4 browsers that will continue to support uBlock Origin and other ad blockers with Manifest V2
4 browsers that will continue to support uBlock Origin and other ad blockers with Manifest V2
Firefox
So Lynx is not going to support uBlock?? Outrageous
Browsh does!
holy crap that's a neat project
But what about links? W3M?
I wish someone could explain to me how it is firefox, which is not chromium based but larely dependent on google for funding, has the ability and manpower to maintain not just the manifest v2+all the other stuff, while every single chromium fork has no choice but to use v3. Why can't they just fork the last usable version of chromium and go from there as an independent fork? Is it just that no one wants to?
Like firefox has lots of ports, some of the follow the main branch but then others like waterfox forked off older versions at some point and just kept going, why can't chrome based browsers do a fork like that? How is it there are people making new browsers from scratch like ladybird, but this manifest stuff is just out of reach for everyone, except mozilla (and i guess other firefox forks).
Not having control of the core codebase, and branching/tracking based on 1 (declared) legacy feature could lead to huge amounts of work and issue in the future.
Manifest V2 spec is defined, manifest V3 spec is defined... They can be developed against.
JS-whatever-spec is defined, CSS-whatever-spec is defined, HTML-whatever-spec is defined... They have industry standard approved specs (even if they can be vague in areas). They can be developed against.
They have defined spec documents that can be developed against.Firefox has control and experience of how they implement those specs.
Chrome forks do not have control of how those specs are implemented.
So if chrome changes how things are implemented, forks might not be able to "backport" for manifest V2 compatibility, and might find themselves implementing more and more of the core browser functionality. Browsers are NOT easy to develop for the modern fuckery of the web.
Firefox hopefully does have that knowledge and ability to include V2 manifest backwards compatibility in future development without impacting further spec implementations.... It seems like Google is depreciating V2 to combat ad-blockers (ads being their major funding revenue)There are already very slight differences how Firefox and Chrome interpret all these specs. I've noticed a few sites & plugins that just work better (or just work) in Chrome. Which is why I still have (unfortunately) an install of Chrome.
You could also just stop using sites that don't work in Firefox. Also https://webcompat.com/
A port of a browser is relatively minimal effort. Typically, the changes are largely cosmetic, and occasionally skin deep.
Developing a browser, Firefox or Chrome, takes a huge amount of effort, and are on a similar scale to both Windows and Linux. It's a lot. There are a lot of places to hide things. Taking all of that, and making V2 continue to work... well it'll be alright to start with. It's probably a flag somewhere currently. But in 2 years time? 5 years time? It will take a lot to keep V2 working, let alone back porting V3 features that people may actually want.
Just use Firefox instead.
But firefox is funded by google and has been making questionable decisions for years, LibreWolf is the only fork I would use at this point but I think waterfox really proves my point though that its not really the impossible undertaking people seem to be making it out to be. Waterfox even support BOTH chrome and firefox addons somehow and they have no where near the amount of funding or manpower Mozilla does.
Why can’t they just fork the last usable version of chromium and go from there as an independent fork? Is it just that no one wants to?
Creating or even just maintaining a web browser is an insurmountable amount of work. With constantly changing and new specs coming out all the time, it's an unwinnable amount of work. Not to mention, browsers and the Internet in general is so complex it's like web browsers are an operating system themselves.
A web browser is likely the most complex software on your PC outside of the operating system itself.
It is not insurmountable, new browsers made by single or small dev teams exist. If there is enough demand and motivated people to make something like ladybird there is people who could handle maintaining a fork that works, Chrome wasn't always the only game in town and in the IE there was even at least one sort of engine agnostic browser that you could switch between Trident (IE) or Gecko rendering. Its not an easy thing but its very much possible.
waterfox ftw
Well, Thorium developer stated he intends to support Mv2 past the 2025 deadline. Whether he'll make it, we'll see. It's a one man show, there was some drama involving it in the past, and there's the question of what's the point in maintaining Mv2 extensions support if you won't be able to install them from the store after they're cut off?
To clarify for anyone curious about the drama, while it was blown out of proportion, it was absolutly vaild.
-
there was a light nsfw furry easter egg, removed once found. Considering the browser was originally a side project by a young guy (teen/early 20?) it's not really surprising or a big deal. Once the browser gained a sudden boost in users and it was found, the image was removed (once the guy got back from vacation? hospital?, there was a month or two gap)
-
this one was a larger problem for sure, and again removed. If I reacll right, he was apparently hosting a website for a friend about supporting the end of a certain procedure done to baby males at birth. There were some graphic images, its not technically CP anymore than the infomus Nirvana cover, but still...not okay.
To make matters worse, the link the site was somewhere browsers home or about page, making it pretty easy for anyone to find.
It's all old news now. Personally I didn't really care, but some people might.
I don't actually care about the drama per se at this point either. I mentioned it because, along with the fact that:
- development is not very open (in that only that one guy commits and releases stuff)
- release cadence is very erratic and often lags behind upstream chromium, which is a direct consequence of the previous point
- you mentioned about the guys absence - the first time was some time ago and he was inpatient in the hospital for (IIRC) alcohol abuse, and this absence actually coincided with the drama over the furry and the other stuff, so it took awhile for it to be addressed, which only added more fuel to the fire. The second was just this last couple of months were he was house sitting for his parents (mentioned on the release notes I linked before)
All of this paints a bleak outlook for the long term health of this project, IMO. Which is too bad , because I still think it's one of the better forks of chromium.
-
Open up the “Registry Editor” Program
Navigate to: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome
With the Chrome folder on the left highlighted, select Edit/New/DWORD (32-Bit Value)
or, if you prefer, on the right side of the screen in a BLANK SPOT, you can RIGHT CLICK New/DWORD (32-Bit Value).
Name it ExtensionManifestV2Availability and hit enter.
Right click what you just created (ExtensionManifestV2Availability) and click Modify. Set the Hexadecimal value to 2, and click OK.
You’re done, but check your work by opening Chrome, and pasting chrome://policy in the URL Address bar and hit enter. You >
should see the ExtensionManifestV2Availability policy, and the value should be set to 2. If you don’t see it, click “Reload Policies” > and/or review your work.
Easier solution: download Firefox. Install unlock origin
Or just get Firefox
Considering there are businesses with custom chrome extensions this might work for some time...
You don't need extensions when you have capable inbuilt adblockers. Stop fear mongering.
Unless by built in, you mean the ublock that comes with librewolf, thats fucking stupid. Adblocking is an armsrace that requires constant up to date collaboration on the adblock developer side. Thats why you need crossplatform plugins like ublock, otherwise you will end up seeing ads.
Vivaldi browser also has a built-in ad blocker on all platforms, but the PC/Mac/Linux version also allows you to use uBlock Origin as well (at least until mid-2025).
No, Vivaldi, Brave and Opera have builtin adblockers which don't depend on the extensions manifest. Plus, one could always rely on AdGuard, which whould block ads system wide.
Average Google employee
I've done tests with the built-in Firefox strict mode vs uBlock and there's a bit of a difference. Firefox blocks about two thirds, uBlock is almost 100%.
I think they were talking about the built-in ad blocker that certain other (not firefox or chrome) browsers have, instead of UBlock.
Firefox doesn't have a proper adblocker. It's just a tracker blocker.