This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Widefox (talk | contribs) at 08:46, 26 March 2007 (cleanup sentence). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 08:46, 26 March 2007 by Widefox (talk | contribs) (cleanup sentence)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | |
| Stable release | Based on Firefox 2.0.0.3 / Mar 20, 2007 |
|---|---|
| Preview release | 4.0.0 [±] |
| Operating system | Linux |
| Type | Web browser |
| License | binaries: proprietary source: MPL 1.1 |
| Website | getswiftfox.com |
 |
| Related articles |
|---|
| Origins and lineage |
| Category |
Swiftfox is a freely downloadable, partially open source graphical web browser. Created by Jason Halme, it is a binary optimized build of the Mozilla Firefox web browser for Linux. 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.
Optimization
Swiftfox 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,
- Firefox is compiled -Os(which is less than -O2 ).
- 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).
Removed or disabled features
- Pango is not included. This means that Unicode fonts remain supported (see Unicode and HTML), but without certain extra features provided by Pango.
- IPv6 DNS lookups are disabled.
Changed default preference values
- HTTP pipelining is enabled by default. Note that Fasterfox provides a GUI to adjust these settings.
- For full details, see .
Speed
Swiftfox has been evaluated in the context of the fastest browsers. The name Swiftfox implies a faster browser than Firefox. No explicit claim of speed or speedup is made at the Swiftfox site, but simply that it is an "optimized build".
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. |
Firefox has been criticised for slow startup compared with other browsers, a criticism confirmed by Firefox speed tests. A speed comparison of various Linux (and other) browsers has been done. In this 32bit only test, Firefox was slower than both Opera and KonquerorCite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page)..
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. 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, than Swiftfox over Firefox. 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:
- XForms extension is installed and enabled
- libunixprintplugin.so plugin is installed
Downloads available
- Current version of Firefox:
- Development versions of Firefox:
License
 | The neutrality of this section is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (November 2006) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The Swiftfox source code is partially open source, with some of the source code under MPL 1.1. However, according to the Swiftfox license, parts of the code relating to branding are withheld.
The binaries are distributed under the Swiftfox license, which is proprietary. Unlike the MPL 1.1 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.
Branding: Swiftfox vs. Firefox
Firefox and its code, which Swiftfox is based on, use the MPL 1.1. Mozilla uses trademark law to prevent unauthorized 3rd party builds like Swiftfox and IceWeasel from using its name and/or logos. 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
- Firefox source code is freely available for download, as are the Swiftfox changes.
References
- "Swiftfox Forum".
- ^ Using url of about:buildconfig to check the details of the 2.0 builds
- "Optimize Options - Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)".
- ^ "Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog".
- "Swiftfox Forum".
- "redhat.com".
{{cite web}}: Text "Limiting buffer overflows with ExecShield" ignored (help) - "Open Source Awards 2004: Pango".
- "Script Gallery - Pango".
- ^ "Swiftfox 1.5.0.7 changelog".
- ^ "APC Magazine: What's The Worlds Fastest Browser". Retrieved 2006-10-30.
- "Mozilla Firefox Review". Softpedia. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
- ^ "Browser speed comparisons".
- ^ "Swiftfox license".
- "Mozilla trademark policy".
See also
External links
- Swiftfox site
- APC Magazine: "Fastest browser in the world"
- Ubuntu site
- madpenguin.org
- linuxextremist