The release of the Pale Moon 31.0 web browser has been published, which forked from the Firefox codebase to provide higher performance, preserve the classic interface, minimize memory consumption and provide additional customization options. Pale Moon builds are generated for Windows and Linux (x86 and x86_64). The project code is distributed under the MPLv2 (Mozilla Public License).
The project adheres to the classic organization of the interface, without switching to the Australis interface integrated in Firefox 29, and with the provision of extensive customization options. Removed components include DRM, Social API, WebRTC, PDF viewer, Crash Reporter, statistics collection code, parental controls, and people with disabilities. Compared to Firefox, the browser retains support for XUL technology and retains the ability to use both full-fledged and lightweight themes.
In the new version:
- After a number of stability issues were identified and an outcry from one of the key developers, the previously formed releases of Pale Moon 30.0.0 and 30.0.1 were cancelled. The use of the UXP (Unified XUL Platform) platform has been returned, which develops a branch of Firefox components from the Mozilla Central repository, free from bindings to Rust code and not including the developments of the Quantum project. The browser engine used is Goanna 5.1, a variant of the Gecko engine that has been stripped of code from unsupported components and platforms. Users of the Pale Moon 29.x branch are offered a direct upgrade to the 31.0 release.
- Support is provided for both old unmodified Firefox add-ons and new add-ons specially prepared for Pale Moon. Old add-ons are not guaranteed to be stable, so they will be marked in the add-on manager with a special orange label.
- Added support for checking the entire chain of properties or calls in JavaScript at once using the "?." operator. For example, through "db?.user?.name?.length" you can access the value of "db.user.name.length" without preliminary checks.
- To improve compatibility with sites, the Selection.setBaseAndExtent() and queueMicroTask() methods have been added.
- In the IntersectionObserver() constructor, passing an empty string ensures that the rootMargin property is set by default instead of throwing an exception.
- Improved rendering of structures defined with CSS grid and flexbox.
- Improved performance of parallel execution of web workers in JavaScript.
- Improved display of italic fonts.
- Updated versions of libraries included in the base distribution.
- Added support for extended VPx video codec identifiers.
- Fixed a long standing issue with displaying fields set directly in body and iframe tags without applying CSS.
- Removed code related to using Google SafeBrowsing and URLClassifier services.
- Restored code for assembly on the macOS platform.
- Removed the non-standard ArchiveReader API.
- The code was cleaned from Mozilla components for telemetry collection.
- Removed code related to Android platform support.
- Removed Marionette automated testing framework.
- Ported fixes related to mitigation of vulnerabilities.
Source: opennet.ru