefox but High on Chrome? Seems like
Chrome is doing a little bit better in security department.

[https://www.mozilla.org/security/known-
vulnerabilities/firef...](https://www.mozilla.org/security/known-
vulnerabilities/firefox.html)

[http://googlechromereleases.blogspot.ch/search/label/Stable%...](http://googlechromereleases.blogspot.ch/search/label/Stable%20updates)

~~~
ris
Because they have different classification systems/schemes?

Are you really asking me this?

~~~
mda
Security flaws browser vendors use do not have different classification
schemes. They all use CVSS Severity scores, go ahead and check.

Also definitions:

Firefox Critical: Vulnerability can be used to run attacker code and install
software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing. High:
Vulnerability can be used to gather sensitive data from sites in other windows
or inject data or code into those sites, requiring no more than normal
browsing actions

Chrome Critical:Allows an attacker run arbitrary code with the user's
privileges in the normal course of browsing. High: Allows an attacker to read
or modify confidential data belonging to other web sites.

------
piyush_soni
The deobfuscation feature in debugger is a bliss! I was waiting for it.

------
nly
What are the market share stats like on FF versions these days? Presumably the
auto-update feature means the vast majority are using the latest FF within a
few weeks?

~~~
iambateman
Yes, legacy Firefox versions drop 95% almost immediately:
[http://cl.ly/image/1E433h1I1S01](http://cl.ly/image/1E433h1I1S01)

(that is taken from a PR5 hospital site, should be pretty indicative of the
general market.)

------
bjitty
I'm glad prettify source in the dev tools is finally in the build (It's been
in beta for a while). It'll be a huge help working with JavaScript.

------
Cowicide
According to the release notes Flash is fixed. But after updating, I still
can't get Flash to work with Firefox on my Android 4.4.2 Nexus 7. Flash works
fine with Dolphin though. Bummer.

------
cpncrunch
Nice that canvas dashed lines are now working, but there are still a lot of
html5 features that either aren't implemented or are buggy: audio recording
with getUserMedia sometimes turns off after a few seconds, drag+drop images
from another website isn't implemented (only file upload from your own
computer supported), no screen sharing. I've had to put a "try chrome if you
have problems" message at the top of our app, as chrome is currently the only
browser that fully supports all of the html5 features that we use.

~~~
azakai
> chrome is currently the only browser that fully supports all html5 features.

Well, no. No browser fully supports all HTML5 features. It's all a work in
progress.

I guess your app happens to use features present in chrome, but other browsers
lead in other areas. Off the top of my head, firefox had webrtc binary
datachannels (important for multiplayer games) earlier. And a comment above
mentions ES6 generators as well.

~~~
cpncrunch
Basically Chrome supports all of the HTML5 features that we use (audio/video,
drag+drop, screen sharing), whereas firefox doesn't. Perhaps there are
features that firefox supports that chrome doesn't, but I haven't come across
any.

~~~
kbrosnan
Drag and drop has been supported since Firefox 3.5.
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/DragDrop/Drag_and_D...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/DragDrop/Drag_and_Drop)

Screen sharing via get user media was added in this release Fx27,
[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=742832](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=742832)

Audio/Video support has been in Firefox since Firefox 3.5
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/Guide/HTML/Usin...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/Guide/HTML/Using_HTML5_audio_and_video)

~~~
cpncrunch
As I said in my original comment, firefox supports drag+drop uploads, but not
images from websites. You can drop an image from your hard drive, but you
can't drag an image from another website. Chrome lets you do this.

Tab sharing isn't screen sharing. Chrome lets you share your entire screen,
not just a tab.

As I said in my original comment it is getUserMedia audio that is buggy on
firefox (it cuts out after 5 seconds), not audio in general. Luckily there is
a hack to get it working: [https://support.mozilla.org/en-
US/questions/984179](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/984179).
Looks like it might be a garbage collection bug - it's not seeing the
reference to the input device from the script processor node.

------
pjmlp
Windows support appears to be a bit broken it seems.

~~~
theandrewbailey
The known issues have been known for a long time. I've been using Firefox on
Windows since ever, and these are super rare edge cases.

------
arunc
Awesome, my nightly got updated to 30! FF FTW!

~~~
Haywain
Semi-related: I've been using the Nightly and have come to really enjoy
Australis over the current UX/UI scheme in the other builds. To that end, I'm
excited for Aurora to get boosted up to 29 and, hopefully, get Australis along
with it.

------
ksec
Sigh. Apart from Firefox based and Blink Based ( Chrome / Opera ) Browser. Are
there any other alternative on Windows?

------
t0mislav
Is it possible to map cmd+1 for next and previous tab and cmd+2 for next tab?
Tried everything, with no luck. :/

~~~
jakub_g
There's keyconfig extension (it's not available on addons.mozilla.org) that
could help you.

[http://mozilla.dorando.at/keyconfig.xpi](http://mozilla.dorando.at/keyconfig.xpi)
[http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=72994](http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=72994)

~~~
t0mislav
Thanks!

------
itry
Im on FF 24 and there seems to be no button to update it. I thought FF
nowadays updates itself automatically?

~~~
ianbicking
It does, but if you want to update immediately go to About, there's a button
there to update.

~~~
itry
No, there is no button. Maybe because its "Mozilla Firefox for Linux Mint"?
Did they fork Firefox and disabled updates?

~~~
mpyne
If you install via a package manager on Linux then generally you can only
update the browser through the package manager. On my Gentoo box that's how I
have to upgrade chromium and firefox.

------
songgao
Did they fix the memory leak problem on OS X?

------
Aardwolf
The only feature marked as new is "something with SocialAPI"... bleh

~~~
Yuioup
It sounds like an enabler for spam. Can anybody shed any light on this?

~~~
kbrosnan
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Social_API](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Social_API)

This link provides some details on how Firefox will deal with bad actors.
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Social_API/Criteria](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Social_API/Criteria)

------
veganarchocap
What?! Last time I used it (which felt about a year ago...) was version 3.5.3.

~~~
km3k
Time flies, doesn't it? 3.5.3 was from September 2009.
[https://www.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/3.5.3/releasenotes/](https://www.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/3.5.3/releasenotes/)

~~~
veganarchocap
Oh my! Now I feel old. Thanks!

