Re: RFC: consider dropping www/firefox52 in favor of www/palemoon

[nia <nia%NetBSD.org@localhost>]

On Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 12:14:57PM +0200, Martin Husemann wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> nothing to quick action on, but just to seed the idea:
> 
> For a long time we have kept the last firefox version buildable w/o Rust
> (FF 52) for the sake of architectures not supported by newer firefox.
> 
> Obviously using that browser on today's internet is no good idea from a
> security point of view, but on some architectures it was the only option
> available (and mostly working).
> 
> However, it is a burden to keep this package buildable and working.
> I think currently it will not work on any big endian platform (which I am
> trying to fix).
> 
> We have a new alternative: www/palemoon. The browser has superb
> JavaScript compatibility with way more modern standards than FF52, it
> is actively maintained and has a NetBSD-friendly upstream. Similar to
> FF52 it does not (yet) support everything required by some modern web
> sites, but it is constantly improving.
> 
> I would therefor suggest that we consider dropping the www/firefox52 package
> sometime in the mid future after proper anouncement. Maybe keep it for two
> or three more Quarterlys?

It was always my plan that either arcticfox or palemoon would
eventually eclipse firefox52. We have a clear need
for a slow moving, portable browser in pkgsrc. It's great that
palemoon can fill that role since we obviously don't have the
resources to maintain firefox52 forever.