Firefox ESR
In our our migration effort we decided to use Firefox ESR.
Some time ago the Ubuntu developers decided the ESR branch was not secure because they believe not all security patches are backported to the ESR branch. As is typical with developers they made an “either or” decision and do not support ESR.
No ESR version in a Long Term Support (LTS) release. Go figure.
The solution is so simple: offer both versions. The packaging exercise is the same. The developers claim “the desktop team doesn’t have the resources to commit to packaging and maintaining Firefox ESR.” Translation, “No, we don’t want to just because we don’t want to. Neener, neener, neneer.”
Alternatives for those wanting ESR in Ubuntu include two PPAs. One of the PPAs is provided by the upstream Mozilla developers. The other PPA includes experimental tweaks.
Oddly, the Mozilla team PPA packagers decided to name the bin file firefox-esr rather than firefox.
Why do developers make such decisions? Someone might argue that both versions of Firefox could be installed. Is that really going to happen in a fixed stable business environment? Or would that only happen on a geek’s computer?
I created a firefox sym link in /usr/local/bin.
ESR makes sense for may people. Rapid release is fun only for geeks who think development should be their personal playground.
Why does using so much software these days feel like swimming upstream?
Posted: Category: Usability Tagged: Firefox, Migrate, Ubuntu
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