Advice Request What browser do you use on Linux, and do you get timely updates?

[shmu26]

There is a security issue that most linux users don't seem to be aware of, and that is browser updates.
Lots of people are using Firefox or Chromium and they have to wait for their distro to test the new version and eventually issue the update. That means the browser is not up to date for a lot of the time, on most standard distros, such as Ubuntu and Manjaro. That's a security issue.
If you use Google Chrome or Brave, you do get timely updates straight from the respective company.
Mozilla offers a Firefox version of their own, for linux users, it is not dependent on your distro for updates. It gets the updates right away, straight from Mozilla.

 

[Ink]

What are the default ways that browsers on Linux update?

It's own App store, built in updaters, background services?

 

[mazskolnieces]

There is a security issue that most linux users don't seem to be aware of, and that is browser updates.
Lots of people are using Firefox or Chromium and they have to wait for their distro to test the new version and eventually issue the update. That means the browser is not up to date for a lot of the time, on most standard distros, such as Ubuntu and Manjaro. That's a security issue.
If you use Google Chrome or Brave, you do get timely updates straight from the respective company.
Mozilla offers a Firefox version of their own, for linux users, it is not dependent on your distro for updates. It gets the updates right away, straight from Mozilla.

It is no more unsafe than running an enterprise version of Chrome or Firefox that are multiple versions behind the latest and greatest. The security issues are actually blown way out of proportion.

 

[bayasdev]

What are the default ways that browsers on Linux update?

It's own App store, built in updaters, background services?

The distros' own package manager (apt, yum, zypper, pacman, etc) unless you installed it from either Flatpak or Snap (the default Ubuntu store) then it's responsibility of their respective daemon (background service) to keep its self contained apps updated.

Most distros tend to search for updates using its own package manager at boot and notify the user if there's any.

 

[SpiderWeb]

Firefox, Tor Browser. Yes. They both update automatically thankfully. No fiddling with packages once it's installed.

 

[bayasdev]

Firefox, Tor Browser. Yes. They both update automatically thankfully. No fiddling with packages once it's installed.

Not really, unless an update is flagged as critical priority (security patches). At least that's how it works on Ubuntu based distros.

Edit: when I used Kubuntu I got a nice KDE discover notification saying that there are new updates from time time

 

[SpiderWeb]

Not really, unless an update is flagged as critical priority (security patches). At least that's how it works on Ubuntu based distros.

Edit: when I used Kubuntu I got a nice KDE discover notification saying that there are new updates from time time

That's interesting. I am on Crostini in Chrome OS. It will update by itself. Tor Browser has a launcher that checks for updates as well.

 

[bayasdev]

That's interesting. I am on Crostini in Chrome OS. It will update by itself. Tor Browser has a launcher that checks for updates as well.

Chrome OS it's a different beast compared to your regular GNU+Linux distro

 

[shmu26]

What are the default ways that browsers on Linux update?

It's own App store, built in updaters, background services?

I had a discussion with the devs of MX Linux about it, and they told me every browser is different. Firefox, which usually comes preinstalled, will first be tested by the team and then the update will be released through the official channel of the distro. But Google Chrome gets its own updates that come in through its own channel. I found the same to be true for Brave.

 

[mkoundo]

As an example, Firefox released v82.0 stable today and it has already been updated on MX linux (via synaptic package manager). As stated, firefox comes pre-installed on MX.

I generally find firefox is updated quickly in mx.

 

[shmu26]

As an example, Firefox released v82.0 stable today and it has already been updated on MX linux (via synaptic package manager). As stated, firefox comes pre-installed on MX.

I generally find firefox is updated quickly in mx.

I don't understand how you did that, because I am writing this from MX Linux, and the MX package manager says it has 0 updates, but Firefox is still on 81.0.2. I just checked Synaptic, too, and there is no apparent way there to get an update for Firefox.
Apparently, you are not on the default distro-provided version of Firefox.
What do you see when you click on "about" in Firefox? I see this:

 

[mkoundo]

there's nothing special about my installation. I'm using default sources. I just opened synaptic manager - > hit "Reload", then "Mark All Upgrades" and then "Apply".

here are the sources:

 

[shmu26]

I

there's nothing special about my installation. I'm using default sources. I just opened synaptic manager - > hit "Reload", then "Mark All Upgrades" and then "Apply".

View attachment 247647

I did that, and no updates are available.
Version 82 is not in the stable repo.
@bribon77 are you on MX? What version is your Firefox at?

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

I was switching between Firefox and standard Google Chrome, but now that Microsoft has released chromium Edge for Linux, I am using that!

 

[shmu26]

now that Microsoft has released chromium Edge for Linux, I am using that!

When was it released and how can I get it?

 

[SpiderWeb]

Here is my repo on Chrome OS if it helps anyone lol

All I need to make auto updates happen in Firefox. I need buster-backports to make Tor Browser auto-updates to work. Atom Editor repo is for Atom Editor.
I do agree I live with the benefit that each Chrome OS update also updates a lot of components in Crostini and thus Debian buster container. But for me it's enough to open the Firefox/Tor and if nothing happens just go to Settings -> Help -> About and it will immediately download like in the screenshot.

 

[shmu26]

When was it released and how can I get it?

So I saw a link in an OMG Ubuntu article

We Go Hands on With Microsoft Edge for Linux

We install Microsoft Edge for Linux using the developer build that's now available and share our early thoughts. Want to try Edge? Read on to learn how.

www.omgubuntu.co.uk

It looks like only .deb is available at the moment

Index of /repos/edge/pool/main/m/microsoft-edge-dev/

EDIT: You can get also the .rpm installer here:

Become a Microsoft Edge Insider | Microsoft Edge

Be the first to preview what's new by becoming a Microsoft Edge Insider and downloading the Insider channels.

www.microsoftedgeinsider.com

For Arch:

AUR (en) - microsoft-edge-dev

 

[bayasdev]

Can somebody check if VAAPI is working, otherwise it's a worthless browser on Linux cause a simple YouTube video will stress your CPU due to non accelerated video decoding.

 

[Protomartyr]

I use Brave in my Linux VMs. I can't speak on the quickness of updates as I only update software in my VMs once a week. I use Brave over Firefox as it generally performs better in my VMs.

 

[ForgottenSeer 72227]

So I saw a link in an OMG Ubuntu article

We Go Hands on With Microsoft Edge for Linux

We install Microsoft Edge for Linux using the developer build that's now available and share our early thoughts. Want to try Edge? Read on to learn how.

www.omgubuntu.co.uk

Glad you found it. Sorry for the slow reply, been pretty hectic in my neck of the woods. I'm really happy they ported this browser over, its my daily driver.