Which is it: Abrowser or GNU IceCat?
Hello,
So I've been testing Trisquel 7 amd64 and so far I'm impressed! I've installed a couple of the amd64 images as they came out but I have one query.
I've tried three different amd64 images; the first one containing Abrowser as the inclusion of IceCat in Trisquel 7 wasn't announced yet; the second image I tried contained IceCat and the image I'm currently running now contains an up to date version of Abrowser!?
So what browser is Trisquel 7 going to have in the end?
Personnally I prefer Abrowser so far. Everything in Abrowser just works out of the box. Video streaming and all the add ons are available.
When I used IceCat, many webpages didn't display properly and even though Gnash was installed by default, streaming video was not an option. Also the add ons page was not working so I couldn't instal a html5 add on. I know it's still in beta stages at the moment but so far in my opinion, Abrowser is the superior browser. Well done to RMS and everyone involved for the great work!
Looking forward to Trisquel 7!
Steve
"So what browser is Trisquel 7 going to have in the end?"
Yes. :)
(Your question assumes it's only one.)
The "Web pages don't display properly" thing in Icecat is because of the addon called LibreJS, which blocks (possibly) non-free Javascript. You can turn it off and have web pages display "properly" like Abrowser (which doesn't bring addons with it, including LibreJS, while Icecat includes Adblock, Tor Proxy, and HTTPS Everywhere, and the aforementioned LibreJS), but with some non-free JS.
Another possible "culprit" would be adblock so if disabling LibreJS doesn't work try doing so to Adblock as well.
Apart from addons dragged during installation the 2 browsers are pretty much identical, I think.
I am a member!
I switched from Abrowser to Icecat (on Trisquel 6). So far for me, it's identical. As has been mentioned the only differene is LibreJS, which is easy to disable.
I hope we can standardise on Icecat and discontinue Abrowser. Even if we have to disable LibreJS by default. It's just pointless maintaining two different browsers for the same distro, especially one as small as Trisquel.
LibreJS isn't the only difference. There's also SpyBlock, anti-fingerprinting, use of Tor in private browsing mode, HTTPS-Everywhere, and the home page that lets you toggle these features in a unified way.
Use of tor is not yet implemented afaik.
And honestly, i'm very sceptical about this feature. Tor is a sensitive subject and tiny mistakes can mess up anonymity. There's a reason why the tor browser bundle exists.
It is implemented, but I agree with you that it's not a good idea. It may give an impression of anonymity to the user while not being as anonymous as Tor Browser.
The fingerprint's OK. Not quite as generic as Tor Browser with scripts disabled (something about HTTP_ACCEPT Headers), but more generic than Tor Browser with scripts enabled. Even if you disable the cookies, the fingerprint's more generic than Tor Browser with scripts enabled.
Of course, it's true that Tor Browser is better, but it seems to me that any fear of IceCat's use of Tor in private browsing mode backfiring is unfounded. Scripts are forcibly disabled in private browsing mode, and there's no obvious way to turn them on; and any cookies stored outside of private browsing mode are not available in private browsing mode. Other than self-identification as a result of user stupidity, I can't think of any other way the use of Tor could be subverted.
Tor Browser is better for its purpose. For example, how do you use bridges in IceCat private browsing mode? Also, the version of Tor in Ubuntu isn't updated frequently (at all?), and new pluggable transports such as meek aren't packaged. Tor Browser will also have some changes to the behavior NoScript and a new "Security Slider" feature. Version 4.0 was released a few days ago.
I just want to retract this one thing: I previously thought that JavaScript was being disabled in private browsing mode, but it isn't. It's just that some kind of bug in LibreJS causes the icon to not show up in private browsing mode, and it currently tends to block most scripts, so it gives that impression. With scripts enabled, the fingerprint isn't entirely unique, but not even remotely generic.
I think IceCat should do what I previously thought it did: disable scripts in private browsing mode. Otherwise, this has a potential to create a false sense of security.
So basically my worries already turned out to be justified...
And of course LibreJS adds to your fingerprint.
It would be better to just follow the Tor Project's recommendations and stick with Tor Browser, which they say is the only configuration of Tor you should use for a a web browser.
https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en#warning
LibreJS blocks things on the FSF website. Clearly there is something wrong with it.
It is still a work in progress and at the moment is tuned to maximum alertness. If a single thing is wrong no matter how small it is and it stops the code.
With more time and testing I'm sure it will eventually be both functional and user friendly.
With the FSF site, you mean... Not LibreJS... Please report that to the FSF so that their site can be fixed... :)
well, since LibreJS seems to be designed to block both certainly non-free JS and possibly non-free JS, the problem actually might be with LibreJS, I think.
The problem is that LibreJS requires adapting all sites using free
client-side JavaScript code, or whitelisting all such scripts in LibreJS
(they have a whitelist for several popular JS libraries). Has changing
all of the Web worked for any other project?
Big free software projects have open issue reports for LibreJS
compatibility for years, while it's obvious that their code is free.
It's with the site - You've likely found something that was overlooked in the FSF's ongoing process of making sure that all of their JavaScript is properly labeled and has complete & corresponding source available in a format that LibreJS has been programmed to recognize.
I can't find any scripts LibreJS is blocking on fsf.org, but it is a very extensive site. Could you give me a specific URL? Also, it can never hurt to send a bug report to name at domain.
