Why won't Pat include Firefox?
 

Honestly, folks. I hope he has a legit "security/stability" reason for not including Firefox at *least* in the /testing directory.

Mozilla.org doesn't even really advertise for their Mozilla Suite anymore; Firefox is what they use, Firefox is what I use, Firefox is what YOU use. I'm sure Pat uses Firefox, too.

Debian, Mandrake, and Fedora have all included Firefox since version 0.9.3, and I'm pretty sure any security holes in Firefox can be found the base Mozilla Suite code.

Opinions, please!

I agree 100%, I think firefox should be included in slackware, and it probably will be ones the official 1.0 release comes out. Until then its still officially pre-release, so that has to be the reason for its exclusion. Although the bugs found in firefox are usually found in mozilla as well, and right now firefox seems pretty polished.

Remember that when slack 10 was released firefox was around 0.8 I believe, and was lacking many features it now has. I would expect it to be included in 10.1 definitely.

i quote from the slackware current changelog (september 19):

i'm sure firefox will be included in slackware as soon as it becomes stable...

Well, I guess that makes sense. Now that I see that changelog, I think I remember reading that. I'm still waiting for Zack Rusin over at KDE to make a KFirefox. Especially if Pat does decide to remove Gnome (which I don't really think he will).

yeah i heard something about gnome getting a pink slip from patrick...

what's that about??

There is a huge thread around here somewhere about this, but basically Patrick says that maintaining Gnome takes up about a third of the entire Slackware development effort and he is tired of spending that level of time on one aspect of Slackware.

Have you tried the platikfox theme? It makes firefox seem completely integrated with kde.

here's the thread if anybody wants to stop-by:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=240451

I disagree. I only use firefox, which is why I do not want it included.
Some programs link to mozilla, so I can see it's inclusion.

I hate installers on small apps. It's soo much easier to download, untar, run.
Simple, & easy. Why do we need an installed version to muck it up?

Err.. are programs dependant on joe for example? Does that mean it should not be included? No, because it serves a purpose, it is a good lightweight editor, just like firefox is a good lightweight browser. Of course it should be included, that's the whole point of distros, to include useful apps that everyone uses.

Not really. There are tons of apps that slack doesn't include.
It gives us a nice stable base. Firefox changes all the time.
Why even bother? We would just be upgrading it immediately anyway.

I think things are perfect the way they are for now.
After the mozilla team does what they said, & Firefox replaces mozilla.
Then would be a good time to have it included.
For now, it's easier to keep it the way it is, IMO.

There are no plans to abandon the Suite. But there's quite a few Linux-specific bugs with Firefox when installed in a system (non-home) location, maybe Pat waits until these are fixed.

I understand the need for this as much as I understand the need for slackware packages of OO.o. Why should PV (or anyone else for that matter) waste time creating packages for software that installs beutifully with the provided install scipts?

:twocents:

I thought I had read that they would eventually merge. Perhaps I'm wrong.
I do agree with the bugs, as it still has quite a few that will kill it.


I totally agree. I'd rather install these programs myself.
That way I set them up exactly as I choose.
Not a big deal really, I just would not install them from CD.
I'd install slack without, them do them manually.

Then why even include any browser? There's an easy installer for Mozilla Suite, too. As well as Epiphany, Galeon, and others. I only brought it up because Firefox is clearly the leader in the Alternative Browser MarketTM. Not including OOo makes sense because its a huge package and not necessarily the best thing out there. Not in including Firefox is just plain silliness, because anyone installing Slack on a desktop will just have to go download and install it anyway.

Like it or not, Pat's already said that he's moving towards Firefox.


<sarcasm>You know, I use lynx a lot, so I wish it wasn't included in my favorite operating system.</sarcasm>