Swiftfox

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Swiftfox
Image:Swiftfox.png
Developer: Jason Halme
Latest release: Based on Firefox 2.0 / Oct 24, 2006
OS: Linux
Use: Web browser
License: binaries, proprietary
source, MPL 1.1
Website: getswiftfox.com
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Swiftfox is a freely downloadable open source graphical web browser that is a binary optimized build of the Mozilla Firefox web browser for Linux that was created by Jason Halme. To optimize for each of the supported microprocessor architectures, separate specific builds are created. The current version of Firefox is available as well as the development versions, each having specific builds. Firefox extensions and plugins are fully compatible with Swiftfox.

Contents

[edit] Optimization

Swiftfox is optimized using the following methods:

Binary code optimization

Increased Security

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

Removed or disabled features

Changed default preference values

[edit] Speed

Swiftfox has been evaluated in the context of the fastest browsers [12]. It is central to evaluate the claim of Swiftfox being faster than Firefox, as implied by its name. No explicit claim of speed or speedup is made at the Swiftfox site, but simply that it is an "optimized build".

[edit] Firefox speed

The relevance of particular information in (or previously in) this article or section is disputed.
The information may have been removed or included by an editor as a result.
Please see discussion on the talk page considering whether its inclusion is warranted.
see Firefox#Performance

Firefox has been criticised for slow startup compared with other browsers, a criticism confirmed by Firefox speed tests[13][14]. A speed comparison of various Linux (and other) browsers has been done[14]. In this 32bit only test, Firefox was slower than both Opera and Konqueror[14].

[edit] Swiftfox speed

No definitive speed comparison has been reported, but an unspecified faster startup time together with a 1.7% webpage rendering speedup has been reported[12]. The details of this test are a page rendering in 4.79 seconds for Firefox and 4.67 seconds for Swiftfox, both 32bit on 64bit system. There is a bigger speed advantage of Opera and Konqueror over Firefox[14][12], than Swiftfox over Firefox[12]. There was no benchmarking on different processors, so builds optimized for different processors were not evaluated, nor discussed.

[edit] Additional options

Swiftfox contains the following items not in Firefox:

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

[edit] Downloads available

Swiftfox can be freely downloaded for:

  • The current version of Firefox is available.
    • builds covering both Intel and AMD processors - a chart is available for matching your processor to the build.
  • Development versions are available.

[edit] License

 The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.
This section has been tagged since November 2006.

Swiftfox is open source, with source code under MPL 1.1. The binaries are proprietary (freeware), under its own license [15] which does not allow redistribution. Swiftfox is the only well-known Firefox build to restrict redistribution.[16][17][18][19][20][21]. According to the author, this is to prevent the possibility of any confusion with tainted versions[15]. Swiftfox is trademark Jason Halme, and can not be used on any other 3rd party Firefox or Swiftfox build or version.M
Firefox and its code, which Swiftfox is based on, use the MPL 1.1. Mozilla also uses trademark law to stop unauthorized 3rd party builds like Swiftfox and IceWeasel from using its name and/or logo's[22].

[edit] Licences of other builds

The relevance of particular information in (or previously in) this article or section is disputed.
The information may have been removed or included by an editor as a result.
Please see discussion on the talk page considering whether its inclusion is warranted.

[edit] Alternatives

  • Firefox source code is freely available for download, as are the Swiftfox changes.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Swiftfox Forum.
  2. ^ a b c d Using url of about:buildconfig to check the details of the 2.0 builds
  3. ^ Optimize Options - Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC).
  4. ^ a b c d Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog.
  5. ^ Swiftfox Forum.
  6. ^ redhat.com.
  7. ^ What is Pango? - a definition from Whatis.com.
  8. ^ Open Source Awards 2004: Pango.
  9. ^ Script Gallery - Pango.
  10. ^ a b Swiftfox 1.5.0.7 changelog.
  11. ^ Swiftfox 2.0pre patch file.
  12. ^ a b c d APC Magazine: What's The Worlds Fastest Browser. Retrieved on 2006-10-30.
  13. ^ Mozilla Firefox Review. Softpedia. Retrieved on 2006-10-30.
  14. ^ a b c d Browser speed comparisons.
  15. ^ a b Swiftfox source.
  16. ^ Madfox uses the MPL.
  17. ^ Netscape License.
  18. ^ Firefox Portable License.
  19. ^ Flock License.
  20. ^ Iceweasel License.
  21. ^ Torpark License.
  22. ^ Mozilla trademark policy.

[edit] Also see

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/w/i/Swiftfox.html"
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