Mozilla Firebird 0.7 is a Technology Preview. While this software works well in most cases, generally well enough to be relied upon as your primary browser, we make no guarantees of its performance or stability in its pre-1.0 state and it should not be relied upon for mission-critical tasks. See the License Agreement for more information.
This document covers what's new, download and installation instructions, known issues and frequently asked questions for the Mozilla Firebird 0.7 release. Please read these notes and the bug filing instructions before reporting any bugs to Bugzilla.
We want to hear your feedback about Mozilla Firebird. Please join us in the Mozilla Firebird forums, kindly hosted by MozillaZine.
What's New
Here are the news in this release of Mozilla Firebird:
- Advanced preferences panel
- Download/helper apps preferences panel
- Cookie whitelisting
(through the new Cookie Exceptions window)
- New password manager
- Web panels (like Mozilla's sidebar panels)
- Alternate stylesheet support (through a status bar button)
- Send Page, Send Link, and Send Image menu items
- Autoscroll
- Lots of bug fixes and other small improvements
There have been too many bug fixes since Mozilla Firebird 0.6.1 to keep track of them all. It's better. Trust us ;-)
Download, Install and Uninstall
PLEASE NOTE: You
should create a new profile for Mozilla Firebird 0.7.
To create a new profile, start Mozilla Firebird by running MozillaFirebird.exe
-p and click on the "Create Profile" button.
You must also delete
your old Mozilla Firebird directory rather than just overwriting the files there.
Not doing so WILL result in problems and you should not file any bugs on
Mozilla Firebird unless you've first done a clean install and tested on a new profile.
As Mozilla Firebird stabilizes more this will not be necessary but until then these
steps are absolutely necessary.
mozilla.org provides Mozilla Firebird binaries for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
Windows: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firebird/releases/0.7/MozillaFirebird-0.7-win32.zip
Linux GTK2 + XFT: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firebird/releases/0.7/MozillaFirebird-0.7-i686-linux-gtk2+xft.tar.gz
Mac OS X: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firebird/releases/0.7/MozillaFirebird-0.7-mac.dmg.gz
Contributed builds (These are unofficial builds and may be configured differently than the mozilla.org builds.)
Localized builds. Contributed by the volunteers of the MLP:
Once you have downloaded the binary, use Winzip or gzip to unzip Mozilla Firebird to
an empty directory, then run MozillaFirebird.exe.
To uninstall Mozilla Firebird, simply delete the Mozilla Firebird directory. This will leave
your profile in place for use by future Mozilla Firebird installations. If you wish to remove
your Mozilla Firebird profile folder you can delete the Phoenix folder from your Windows Application Data directory or remove the .phoenix dir from your Linux home directory.
Known Issues
This list covers some of the known problems with Mozilla Firebird 0.7. Please read this before reporting any new bugs, and watch it regularly (we'll update it as new bugs are found in the release).
- Mozilla Firebird utilizes large chunks of Mozilla Application Suite code. Many of the problems you may experience in Mozilla Firebird are actually problems in this Mozilla core code. If you find a problem with page content or connectivity then it is probably a Mozilla problem and should be reported to the Browser product in Bugzilla, not to the Mozilla Firebird product.
- Menus and folders on the bookmark toolbar do not always collapse correctly for Mozilla Firebird users on Windows.
- "Use this theme" checkbox in theme install doesn't function properly and you may have to switch themes by going to
Tools > Options > Themes. Also, some themes will not completely switch without a restart. - Disabling of form auto-completion is not working.
- Firebird on Mac OS X is new and still very rough around the edges. Expect platform inconsistencies.
For additional issues, FAQs, Tips and Tricks plus general Mozilla Firebird help be sure to check out David Tenser's very useful Mozilla Firebird help site and the Mozilla Firebird forums hosted by MozillaZine.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What can I do to help?
We need all the exposure we can get. Make it your mission to convert 5 friends, family members or coworkers. If you're a student, get it distributed at your college. Submit a story to Slashdot and other news sites about the release. Make some noise on your blog. Mass distribution via the Internet is possible--look at Kazaa. Spread the word!
- I use another browser because...
If you're not using Mozilla Firebird, tell the development team why. We read the feedback at the Mozilla Firebird forums.
- Why haven't you responded to the mail I sent you?
Use the forums. The Firebird team reads them regularly. E-mails are likely to be ignored.
- Where can I get themes and add-ons (extensions)?
Extensions and Themes.
- Who is working on Mozilla Firebird?
The main developers include Dave Hyatt, Blake Ross, Pierre Chanial, noririty, Ben Goodger, Dean Tessman, Mike Kaply, Jan Varga and Brian Ryner. Asa Dotzler provides help doing releases, bug triage, the website, and other odds and ends. David Tenser helps with documentation, the website and releases. Arvid Axelsson maintains the default theme. Notes of appreciation, offers to help and most other inquiries should be directed to the forums.
- Where's the Mozilla Firebird source?
cvs.mozilla.org. Mozilla trunk + mozilla/browser + mozilla/toolkit.
- Is Mozilla Firebird just Mozilla with a couple UI tweaks?
The 40,000+ lines of code already added or changed from Mozilla beg to differ.
- What happened with the name Phoenix?
It had to change because of trademark issues. The new name is Mozilla Firebird.
- Where is the mail client?
Many of the current users of the full Mozilla Application Suite are also using it for mail and news. This isn't possible in Mozilla Firebird since it's a browser only. However, you don't have to give up Mozilla's mail client by switching to Mozilla Firebird. You can download builds of the new Mozilla Thunderbird mail application, the perfect complement to the Mozilla Firebird browser.