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submitted 1 day ago by twopi@lemmy.ca to c/privacy@lemmy.ca

Trying to move away from FireFox.

I know that there is LibreWolf and GNU IceCat.

What are the pros and cons for each?

I tried GNU IceCat and I don't know how to install extensions. How to get extensions for GNU IceCat? Is it easier on LibreWolf?

I need the following extensions:

  • ublock origin
  • send to MPV player
  • privacy badger
  • Distraction free youtube
  • Unhook
  • LeechBlock NG
  • Privacy Badger
  • Tab Session Manager
  • KeePassXC-Browser
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[-] hellfire103@lemmy.ca 2 points 7 hours ago

I personally prefer Librewolf or Abrowser over IceCat, but if you can get IceCat to work then great.

You should be able to get extensions from the Mozilla Add-Ons Store. Failing that, the GNU Project has Mozzarella.

On Android, I would only recommend IronFox. It's available on GitLab, Accrescent, Obtainium, and F-Droid (third-party repo).

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 hours ago

Anyone know of something similar for Android? I used to use Mull until it died, and now I'm back to Fennec. I very much prefer that it's available on fdroid, or at least direct download.

[-] sonalder@lemmy.ml 3 points 9 hours ago

IronFox seems to be a maintained fork of Mull

[-] Who_Wants_To_No@lemmy.ca 15 points 23 hours ago

I just recently switched to LibreWolf from Firefox. It's one of the easiest software transitions I've ever made. It really is just Firefox without Mozilla's recent bad decision making.

[-] twopi@lemmy.ca 2 points 20 hours ago

Thank you.

I see that I have to add an extra repo for Debian. That's my only hesitation towards it atm.

[-] i_am_hiding@aussie.zone 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

Perhaps a dumb question but why do you consider this a bad thing?

Should I consider it a bad thing??

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 hours ago

That really depends on the quality of the repo.

They’re probably just trying to be minimalist

[-] kekmacska@lemmy.zip 2 points 17 hours ago

what about flatpaks/snaps?

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago

I can't tell you much about the pros and cons for each, however, when I look at the number of active contributors for each project, I'm not thrilled by either of their staying power.

Icecat has only a few active contributors. LibreWolf has <20.

Just to compare, Waterfox has over 5000 contributors.

LibreWolf (and Waterfox) install extensions the way Firefox does, so it's very easy. Waterfox does give you the option to sync with Firefox, so that might be a major benefit if you want the functionality.

[-] vaguerant@fedia.io 10 points 21 hours ago

Just to compare, Waterfox has over 5000 contributors.

I am 100% certain that this count includes Firefox contributors, not direct contributors to Waterfox. None of the Firefox forks are massive projects with contributors into the thousands. I would expect Waterfox to have a similar number of dedicated contributors to the others.

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 4 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)
[-] vaguerant@fedia.io 11 points 20 hours ago

Yeah, those are almost exclusively Firefox contributors. e.g. Emilio Cobos Álvarez is a Gecko engineer at Mozilla, moz-wptsync-bot is a bot Mozilla uses to sync web platforms tests, Ryan VanderMeulen is the Firefox release manager at Mozilla.

Since their commits show up in the Waterfox commit log, they are Waterfox contributors, but only because it's a fork and they contributed to the upstream project, Firefox.

LibreWolf and IceCat aren't on GitHub (officially), so I'm guessing it's just a difference in how different code trackers report contributors in forks or something.

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 4 points 19 hours ago

Thank you for the info. I made assumptions for sure.

The silver lining is that the OP has more than two alternatives regardless 😀

[-] ActuallyGoingCrazy@sh.itjust.works 6 points 22 hours ago

You can also sync in LibreWolf, if you enable it in the settings.

[-] twopi@lemmy.ca 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

I need to run my own sync server.

[-] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 1 points 16 hours ago

You can do that too. LibreWolf is not taking away any of Firefox functionality unless there's a specific reason for it. Some of its defaults are stricter, but those can be changed. All the configuration is totally available to you.

[-] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 1 points 22 hours ago

Hmm. I didn't see the option, but if true, that's great (if you use the option).

[-] kekmacska@lemmy.zip 2 points 17 hours ago

librewolf works just as well. waterfox is good too, but they have some questionable ui designs, though not as irrational as Firedragon

[-] twopi@lemmy.ca 2 points 20 hours ago

Didn't consider Waterfox. Will look into it.

I was leaning towards GNU IceCat because of it being backed by Debian.

[-] kekmacska@lemmy.zip 2 points 17 hours ago

librewolf. icecat is great, but not all extensions and websites work properly

[-] novacomets@lemmy.myserv.one 5 points 23 hours ago

I think you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between Firefox and Librewolf as you do all of your normal business with websites, but prove me wrong.

For IceCat, my main browser, you have to do a web search for the extensions you want and install the extension from their website, from Github, or from Firefox Addons. The IceCat FSF have a mentality of believing the only way to protect people's freedom, which never ever includes freedom of choice, is to have total tyrannical control and eliminate all options for users that don't conform to FSF philosophy because users aren't smart enough to know what not to install. So the IceCat people say the best way to protect people is cut off their ability to natively search Firefox Add-on website.

I'm curious to ask you, why do you use Distraction free YouTube instead of FreeTube? Do you need native YouTube functionality or do you post comments?

[-] twopi@lemmy.ca 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Thank you for the comment.

It seems difficult to get extensions onto IceCat it seems. I guess I'd have to update them myself as well.

I use Distraction Free YouTube because I run into errors when using FreeTube. I use Distraction Free YouTube to see the description. I use MPV to view the video.

[-] novacomets@lemmy.myserv.one 2 points 20 hours ago

All of the extensions on the Firefox Addon website seem to install fine in IceCat. The extensions will be updated automatically. I recommend after installing IceCat disable all of the extensions that come with it built in or websites won't load as expected.

[-] kekmacska@lemmy.zip 0 points 17 hours ago

freetube is broken now

this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
36 points (92.9% liked)

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