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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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-47

What the heck is this trash shipping with firefox? about:compat (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by mvirts@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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Visit about:compat in your firefox. I find it insane that these exist.

Edit: I've learned that this is part of the webcompat system addon developed by Mozilla and other contributors. I see why this is beneficial default behavior, since FF has no chance of getting enough market share to matter more if things are broken.

However, this behavior is too intrusive for my taste. For example this injection: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/file/8a4afb4d34f8/browser/extensions/webcompat/injections/js/bug1472075-bankofamerica.com-ua-change.js is basically just to silence annoying user reports.

Also, Every site FF pretends to be a different UA on is artificially reducing FF market share data.

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[+] mvirts@lemmy.world -17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Just imagine slipping in a new compatibility fix for a banking website... Or maybe a crypto custodian...

No sneaky backdoor required, just change some data.

[–] Interstellar_1@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Any project can insert any code they want, that's how software works. The thing about open source projects like Firefox, is if they were to do such a thing, anyone could see it. You're complaining about Firefox when they haven't really done anything, and yet browsers like Brave have actually been caught inserting redirects into their links, which is harder to spot because Brave is not open source.

If you really agree this distrusting of Firefox, just don't use it, or build it yourself.

[–] mvirts@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Agreed, and definitely not advocating using another browser I think FF is the best option. I may try removing the webcompat addon and see what happens.