Next update set available for TenFourFox

Security patches and a couple tweaks have been landed on the TenFourFox Github, so warm up your computers and prepare to rebuild. The security patches mostly cover DOM and media, but the tweaks add a UA exception for YouTube to prevent it forcing you onto the really slow main page from its "unsupported browser" page, as well as a workaround for sites using lazy-loaded images with lozad.js. (I said I scratch my own itches, and these annoyed me personally, so I fixed them.) If you have a custom UA for YouTube in your own settings, it should remain unaffected. There are also the usual updates for the HSTS and TLD lists, and a more complete fix for non-SHA-1 OCSP stapled responses.

The workaround is needed because TenFourFox doesn't support IntersectionObserver. I'm pondering whether this is the point to add a global polyfill to the browser that could potentially cover this and other deficiencies, but although it would be nice to not play whack-a-mole so much, that would have some consequences for performance and memory use over a targetted fix like this. I don't want to get too complex with having a "black list" for sites that need the polyfill you can add to, but maybe that's the least bad option. I'll do some thinking.

In case you missed it, I've always maintained that the most logical upgrade path from a PowerPC-based computer is to ... another PowerPC-based computer. SheepShaver, the well-known classic Mac OS emulator (which many of you use to run Classic apps in Leopard), is now ported to OpenPOWER, so you can run it on a POWER9-based workstation like the Raptor Talos II or Blackbird. Myself, with this port working, I've migrated almost entirely from QEMU to SheepShaver except for a few apps that still have compatibility issues. Come on in: Power ISA isn't dead, not by a long shot.

TenFourFox FPR30b1 available

TenFourFox Feature Parity Release 30 beta 1 is now available (downloads, hashes, release notes). I managed to make some good progress on backporting later improvements to the network and URL handling code, so there are no UI-facing features in this release, but the browser should use a bit less memory and run a little quicker especially on pages that reference a lot of resources (which, admittedly, is a lot of sites these days). There is also a minor update to the host database for basic adblock. Assuming all goes well, this release will come out parallel with Firefox 84 on or around December 15. I'll probably do an SPR-only build for the release immediately following to give myself a break; this will contain just needed security fixes, and there will most likely not be a beta.

A few people got bitten by not noticing the locale update, so let me remind everyone that FPR29 needs new locales if you are using a custom langpack. They're linked from the main TenFourFox page and all of them are on SourceForge except for the separately-maintained Japanese version, which I noticed has also been updated to FPR29. If you get a weird error starting TenFourFox and you have a langpack installed, quit the browser and run the new langpack installer and it should fix itself.

Finally, in case you missed it, with the right browser and a side-car TLS 1.2 proxy, you can get A/UX, Power MachTen (on any classic MacOS supporting it) and pre-Tiger Mac OS X able to access modern web pages again. The key advance here is that the same machine can also run the proxy all by itself: no cheating with a second system! Sadly, this does not work as-is with all browsers, including with Classilla, which is something I'll think about allowing as a down payment on proper in-browser support at some future date.

TenFourFox FPR23 for Intel available

Ken Cunningham figured out the build issues he was having with the Intel version and has updated TenFourFox for Intel systems to FPR23, now up to date with the Power Mac version. As always, there is no support for any Intel build of TenFourFox; do not report issues to Tenderapp. You can get it from SourceForge.

Ken's patches have also been incorporated into the tree along with a workaround submitted by Raphaël Guay to deal with Twitch overflowing our JIT stack. This is probably due to something we don't support causing infinite function call recursion since with the JIT disabled it correctly just runs out of stack and stops. There is no way to increase stack further since we are strictly 32-bit builds and the stack already consumes 1GB of our 2.2-ish GB available, so we need to a) figure out why the stack overflow happens without being detected and b) temporarily disable that script until we do. It's part B that is implemented as a second blacklist which is on unless disabled, since other sites may do this, until we find a better solution to part A. This will be in FPR24 along with probably some work on MP3 compliance issues since TenFourFox gets used as a simple little Internet radio a lot more than I realized, and a few other odds and ends.

In case you missed it, I am now posting content I used to post here as "And now for something completely different" over on a new separate blog christened Old Vintage Computing Research, or my Old VCR (previous posts will remain here indefinitely). Although it will necessarily have Power Mac content, it will also cover some of my other beloved older systems all in one place. Check out properly putting your old Mac to Terminal sleep (and waking it back up again), along with screenshots of the unscreenshotable, including grabs off the biggest computer Apple ever made, the Apple Network Server. REWIND a bit and PLAY.

TenFourFox FPR15b1 available

TenFourFox Feature Parity Release 15 beta 1 is now available (downloads, hashes, release notes).

In honour of New Coke's temporary return to the market (by the way, I say it tastes like Pepsi and my father says it tastes like RC), I failed again with this release to get some sort of async/await support off the ground, and we are still plagued by issue 533. The second should be possible to fix, but I don't know exactly what's wrong. The first is not possible to fix without major changes because it reaches up into the browser event loop, but should be still able to get parsing and thus enable at least partial functionality from the sites that depend on it. That part didn't work either. A smaller hack, though, did make it into this release with test changes. Its semantics aren't quite right, but they're good enough for what requires it and does fix some parts of Github and other sites.

However, there are some other feature improvements, including expanded blocking of cryptominers when basic adblock is enabled (from the same list Mozilla uses for enhanced privacy in mainstream Firefox), and updated internationalization support with upgraded timezones and locales such as the new Japanese Reiwa era (for fun, look at Is it Reiwa yet? in FPR14.1 before you download FPR15b1). The usual maintenance and security fixes are (will be) also included (in final). In the meantime, I'm going to take a different pass at the async/await problem for FPR16. If even that doesn't work, we'll have to see where we're at then for parity purposes, since while the majority of websites still work well in TenFourFox's heavily patched-up engine there are an increasing number of major ones that don't. It's hard to maintain a browser engine on your own. :(

Meanwhile, if you'd like the next generation of PowerPC but couldn't afford a Talos II, maybe you can afford a Blackbird. Here's what I thought of it. (See also the followup.)

TenFourFox FPR13 available

TenFourFox Feature Parity Release 13 final is now available for testing (downloads, hashes, release notes). I added Olga's minimp3 patch for correctness; otherwise, there are no additional changes except for several security updates and to refresh the certificate and TLD stores. As usual it will go live Monday evening Pacific time assuming no difficulties.

I have three main updates in mind for TenFourFox FPR14: expanding FPR13's new AppleScript support to allow injecting JavaScript into pages (so that you can drive a web page by manipulating the DOM elements within it instead of having to rely on screen coordinates and sending UI events), adding Olga's ffmpeg framework to enable H.264 video support with a sidecar library (see the previous post for details on the scheme), and a possible solution to allow JavaScript async functions which actually might fix quite a number of presently non-working sites. I'm hopeful that combined with another parser hack this will be enough to restore Github functionality on TenFourFox, but no promises. Unfortunately, it doesn't address the infamous this is undefined problem that continues to plague a number of sites and I still have no good solution for that. These projects are decent-sized undertakings, so it's possible one or two might get pushed to FPR15. FPR14 is scheduled for May 14 with Firefox 67.

Meanwhile, I took a close look at the upcoming Raptor Blackbird at the So Cal Linux Expo 17. If the full big Talos II I'm typing this on is still more green than you can dream, the smaller Blackbird may be just your size to get a good-performing 64-bit Power system free of the lurking horrors in modern PCs at a better price. Check out some detailed board pics of the prototype and other shots of the expo on Talospace. If you're still not ready to jump, I'll be reviewing mine when it arrives hopefully later this spring.

TenFourFox FPR12 available

TenFourFox Feature Parity Release 12 final is now available for testing (downloads, hashes, release notes). There are no additional changes except for one outstanding security update and to refresh the certificate and TLD stores. As usual it will go live Monday evening Pacific time assuming no difficulties.

For "lucky" FPR13 I want to take a whack at solving issue 541, since my ability to work on Github from the G5 is seriously impaired at the moment (I have to resort to various workarounds or do tasks from the Talos II with regular Firefox). Since this has some substantial regression risk it will probably be the only JavaScript change I do for that release pending further feasibility tests on the whole enchilada. However, a couple people have asked again about AppleScript support and there is an old patch around that I think could be dusted off and made to work. That release is scheduled for March 19.

Speaking of the Talos II, I should be getting my second POWER9 system in soon, a 4-core Raptor Blackbird we'll be using as a media system. I've already got the mATX case picked out and some decent peripherals and it will probably run Fedora also, since I'm pretty accustomed to it by now. If these systems are starting to interest you but the sticker shock of a full T2 loadout is too much, the Blackbird can give you a taste of next-generation Power ISA without too much pain to your pocketbook.

Meanwhile, over on our sister Talospace blog, if you've been thinking about the Linux plunge (either with a POWER9 or on your own system) but your Mac habits die hard, here's a better way to get the Command key to work properly than faffing about with AutoKey and you can still run Mac OS X apps in virtualization or emulation.

ICYMI: what's new on Talospace

In the shameless plug category, in case you missed them, two original articles on Talospace, our sister blog: making your Talos II into an IBM pSeries (yes, you can run AIX on a Talos II with Linux KVM), and roadgeeking with the Talos II (because the haters gotta hate and say POWER9 isn't desktop ready, which is just FUD FUD FUD).