FAQ: Is Pale Moon Up-to-Date?

[Corrine]

Since many people are confused by the Pale Moon versions compared to Firefox, Moonchild added the following to the FAQ's today. (Original at Pale Moon forum • View topic - Is Pale Moon up-to-date?)

Is Pale Moon up-to-date?

 

Yes, it certainly is.

Pale Moon is actively developed. The confusion is apparently present because Pale Moon has a lower major version number than its sibling Firefox.

A few points:

 

• Security: Pale Moon is kept updated with the latest applicable security patches that make it into the Mozilla (Firefox/seamonkey/thunderbird/etc.) source code.
  
• Version numbers: Pale Moon's version number is what it is because of the version of Firefox it is most compatible with. e.g.: Pale Moon 24.6 is a far cry from Firefox 24.0 in terms of code, and should not be compared with it. It just means that the front-end code is most compatible with Firefox 24 from an add-on point of view.
  
• Feature updates: Pale Moon adopts a number of features from later Firefox versions that are considered essential and desired for Pale Moon
  
• Divergence: Pale Moon increasingly diverts from what Mozilla is doing to Firefox, and going in its own direction. Versioning of Pale Moon can therefore seem a little confusing since it originally was a fairly close reflection of Firefox with the same version, but it no longer is (and hasn't been for a while).
  

 

Version numbers should therefore not be compared to Firefox versions at this point. Firefox's arbitrary, calendar-ruled versioning is a poor reflection of the state of code and state of features.

[securitybreach]

Nice, thanks for the head's up. I installed Palemoon but didnt really see a reason to use it over Firefox. That and I mainly use chromium anyway.

[Guest LilBambi]

I use Pale Moon portable on my XP systems (OFFline except for getting various updates including updates to Pale Moon).

 

Thanks for sharing that Corrine!

[ross549]

Having a browser installed on an offline system seems like having a faucet not hooked up to a water line. Why have it installed?

 

Adam

[Guest LilBambi]

Because there are times when it is online. And I don't want to have to use IE if I find I want to download something from that OFFline system.

 

As I noted it is online for very short periods to get updates. Those updates are generally automatic. But never say never.

 

I have always been one to not want to burn my bridges and I want a bridge I feel safe with.

[Guest LilBambi]

Here's Moonchild's answer to one question on the same link:

 

by Moonchild » Sun Jul 06, 2014 7:44 am

11ryanc wrote: Makes since. From a compatibility point of view though, what will Pale Moon be based on once the changes made from Australis enter into Mozilla's ESR channel?

 

It will continue to use its own source code tree.

 

So the short answer is: its own Pale Moon source, a hybrid of older and newer Mozilla code mixed with Pale Moon specific code. The front-end will remain largely v24 compatible because, plainly put, it is a very balanced user interface. It will carry its own GUID for add-on developers and will get its own add-ons website.

 

Please make a separate thread in a development discussion board on this forum if you want to further discuss "code base" of Pale Moon post 24esr->31esr.

 

 

BOLD emphasis mine.

Edited July 6, 2014 by LilBambi

[ross549]

Because there are times when it is online. And I don't want to have to use IE if I find I want to download something from that OFFline system.

 

Yeah, good point. I am not sure why I did not think of it last night. Must be all the 4th of July partying getting to me.