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	'''Swiftfox''' is a freely downloadable ] ] ] that is a ] optimized ] of the ] ] for ] created by ~~Jason~~ ~~Halme~~. To optimize for each of the supported ]s, separate specific builds are created. The current version of Firefox is available as well as the development versions, each having specific builds. Firefox ] and ] are fully compatible with Swiftfox.		'''Swiftfox''' is a freely downloadable ] ] ] that is a ] optimized ] of the ] ] for ] that was created by a 3rd party and not Mozilla. To optimize for each of the supported ]s, separate specific builds are created. The current version of Firefox is available as well as the development versions, each having specific builds. Firefox ] and ] are fully compatible with Swiftfox.

	== Optimization ==		== Optimization ==
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	{{dablink\|Also see ]}}		{{dablink\|Also see ]}}

	Swiftfox is ], with source code under ]. The binaries are proprietary, under its own license <ref name=license>{{cite web \| url=http://getswiftfox.com/source.htm \| title=Swiftfox source}}</ref> which does not allow redistribution. According to the author, this is to prevent the possibility of any confusion with tainted versions<ref name=license>{cite web \| url=http://getswiftfox.com/source.htm \| title=swiftfox source}}</ref>. Swiftfox is trademark Jason Halme, and can not be used on any other 3rd party Firefox or Swiftfox build or version.		Swiftfox is ], with source code under ]. The binaries are proprietary, under its own license <ref name=license>{{cite web \| url=http://getswiftfox.com/source.htm \| title=Swiftfox source}}</ref> which does not allow redistribution. Swiftfox is the only well-known Firefox build or fork to restrict redistribution.<ref name=portablempl>{{cite web \| url=http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable \| title=Firefox Portable License}}</ref><ref name=Flockmgpl>{{cite web \| url=http://flock.sourceforge.net/license.html \| title=Flock License}}</ref><ref name=Iceweaselgpl>{{cite web \| url=http://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/ \| title=Iceweasel License}}</ref><ref name=torparkgpl>{{cite web \| url=http://torrify.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=287&highlight=licence+license \| title=Torpark License}}</ref>. According to the author, this is to prevent the possibility of any confusion with tainted versions<ref name=license>{cite web \| url=http://getswiftfox.com/source.htm \| title=swiftfox source}}</ref>. Swiftfox is trademark Jason Halme, and can not be used on any other 3rd party Firefox or Swiftfox build or version.
			Firefox and its code, which Swiftfox is based on, use the ]. Mozilla also uses trademark law to stop unauthorized 3rd party builds like Swiftfox and IceWeasel from using its name and/or logo's<ref name=policy>{{cite web \| url=http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/trademarks/policy.html \| title=Mozilla trademark policy}}</ref>.

	== Alternatives ==		== Alternatives ==

Revision as of 23:16, 2 November 2006

Swiftfox

Developer(s)	Jason Halme

Stable release	Based on Firefox 2.0 / Oct 24, 2006
Preview release	4.0.0 [±]

Operating system	Linux
Type	Web browser
License	binaries, Proprietary source, MPL 1.1
Website	getswiftfox.com

Related articles

Firefox version history Firefox early version history v2 v3 v3.5 v3.6 v4 Features of Firefox Gecko Add-ons WebExtensions
Origins and lineage
Netscape Navigator Mozilla Foundation Mozilla Suite
Category
v t e

Swiftfox is a freely downloadable open source graphical web browser that is a binary optimized build of the Mozilla Firefox web browser for Linux that was created by a 3rd party and not Mozilla. To optimize for each of the supported microprocessor architectures, separate specific builds are created. The current version of Firefox is available as well as the development versions, each having specific builds. Firefox extensions and plugins are fully compatible with Swiftfox.

Optimization

Swiftfox is optimized using the following methods:

Binary code optimization

compiled with the highest level of compiler optimization, rather than optimized for binary size
- Swiftfox is compiled -O3,
- Firefox is compiled -Os. This is less than -O2 .
binaries incorporate additional instruction sets .
- Intel and AMD: SSE2, SSE, MMX, (not generally SSE3)
- AMD only: 3DNow!
optimization specific to the build microprocessor architecture
- Intel: Pentium 4, Pentium 3, Pentium M, Pentium 3M, Pentium 2, Prescott, Celeron (various)
- AMD64: Athlon64 (32bit binary)
- AMD: Athlon XP Duron Sempron, Athlon, K6-2
compiled with newer gcc (Firefox 2.0 uses 3.3.2, Swiftfox 2.0 uses 4.0.4).

Increased Security

better protection from buffer overflow attacks (Firefox 2.0 uses gcc 3.x which does not support this, Swiftfox 2.0 uses -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2).

Removed or disabled features

by removing the pango framework for rendering international fonts. This means that Unicode fonts remain supported (see Unicode and HTML), but without the extra features provided by pango - see example.
Disabled IPv6 DNS lookups

Changed default preference values

default enabling of http pipelining . Note that Fasterfox provides a GUI to adjust these settings
Full details of all the preference changes are listed

Speed

Swiftfox has been evaluated in the context of the fastest browsers . It is central to evaluate the claim of Swiftfox being faster than Firefox, as implied by its name. No explicit claim of speed or speedup is made at the Swiftfox site, but simply that it is an "optimized build".

Firefox speed

The relevance of particular information in (or previously in) this article or section is disputed. The information may have been removed or included by an editor as a result. Please see discussion on the talk page considering whether its inclusion is warranted.

see Firefox#Performance

A speed comparison of various Linux (and other) browsers has been done. In this 32bit only test, Firefox was slower than both Opera and KonquerorCite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).. Firefox has been criticised for slow startup compared with other browsers Performance and browser speed tests confirm this to be the case.

Swiftfox speed

No definitive speed comparison has been reported, but an unspecified faster startup time together with a 1.7% webpage rendering speedup has been reported. The details of this test are a page rendering in 4.79 seconds for Firefox and 4.67 seconds for Swiftfox, both 32bit on 64bit system. There is a bigger speed advantage of Opera and Konqueror over Firefox, than Swiftfox over Firefox. There was no benchmarking on different processors, so builds optimized for different processors were not evaluated, nor discussed.

Additional options

Swiftfox contains the following items not in Firefox:

XForms extension is installed and enabled
libunixprintplugin.so plugin is installed

Downloads available

Swiftfox can be freely downloaded for:

The current version of Firefox is available.
- builds covering both Intel and AMD processors - a chart is available for matching your processor to the build.
Development versions are available.
- builds for AMD Athlon XP processors and sometimes Intel Pentium 4 (and compatible).

License

Also see Firefox#Licensing

Swiftfox is open source, with source code under MPL 1.1. The binaries are proprietary, under its own license which does not allow redistribution. Swiftfox is the only well-known Firefox build or fork to restrict redistribution.. According to the author, this is to prevent the possibility of any confusion with tainted versions. Swiftfox is trademark Jason Halme, and can not be used on any other 3rd party Firefox or Swiftfox build or version. Firefox and its code, which Swiftfox is based on, use the MPL 1.1. Mozilla also uses trademark law to stop unauthorized 3rd party builds like Swiftfox and IceWeasel from using its name and/or logo's.

Alternatives

Firefox source code is freely available for download, as are the Swiftfox changes.
Fasterfox allows the same settings used in Swiftfox to be used with Firefox, but not the other aspects (ie. compiler optimizations)

References

"Swiftfox Forum".
^ Using url of about:buildconfig to check the details of the 2.0 builds
"Optimize Options - Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)".
^ "Swiftfox 2.0pre changelog".
"Swiftfox Forum".
"redhat.com". {{cite web}}: Text "Limiting buffer overflows with ExecShield" ignored (help)
"What is Pango? - a definition from Whatis.com".
"Open Source Awards 2004: Pango".
"Script Gallery - Pango".
^ "Swiftfox 1.5.0.7 changelog".
"Swiftfox 2.0pre patch file".
^ "APC Magazine: What's The Worlds Fastest Browser". Retrieved 2006-10-30.
^ "Browser speed comparisons".
"Mozilla Firefox Review". Softpedia. Retrieved 2006-10-30.
^ "Swiftfox source". Cite error: The named reference "license" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
"Firefox Portable License".
"Flock License".
"Iceweasel License".
"Torpark License".
"Mozilla trademark policy".

Also see

External links

Categories: