Firefox browser for UT
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Are there any plans to make support for Firefox browser for UT ? Or even to make native support for it ? It kinda make sense since all Linux distros are shipped with Firefox by default. UT is being shipped with Morph browser which I never heard of before. It works though. No bugs so far.
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Firefox might work in Libertine but Firefox there doesn't support a touch-friendly UI whereas Morph is fully convergent (works in both touch and desktop modes).
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I can understand the ubports team not wanting to commit resources to a project like this given the convergence aspirations of the OS. But I sure would like the android version of firefox ported over
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If we built a browser based on Firefox engine we wouldn't be allowed to call it Firefox anyway. If you want to see a native Firefox like is on Android, for UT, the best way to get that is to work with the upstream Firefox for Android devs, and get a click built for UT from it as well.
Of course, there's also the problem that Firefox doesn't support Mir client protocol, so it would have to run under Xmir for now (which would be a pretty poor experience), or wait until new Mir/Unity8 is in so it can work via Wayland client protocol (assuming Firefox has wayland support already).
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I would not even try to think how much work would that mean. This is the Android source they have: https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/focus-android - It seems it could be easier to start from scratch, creating a custom UI that works with Mir/Wayland and is just using the FFox backend. And it doesn't have to be called Firefox - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_software_rebranded_by_Debian#Iceweasel - Sadly that's quite a lot of work and commitment since it would have to be maintained and updated regularly.
But it would "work" to just click-package the regular desktop Firefox with Wayland support enabled. With little tweaks here and there it could actually be ok, especially on tablets. For example there were plugins for touch interaction a few years back which could help. The UI could be scaled up and when running natively with the latest Mir the performance should also be better.
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I'm surprised though that UT didn't support Firefox from the very beginning at the time when UT project was under the roof of Canonical. It just makes sense. Mark Shuttleworth is pushing Firefox into all releases of Ubuntu for desktop so one would think that he would make devs to make it native for UT by default as well while it was Canonical's project.
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@marek_python please see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1711337 specially this comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1711337/comments/141
If you want to try his build https://github.com/jdonald/firefox-armhf
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@zubozrout Sure, it could be Morph, but then we'd still get the same demands of people wanting to run Firefox. If we can't ship a Firefox branded browser, then there really isn't much incentive to shipping something based on Firefox, when it's much easier to build something on an already existing engine that works fine on the platform.
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Morph-browser has everything to become an excellent browser. There has already been a lot of very good work done on it by Chris Clime alias Balcy. I recognize this even if many bugs are still very disturbing for me (and others i suppose) for a daily use. I don't think it's worth going elsewhere, but rather to focus on it so that it matures as quickly as possible. Developers who are available and have the skills should rather help Chris because morph is (surely) a big piece for a person almost alone in this task. Congratulations to him.
