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| Developer(s) | Jason Halme |
|---|---|
| Final release | 3.6.13 [±] |
| Preview release | 4.0.0 [±] |
| Operating system | Linux |
| Type | Web browser |
| License | binaries:proprietary source:MPL 1.1 |
| Website | www.getswiftfox.com (archived) |
Swiftfox was aweb browser based onMozilla Firefox. It was available forLinux platforms and distributed by Jason Halme. Swiftfox was a set ofbuilds of Firefox optimized for differentIntel andAMDmicroprocessors. Swiftfox was freely downloadable withopen source code andproprietary binaries. Firefoxextensions andplugins were compatible with Swiftfox, with notable exceptions. The name Swiftfox comes from the animalswift fox. Swiftfox differs from Firefox by a limited number of changes, and builds for different processors. Swiftfox was discontinued at some point prior to April 2017, and the project homepage now redirects to the creator's privateTwitter account.
The Swiftfox build is optimized using the following methods:
Binary code optimization
Increased security
Simplify
Changed default preference values
No definitive benchmarking has been reported, but a quicker startup time and a 1.7% webpage rendering speedup has been reported on version 1.5.0.6.[10] There are no benchmarks for the different processors builds.
Swiftfox is bundled with the following freely available Firefox plugins and extensions:
The same as Firefox, the Swiftfox source code isopen-source, with the source code underMPL 1.1 except for parts relating to branding.[11]Unlike Firefox, the Swiftfox binaries have a proprietary license[11] which does not allow redistribution. According to the author, this is to prevent the possibility of any confusion with tainted versions (see the Firefox branding argumentMozilla Firefox#Trademark and logo). The name Swiftfox is trademarked by Jason Halme, and accordingly cannot be used on other third party Firefox builds without his permission.
Swiftfox binaries are available asDebian packages fromofficial site. The proprietary binary license prevents Debian and other Linux distributions from having Swiftfox available as part of a distribution, so to redistribute Swiftfox one would have to change the name and icons.