Swiftfox: Difference between revisions

Swiftfox
Developer(s)	Jason Halme
Final release	3.6.13 [±]
Preview release	4.0.0 [±]
Operating system	Linux
Type	Web browser
License	binaries: proprietary; source: MPL 1.1
Website	www.getswiftfox.com (archived)

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Swiftfox was a web browser based on Mozilla Firefox. It was available for Linux platforms and distributed by Jason Halme. Swiftfox was a set of builds of Firefox optimized for different Intel and AMD microprocessors. Swiftfox was freely downloadable with open source code and proprietary binaries. Firefox extensions and plugins were compatible with Swiftfox, with notable exceptions. The name Swiftfox comes from the animal swift fox. Swiftfox differs from Firefox by a limited number of changes, and builds for different processors. Swiftfox was discontinued at some point prior to April 2017, and the project homepage now redirects to the creator's private Twitter account.

Optimization

The Swiftfox build is optimized using the following methods:

Binary code optimization

Compiled with the highest level of compiler optimization, rather than optimization for binary size.
- Swiftfox is compiled -O3,^[1]^[2] (the highest level)
  - The resulting Swiftfox binary is larger than Firefox. (-O3 is not necessarily faster than -O2, or -Os. -O3 introduces two more options on top of -O2: -finline-functions and -frename-registers. The latter is good for CPUs with many registers but may actually be slower on other CPUs.^[3])
- Firefox is compiled -Os.^[2] (-Os is the same as -O2 but removes optimizations which would increase the binary size.^[3])
Binaries incorporate additional instruction sets.^[4]
- Intel and AMD: MMX, SSE, SSE2, (not generally SSE3^[5]).
- AMD only: 3DNow!
Optimization specific to the build microprocessor architecture.^[4]
- Intel: Pentium 4, Pentium 3, Pentium M, Pentium III, Pentium II, Pentium 4 (Prescott).
- AMD64: Athlon64 (32bit binary).
- AMD: Athlon XP, Athlon, K6-2.
Compiled with newer version of GCC (Firefox 2.0 uses 3.3.2, Swiftfox 2.0 uses 4.0.4).^[2]

Increased security

Better protection from buffer overflow attacks^[6] (Swiftfox 2.0 uses -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2; Firefox 2.0 uses gcc 3.x, which does not support this).^[2]

Simplify

Pango is not included in the build ^{[citation needed]}. This means that Unicode fonts remain supported (see Unicode and HTML), but without certain extra features^[7] provided by Pango. This simplification reduces the binary size, and reduces rendering.

Changed default preference values

IPv6 DNS lookups are disabled.^[4]^[8] preventing slowdowns experienced^[9]
HTTP pipelining is enabled by default.^[4]^[8] Fasterfox provides a GUI to adjust these settings.
For full details, see [1].

Swiftfox speed

No definitive benchmarking has been reported, but a quicker startup time and a 1.7% webpage rendering speedup has been reported on version 1.5.0.6.^[10] There are no benchmarks for the different processors builds.

Additional options

Swiftfox is bundled with the following freely available Firefox plugins and extensions:

XForms extension is installed and enabled
libunixprintplugin.so plugin is installed

License

The same as Firefox, the Swiftfox source code is open-source, with the source code under MPL 1.1 except for parts relating to branding.^[11] Unlike Firefox, the Swiftfox binaries have a proprietary license^[11] which does not allow redistribution. According to the author, this is to prevent the possibility of any confusion with tainted versions (see the Firefox branding argument Mozilla Firefox#Trademark and logo). The name Swiftfox is trademarked by Jason Halme, and accordingly cannot be used on other third party Firefox builds without his permission.

Debian

Swiftfox binaries are available as Debian packages from official site. The proprietary binary license prevents Debian and other Linux distributions from having Swiftfox available as part of a distribution, so to redistribute Swiftfox one would have to change the name and icons.

References

^ "Swiftfox Forum". Archived from the original on 2007-03-19.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Using url of about:buildconfig to check the details of the 2.0 builds
^ ^a ^b "Optimize Options - Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog".
^ "Swiftfox Forum". Archived from the original on 2007-03-21.
^ "Limiting buffer overflows with ExecShield". redhat.com. Archived from the original on 2007-02-08.
^ "Script Gallery - Pango".
^ ^a ^b "Swiftfox 1.5.0.7 changelog".
^ "Swiftfox Forum". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28.
^ "APC Magazine: What's The Worlds Fastest Browser". Retrieved 2006-10-30.
^ ^a ^b "Swiftfox license".

External links

Official website (archived)

[1] "Swiftfox Forum". Archived from the original on 2007-03-19.

[build20-2] Using url of about:buildconfig to check the details of the 2.0 builds

[gccopt-3] "Optimize Options - Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)".

[change20-4] "Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog".

[5] "Swiftfox Forum". Archived from the original on 2007-03-21.

[fortify-6] "Limiting buffer overflows with ExecShield". redhat.com. Archived from the original on 2007-02-08.

[pangoexample-7] "Script Gallery - Pango".

[change15-8] "Swiftfox 1.5.0.7 changelog".

[ipv6dns-9] "Swiftfox Forum". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28.

[benchswift-10] "APC Magazine: What's The Worlds Fastest Browser". Retrieved 2006-10-30.

[license-11] "Swiftfox license".

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Discontinued web browser based on Mozilla Firefox}}
-{{update|date=February 2010}}
+{{External links|date=July 2024}}
-{{Infobox Software
+{{Infobox software
 | name                   = Swiftfox
-| logo                   = [[Image:Swiftfox.png]]
+| logo                   = Swiftfox.png
 | screenshot             =
 | caption                =
 | developer              = Jason Halme
 | released               =
-| frequently_updated     = yes
 | programming language   =
-| operating system       = [[GNU/Linux]]
+| operating system       = [[Linux]]
 | language               =
+| discontinued           = yes
 | genre                  = [[Web browser]]
 | license                = binaries: [http://getswiftfox.com/source.htm proprietary]<br/>source: [[Mozilla Public License|MPL 1.1]]
-| website                = [http://www.getswiftfox.com/ www.getswiftfox.com ]
+| website                = [http://www.getswiftfox.com/ www.getswiftfox.com] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160912115922/http://getswiftfox.com:80/ archived])
 }}
+'''Swiftfox''' was a [[web browser]] based on [[Mozilla Firefox]]. It was available for [[Linux]] platforms and distributed by Jason Halme. Swiftfox was a set of [[Software build|builds]] of Firefox  optimized for different  [[Intel]] and [[AMD]] [[microprocessor]]s. Swiftfox was freely downloadable with [[Open-source software|open source]] code and [[Proprietary software|proprietary]] binaries. Firefox [[Extension (Mozilla)|extensions]] and [[plug-in (computing)|plugins]] were compatible with Swiftfox, with notable exceptions. The name Swiftfox comes from the animal [[swift fox]]. Swiftfox differs from Firefox by a limited number of changes, and builds for different processors. Swiftfox was discontinued at some point prior to April 2017, and the project homepage now redirects to the creator's private [[Twitter]] account.
-{{Firefox TOC}}
-'''Swiftfox''' is a [[web browser]] based on [[Mozilla Firefox]]. It is available for [[GNU/Linux]] platforms and distributed by Jason Halme. Swiftfox is a set of [[Software build|builds]] of Firefox  optimized for different  [[Intel]] and [[AMD]] [[microprocessor]]s. Swiftfox is freely downloadable with [[open source]] code and [[Proprietary software|proprietary]] binaries. Firefox [[Extension (Mozilla)|extensions]] and [[plugins]] are compatible with Swiftfox, with notable exceptions. The name Swiftfox comes from the animal [[Swift Fox]]. Swiftfox differs from Firefox by a limited number of changes, and builds for different processors. As these differences are technical, for general information on the browser see [[Mozilla Firefox|Firefox]].
 == Optimization ==
@@ Line 24: / Line 23: @@
 '''Binary code optimization'''
 *Compiled with the highest level of [[compiler optimization]], rather than optimization for binary size.
-** Swiftfox is compiled -O3,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?t=44 | title=Swiftfox Forum}}</ref><ref name=build20>Using url of ''about:buildconfig'' to check the details of the 2.0 builds</ref> (the highest level)
+** Swiftfox is compiled -O3,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?t=44 | title=Swiftfox Forum | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319030233/http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?t=44 | archive-date=2007-03-19 }}</ref><ref name=build20>Using url of ''about:buildconfig'' to check the details of the 2.0 builds</ref> (the highest level)
-***The resulting Swiftfox binary is larger than Firefox. (-O3 is not necessarily faster than -O2, or -Os.  -O3 introduces two more options on top of -O2: -finline-functions and -frename-registers.  The latter is good for CPUs with many registers but may actually be slower on other CPUs.<ref name=gccopt>{{cite web | url=http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-4.1.1/gcc/Optimize-Options.html#Optimize-Options | title=Optimize Options - Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)}}</ref>)
+***The resulting Swiftfox binary is larger than Firefox. (-O3 is not necessarily faster than -O2, or -Os.  -O3 introduces two more options on top of -O2: -finline-functions and -frename-registers.  The latter is good for CPUs with many registers but may actually be slower on other CPUs.<ref name=gccopt>{{cite web | url=https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-4.1.1/gcc/Optimize-Options.html#Optimize-Options | title=Optimize Options - Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)}}</ref>)
 **Firefox is compiled -Os.<ref name="build20"/> (-Os is the same as -O2 but removes optimizations which would increase the binary size.<ref name=gccopt/>)
 *[[Binary file|Binaries]] incorporate additional [[instruction set]]s.<ref name=change20>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/mozilla_1_8_branch/changelog | title=Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog}}</ref>
-** [[Intel]] and [[AMD]]: [[MMX (instruction set)|MMX]], [[Streaming SIMD Extensions|SSE]], [[SSE2]], (not generally [[SSE3]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?t=11&highlight=sse3 | title=Swiftfox Forum}}</ref>).
+** [[Intel]] and [[AMD]]: [[MMX (instruction set)|MMX]], [[Streaming SIMD Extensions|SSE]], [[SSE2]], (not generally [[SSE3]]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?t=11&highlight=sse3 | title=Swiftfox Forum | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321050416/http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?t=11&highlight=sse3 | archive-date=2007-03-21 }}</ref>).
 ** [[AMD]] only: [[3DNow!]]
 *Optimization specific to the build microprocessor architecture.<ref name="change20"/>
@@ Line 35: / Line 34: @@
 ** [[AMD]]: [[Athlon XP]], [[Athlon]], [[K6-2]].
 *Compiled with newer version of [[GNU Compiler Collection|GCC]] (Firefox 2.0 uses 3.3.2, Swiftfox 2.0 uses 4.0.4).<ref name="build20"/>
-'''Increased Security'''
+'''Increased security'''
-*Better protection from [[Buffer overflow]] attacks<ref name=fortify>{{cite web | url=http://www.redhat.com/magazine/009jul05/features/execshield/#checks | title=redhat.com | Limiting buffer overflows with ExecShield}}</ref> (Swiftfox 2.0 uses -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2; Firefox 2.0 uses gcc 3.x, which does not support this).<ref name="build20"/>
+*Better protection from [[buffer overflow]] attacks<ref name=fortify>{{cite web | url=http://www.redhat.com/magazine/009jul05/features/execshield/#checks | publisher=redhat.com | title=Limiting buffer overflows with ExecShield | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208094418/http://www.redhat.com/magazine/009jul05/features/execshield/#checks | archive-date=2007-02-08 }}</ref> (Swiftfox 2.0 uses -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2; Firefox 2.0 uses gcc 3.x, which does not support this).<ref name="build20"/>
 '''Simplify'''
 *[[Pango]] is not included in the build {{Citation needed|date=April 2007}}. This means that [[Unicode typefaces|Unicode fonts]] remain supported (see [[Unicode and HTML]]), but without certain extra features<ref name=pangoexample>{{cite web | url=http://www.pango.org/ScriptGallery | title=Script Gallery - Pango }}</ref> provided by [[Pango]]. This simplification reduces the binary size, and reduces rendering.
 '''Changed default preference values'''
-*[[IPv6]] [[Domain name system|DNS]] lookups are disabled.<ref name="change20"/><ref name=change15>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/releases/changelog | title=Swiftfox 1.5.0.7 changelog}}</ref> preventing slowdowns experienced<ref name=ipv6dns>{{cite web | url=http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?p=12&sid=f37125f87effd7be076c6c748cdde960 | title=Swiftfox Forum}}</ref>
+*[[IPv6]] [[Domain name system|DNS]] lookups are disabled.<ref name="change20"/><ref name=change15>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/releases/changelog | title=Swiftfox 1.5.0.7 changelog}}</ref> preventing slowdowns experienced<ref name=ipv6dns>{{cite web | url=http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?p=12&sid=f37125f87effd7be076c6c748cdde960 | title=Swiftfox Forum | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928044502/http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?p=12&sid=f37125f87effd7be076c6c748cdde960 | archive-date=2007-09-28 }}</ref>
-*[[HTTP pipelining]] is enabled by default.<ref name="change20"/><ref name="change15"/> Note that [[Fasterfox]] provides a [[GUI]] to adjust these settings.
+*[[HTTP pipelining]] is enabled by default.<ref name="change20"/><ref name="change15"/>  [[Fasterfox]] provides a [[GUI]] to adjust these settings.
 *For full details, see [http://getswiftfox.com/source/swiftfox-1.8branch.patch].
-== Speed ==
+== Swiftfox speed ==
-=== Firefox speed ===
-Firefox has been criticised for slow startup compared with other browsers,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Mozilla-Firefox-Review-13677.shtml | title = Mozilla Firefox 1.5 Final Review | accessdate = 2007-01-24 | date = November 30, 2005 | last = Muradin | first = Alex | publisher = Softpedia | accessdate = 2006-09-22}}</ref> a criticism confirmed by pre-Firefox 2.0 speed tests.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Mozilla-Firefox-Review-13677.shtml  | title = Mozilla Firefox Review | work = Softpedia | accessdate = 2006-10-30}}</ref><ref name=benchgeneral>{{cite web | url=http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html | title=Browser speed comparisons}}</ref> A speed comparison of various GNU/Linux (and other) browsers has been done.<ref name="benchgeneral"/>
+No definitive benchmarking has been reported, but a quicker startup time and a 1.7% webpage rendering speedup has been reported on version 1.5.0.6.<ref name=benchswift>{{cite web | url=http://www.apcstart.com/node/3097 | title=APC Magazine: What's The Worlds Fastest Browser| access-date = 2006-10-30}}</ref> There are no benchmarks for the different processors builds.
-=== Swiftfox speed ===
-No definitive benchmarking has been reported, but a quicker startup time and a 1.7% webpage rendering speedup has been reported on version 1.5.0.6.<ref name=benchswift>{{cite web | url=http://www.apcstart.com/node/3097 | title=APC Magazine: What's The Worlds Fastest Browser| accessdate = 2006-10-30}}</ref> There are no benchmarks for the different processors builds.
 == Additional options ==
@@ Line 55: / Line 51: @@
 *[[XForms]] extension is installed and enabled
 *libunixprintplugin.so plugin is installed
-== Downloads available ==
-*The latest released version of Firefox 2.0 - separate builds are available for each processor type covering [[Intel]] and [[AMD]] processors:
-** packaged as a [[tar (file format)|tar]] file
-** packaged for [[Debian]] installs
-*Recent snapshots of development versions of Firefox 2.0 and 3.0 (trunk) - separate builds for [[AMD]] [[Athlon XP]] processors and [[Intel]] [[Pentium 4]] (and compatible).
 == License ==
-The same as Firefox, the Swiftfox source code is [[open source]], with the source code under [[Mozilla Public License|MPL 1.1]] except for parts relating to branding.<ref name=license/>
+The same as Firefox, the Swiftfox source code is [[open-source software|open-source]], with the source code under [[Mozilla Public License|MPL 1.1]] except for parts relating to branding.<ref name=license/>
-Unlike Firefox, the Swiftfox binaries have a proprietary license<ref name=license>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/LICENSE | title=Swiftfox license}}</ref> which does not allow redistribution. According to the author, this is to prevent the possibility of any confusion with tainted versions (see the Firefox branding argument [[Mozilla Firefox#Trademark and logo issues]]). The name Swiftfox is trademarked by Jason Halme, and accordingly cannot be used on other third party Firefox builds without his permission.
+Unlike Firefox, the Swiftfox binaries have a proprietary license<ref name=license>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/LICENSE | title=Swiftfox license}}</ref> which does not allow redistribution. According to the author, this is to prevent the possibility of any confusion with tainted versions (see the Firefox branding argument [[Mozilla Firefox#Trademark and logo]]). The name Swiftfox is trademarked by Jason Halme, and accordingly cannot be used on other third party Firefox builds without his permission.
 === Debian ===
-Swiftfox binaries are available as [[deb (file format)|Debian packages]] from [http://getswiftfox.com/debian.htm official site]. Note that the proprietary binary license prevents Debian and other GNU/Linux distributions from having Swiftfox available as part of a distribution. To redestribute Swiftfox they would have to change the name and the icons, just like Debian did it with Firefox (Iceweasel).
+Swiftfox binaries are available as [[deb (file format)|Debian packages]] from [http://getswiftfox.com/debian.htm official site]. The proprietary binary license prevents Debian and other Linux distributions from having Swiftfox available as part of a distribution, so to redistribute Swiftfox one would have to change the name and icons.
-== Alternatives ==
-* Firefox source code and Swiftfox changes are freely available for download, allowing anyone to create their own build.
-* [[Swiftweasel]] is an optimized build of the Mozilla Firefox code that is licensed under the [[Mozilla Public License|MPL 1.1]].
 == See also ==
+*[[Firefox]]
-*[[Fasterfox]] - An extension for Firefox
-*[[Mozilla Firefox]]
+*[[Swiftweasel]]
-*[[Swiftweasel]] - A 100% free optimized build of the Mozilla Firefox code.
 == References ==
-{{reflist}}
+{{Reflist|30em}}
 == External links ==
-* [http://getswiftfox.com/ Swiftfox site]
+* {{official website|http://getswiftfox.com/}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160912115922/http://getswiftfox.com:80/ archived])
-* [http://apcmag.com/whats_the_worlds_fastest_browser.htm APC Magazine: "Fastest browser in the world" ]
 {{Web browsers}}
+{{Mozilla}}
 [[Category:POSIX web browsers]]
 [[Category:Web browsers based on Firefox]]
+[[Category:Software that uses XUL]]
+[[Category:Discontinued web browsers]]