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{{Short description|Discontinued web browser based on Mozilla Firefox}}
{{Infobox_Software |
⚫ {{External links|date=July 2024}}
⚫ name = Swiftfox |
{{Infobox software
logo = ] <!-- FAIR USE of Swiftfox.png: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:Swiftfox.png for rationale --> |
⚫ | name = Swiftfox
<!-- screenshot = | -->
caption = Swiftfox | | logo = Swiftfox.png
| screenshot =
| caption =
developer = Jason Halme | | developer = Jason Halme
latest_release_version = Based on Firefox 2.0.0.3 |
| released =
latest_release_date = ], ] |
| programming language =
operating_system = ] |
| operating system = ]
⚫ genre = ] |
| language =
⚫ license = binaries: <br />source: ] |
| discontinued = yes
website = |
⚫ | genre = ]
⚫ | license = binaries: <br/>source: ]
| website = ()
}} }}
'''Swiftfox''' was a ] based on ]. It was available for ] platforms and distributed by Jason Halme. Swiftfox was a set of ] of Firefox optimized for different ] and ] ]s. Swiftfox was freely downloadable with ] code and ] binaries. Firefox ] and ] were compatible with Swiftfox, with notable exceptions. The name Swiftfox comes from the animal ]. 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 ] account.
⚫ {{Firefox TOC}}
'''Swiftfox''' is a freely downloadable, partially ] ] ]. Created by Jason Halme, it is a ] optimized ] of the ] ] for ]. To optimize for each of the supported ]s, separate specific builds are created. The current version of Firefox is available as well as the development versions, each having specific builds. Firefox ] and ] are fully compatible with Swiftfox.


== Optimization == == Optimization ==
⚫ The Swiftfox build is optimized using the following methods:

⚫ Swiftfox is optimized using the following methods:


'''Binary code optimization''' '''Binary code optimization'''
*Compiled with the highest level of compiler optimization, rather than optimization for binary size. *Compiled with the highest level of ], 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> ** 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)
**Firefox is compiled -Os<ref name=build20>Using url of ''about:buildconfig'' to check the details of the 2.0 builds</ref>(which is less than -O2 <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/>)
*] incorporate additional ]s.<ref name=change20>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/mozilla_1_8_branch/changelog | title=Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog}}</ref> *] incorporate additional ]s.<ref name=change20>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/mozilla_1_8_branch/changelog | title=Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog}}</ref>
** ] and ]: ], ], ], (not generally ]<ref>{{cite web | url=http://forums.getswiftfox.com/viewtopic.php?t=11&highlight=sse3 | title=Swiftfox Forum}}</ref>). ** ] and ]: ], ], ], (not generally ]<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>).
** ] only: ] ** ] only: ]
*Optimization specific to the build microprocessor architecture.<ref name=change20>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/mozilla_1_8_branch/changelog | title=Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog}}</ref> *Optimization specific to the build microprocessor architecture.<ref name="change20"/>
** ]: ], ], ], ], ], ], ] (various). ** ]: ], ], ], ], ], ].
** ]: ] (32bit binary). ** ]: ] (32bit binary).
** ]: ] ] ], ], ]. ** ]: ], ], ].
*Compiled with newer version of ] (Firefox 2.0 uses 3.3.2, Swiftfox 2.0 uses 4.0.4).<ref name=build20>Using url of ''about:buildconfig'' to check the details of the 2.0 builds</ref> *Compiled with newer version of ] (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>Using url of ''about:buildconfig'' to check the details of the 2.0 builds</ref> *Better protection from ] 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'''
'''Removed or disabled features'''
*] is not included.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://builder.com.com/5100-6375-5136890.html | title=Open Source Awards 2004: Pango}}</ref> This means that ] remain supported (see ]), but without certain extra features provided by ].<ref name=pangoexample>{{cite web | url=http://www.pango.org/ScriptGallery | title=Script Gallery - Pango }}</ref> *] is not included in the build {{Citation needed|date=April 2007}}. This means that ] remain supported (see ]), but without certain extra features<ref name=pangoexample>{{cite web | url=http://www.pango.org/ScriptGallery | title=Script Gallery - Pango }}</ref> provided by ]. This simplification reduces the binary size, and reduces rendering.
*] ] lookups are disabled.<ref name=change15>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/releases/changelog | title=Swiftfox 1.5.0.7 changelog}}</ref><ref name=change20>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/mozilla_1_8_branch/changelog | title=Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog}}</ref>
'''Changed default preference values''' '''Changed default preference values'''
*] is enabled by default.<ref name=change15>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/releases/changelog | title=Swiftfox 1.5.0.7 changelog}}</ref><ref name=change20>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/builds/mozilla_1_8_branch/changelog | title=Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog}}</ref> Note that ] provides a ] to adjust these settings. *] ] 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>
*] is enabled by default.<ref name="change20"/><ref name="change15"/> ] provides a ] to adjust these settings.
*For full details, see . *For full details, see .


⚫ == Swiftfox speed ==
==Speed==
Swiftfox has been evaluated in the context of the fastest browsers.<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> It is central to evaluate the claim of Swiftfox being faster than Firefox,{{Fact|date=February 2007}} as implied by its name.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} No explicit claim of speed or speedup is made at the Swiftfox site, but simply that it is an "optimized build".


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.
===Firefox speed===
{{Content}}
Firefox has been criticised for slow startup compared with other browsers, a criticism confirmed by Firefox 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 Linux (and other) browsers has been done<ref name=benchgeneral>{{cite web | url=http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html | title=Browser speed comparisons}}</ref>. In this 32bit only test, Firefox was slower than both ] and ]<ref name=benchgeneral><ref name=benchgeneral>{{cite web | url=http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html | title=Browser speed comparisons}}</ref>.


⚫ == Additional options ==
⚫ ===Swiftfox speed===
⚫ Swiftfox is bundled with the following freely available Firefox plugins and extensions:
No definitive speed comparison has been reported, but an unspecified faster startup time together with a 1.7% webpage rendering speedup has been reported<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>. 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<ref name=benchgeneral>{{cite web | url=http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/browserSpeed.html | title=Browser speed comparisons}}</ref><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>, than Swiftfox over Firefox<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 was no benchmarking on different processors, so builds optimized for different processors were not evaluated, nor discussed.

⚫ ==Additional options==
⚫ Swiftfox contains the following Firefox plugins and extensions:
*] extension is installed and enabled *] extension is installed and enabled
*libunixprintplugin.so plugin is installed *libunixprintplugin.so plugin is installed

==Downloads available==
*Current version of Firefox:
**Builds for both both ] and ] processors - a different build is available for each processor type.
*Development versions of Firefox:
**Builds for ] ] processors and sometimes ] ] (and compatible).


== License == == License ==
⚫ The same as Firefox, the Swiftfox source code is ], with the source code under ] except for parts relating to branding.<ref name=license/>
{{POV-section|Summary of factual problems and fixes|date = November 2006}}
⚫ 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 ]). The name Swiftfox is trademarked by Jason Halme, and accordingly cannot be used on other third party Firefox builds without his permission.
⚫ The Swiftfox source code is partially ], with some of the source code under ]. However, according to the Swiftfox license<ref name=license/>, parts of the code relating to branding are withheld.<br>
⚫ The binaries are distributed under the Swiftfox license<ref name=license>{{cite web | url=http://getswiftfox.com/LICENSE | title=Swiftfox license}}</ref>, which is proprietary. Unlike the ] that Firefox and the Swiftfox code distributed under, the Swiftfox license does not allow redistribution. According to the author, this is to prevent the possibility of any confusion with tainted versions. But Swiftfox is trademark Jason Halme, and could not be used on any other 3rd party Firefox or Swiftfox build or version without his permission.


=== Debian ===
==Branding: Swiftfox vs. Firefox==
Swiftfox binaries are available as ] from . 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.
<!-- {{Content}} better? -->
Firefox and its code, which Swiftfox is based on, use the ]. Mozilla uses trademark law to prevent unauthorized 3rd party builds like Swiftfox and ] from using its name and/or logos<ref name=policy>{{cite web | url=http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/trademarks/policy.html | title=Mozilla trademark policy}}</ref>. The purpose of this revolves around reduced confusion and increased brand recognition. Swiftfox cannot use the Firefox branding in any way, nor any other Firefox derivative produced outside of Mozilla.


== Alternatives == == See also ==
⚫ *]
* Firefox source code is freely available for download, as are the Swiftfox changes.
*]


==References== == References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
<references/>


== See also == == External links ==
* {{official website|http://getswiftfox.com/}} ()
* ]
* ]


{{Web browsers}}
⚫ ==External links==
{{Mozilla}}
*
*
*
*
*


] ]
] ]
]

]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 17:51, 21 July 2024

Discontinued web browser based on Mozilla Firefox
This article's use of external links may not follow Misplaced Pages's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (July 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Swiftfox
Developer(s)Jason Halme
Final release3.6.13 [±]
Preview release4.0.0 [±]
Operating systemLinux
TypeWeb browser
Licensebinaries: proprietary
source: MPL 1.1
Websitewww.getswiftfox.com (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 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, (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.)
    • Firefox is compiled -Os. (-Os is the same as -O2 but removes optimizations which would increase the binary size.)
  • Binaries incorporate additional instruction sets.
  • Optimization specific to the build microprocessor architecture.
  • Compiled with newer version of GCC (Firefox 2.0 uses 3.3.2, Swiftfox 2.0 uses 4.0.4).

Increased security

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

Simplify

  • Pango is not included in the build . This means that Unicode fonts remain supported (see Unicode and HTML), but without certain extra features provided by Pango. This simplification reduces the binary size, and reduces rendering.

Changed default preference values

  • IPv6 DNS lookups are disabled. preventing slowdowns experienced
  • HTTP pipelining is enabled by default. Fasterfox provides a GUI to adjust these settings.
  • For full details, see .

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. 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. Unlike Firefox, the Swiftfox binaries have a proprietary license 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.

See also

References

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

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