Your Linux browser is too old
12 comments
Hi, Debian Iceweasel maintainer here.
Debian Wheezy currently has version 31.3 (ESR) and will soon get 31.4 through stable-updates. Stable-security already has that version. In case you wonder what ESR is: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/
Generally speaking, Debian stable always receives the last ESR versions these days, except at the end of an ESR cycle, where Mozilla actually releases two ESR versions. So, for instance, at the end of life of ESR 24, Mozilla released both 24.8 and 31.0, and Debian stable received 24.8. The next update was to 31.1.
I can understand nagging for very old versions, but Web sites nagging about current ESR versions are being rude.
If you are interested in fresher Iceweasel backports, check out http://mozilla.debian.net/.
And if you'd rather have the Firy logo instead of the icy one, and know how to build Debian packages, just download the Iceweasel sources, and build with the following environment variable set: PRODUCT_NAME=firefox.
Debian Wheezy currently has version 31.3 (ESR) and will soon get 31.4 through stable-updates. Stable-security already has that version. In case you wonder what ESR is: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/
Generally speaking, Debian stable always receives the last ESR versions these days, except at the end of an ESR cycle, where Mozilla actually releases two ESR versions. So, for instance, at the end of life of ESR 24, Mozilla released both 24.8 and 31.0, and Debian stable received 24.8. The next update was to 31.1.
I can understand nagging for very old versions, but Web sites nagging about current ESR versions are being rude.
If you are interested in fresher Iceweasel backports, check out http://mozilla.debian.net/.
And if you'd rather have the Firy logo instead of the icy one, and know how to build Debian packages, just download the Iceweasel sources, and build with the following environment variable set: PRODUCT_NAME=firefox.
Just realized the problem, I had been launching Iceweasel from Openbox instead of the CLI.
Somehow obmenu is launching an older version of Iceweasel (version 13) and I never noticed till now :-/
If I launch "iceweasel" from a terminal I get version 31.
Oops!
Somehow obmenu is launching an older version of Iceweasel (version 13) and I never noticed till now :-/
If I launch "iceweasel" from a terminal I get version 31.
Oops!
Thanks for all the help.
I just upgraded to Debian 8 and I'll try mozilla.debian.net after I get my desktop sorted.
I just upgraded to Debian 8 and I'll try mozilla.debian.net after I get my desktop sorted.
I check browser stats occasionally, and a high percentage of "obsolete" browser users come from browsers with a navigator.platform of Linux. E.g. obsolete Firefox (3.5), old Chromium etc etc.
For Firefox we have a nag show at top of browser window for a few seconds if you are not on current ESR - https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/faq/ - the nag is there because it isn't worth our time testing obsolete versions for a handful of users (single page JavaScript/Ajax app, so new features can introduce breaks. in old browsers).
For Firefox we have a nag show at top of browser window for a few seconds if you are not on current ESR - https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/faq/ - the nag is there because it isn't worth our time testing obsolete versions for a handful of users (single page JavaScript/Ajax app, so new features can introduce breaks. in old browsers).
I had the same nagging issue so I went ahead and installed the real firefox after some trial and error. Now, the browser itself gets notifications for an update but gets stuck on the downloading. Still trying to figure this out.
> Do Ubuntu & Fedora folks have this problem too?
I do not. I have to imagine Iceweasel is fairly old at this point considering Debian is usually behind whereas Fedora and Ubuntu are closer to bleeding edge--in fact thats a large part of why Iceweasel exists[0].
0: https://wiki.debian.org/Iceweasel
I do not. I have to imagine Iceweasel is fairly old at this point considering Debian is usually behind whereas Fedora and Ubuntu are closer to bleeding edge--in fact thats a large part of why Iceweasel exists[0].
0: https://wiki.debian.org/Iceweasel
I do. I'm running Ubuntu 12.10 because I have been too lazy to do the upgrade properly.
I get those messages if I am using FF. It's on 29 and I even tried to do the "old version" hack but it didn't work for me.
Chrome has, for some reason, decided to can upgraded to the current version--41. (I might be running beta, I can't remember.)
I get those messages if I am using FF. It's on 29 and I even tried to do the "old version" hack but it didn't work for me.
Chrome has, for some reason, decided to can upgraded to the current version--41. (I might be running beta, I can't remember.)
Maybe it's because I have Debian stable.
At this moment I'm upgrading Debian to Jessie which according to this https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/ is still "testing".
Typically I would just wait for the next stable version of Debian but for web development I want to get the latest Firebug.
At this moment I'm upgrading Debian to Jessie which according to this https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/ is still "testing".
Typically I would just wait for the next stable version of Debian but for web development I want to get the latest Firebug.
Maybe I could still get Aurora with Wheezy? No idea what version Aurora is...
http://mozilla.debian.net/
I have been down this road before, it's just a pain.
http://mozilla.debian.net/
I have been down this road before, it's just a pain.
The mint packaging of the real Mozilla Firefox (tm) works for me, on jessie at least.
You should have iceweasel 31 according to https://packages.debian.org/wheezy/iceweasel
Which websites refuse to work?
You could always just add the linux mint repositories and install the real firefox that way. http://superuser.com/questions/322376/how-to-install-the-rea... is old but the instructions in the top-rated answer still work.
Which websites refuse to work?
You could always just add the linux mint repositories and install the real firefox that way. http://superuser.com/questions/322376/how-to-install-the-rea... is old but the instructions in the top-rated answer still work.
I upgraded to Wheezy yesterday, I thought everything was up to date. I had "deb http://mozilla.debian.net/ wheezy-backports iceweasel-release" in my sources.list. My Iceweasel user agent at this moment says "Firefox/13.0"!
Nothing refused to work, just nag messages on various websites. But Firebug, the highest I could go was something like version 1.5 and the older versions starting junking up my context menu. Figured it was time to upgrade and start a Hacker News rant ;-)
Nothing refused to work, just nag messages on various websites. But Firebug, the highest I could go was something like version 1.5 and the older versions starting junking up my context menu. Figured it was time to upgrade and start a Hacker News rant ;-)
Make sure you have wheezy/security as well. The vuln tracker often indicates issues fixed in wheezy/security iceweasel packages a lot more quickly than wheezy.
You should go to about:config, filter for "useragent" and see if you don't have overrides in place.
Also, the "about:" page should print out both the version and the user agent, you can see if they match.
Also, the "about:" page should print out both the version and the user agent, you can see if they match.
fedora always releases the newest firefox within a week of the actual firefox release.
You can use an up-to-date backport. See http://mozilla.debian.net/
This is from using Debian stable, and normal. Debian has 4 "branches"
1. Old stable, the previous stable version and only receives security updates.
2. Stable, the current stable version. There is a massive amount of stability testing and security hardening that go into ever package before its allowed in this branch. This is usually a very long process and the packages are usually old.
3. Testing, This is where packages live while they are being tested for stable. This branch may be broken, but is generally working during the release cycle, and may not receive security updates in timely manner. 4. Un-stable, This is bleeding and mostly in broken state...
During the release cycle, packages are selected and brought closer and closer to 'stable' and move though the branches. At a certain time, the package version are frozen in a feature freeze, and are not allowed to have feature updates, only stability and security hardening. When are the packages are ready, the debian team releases alpha and beta builds to test everything. Then, and only then is a new stable released.
If every thing had the Q&A of debian, nothing would crash, but everything would be old.
This is the reason why so many people use one of the many distro based up of debian testing. Ubuntu, Linux Mint and many more are based off of testing, with newer packages and there own feature freeze. The ubuntu cycle tries work like clock work every 6 months and debian has more of "when its ready" mind set.
1. Old stable, the previous stable version and only receives security updates.
2. Stable, the current stable version. There is a massive amount of stability testing and security hardening that go into ever package before its allowed in this branch. This is usually a very long process and the packages are usually old.
3. Testing, This is where packages live while they are being tested for stable. This branch may be broken, but is generally working during the release cycle, and may not receive security updates in timely manner. 4. Un-stable, This is bleeding and mostly in broken state...
During the release cycle, packages are selected and brought closer and closer to 'stable' and move though the branches. At a certain time, the package version are frozen in a feature freeze, and are not allowed to have feature updates, only stability and security hardening. When are the packages are ready, the debian team releases alpha and beta builds to test everything. Then, and only then is a new stable released.
If every thing had the Q&A of debian, nothing would crash, but everything would be old.
This is the reason why so many people use one of the many distro based up of debian testing. Ubuntu, Linux Mint and many more are based off of testing, with newer packages and there own feature freeze. The ubuntu cycle tries work like clock work every 6 months and debian has more of "when its ready" mind set.
Some websites just assume your browser is old because it doesn't match chrome or firefox exactly, even though you have a perfectly fine browser.
In general, do you think Linux has trouble keeping browsers up to date? Do Ubuntu & Fedora folks have this problem too?