Software Update: Mozilla Firebird 0.7.1 MacOS X

dArtagnan draws our attention to a service release of Mozilla Firebird for MacOS X. The update is numbered 0.7.1 and is from here to take down. The list of changes and the known issues indicate the following:

What’s New
This service release fixes the following bugs in 0.7:

• Unable to open URLs sent by other applications when set as default browser. (Shows XML error window)
• Save Page As, Save Image As, Save Link As, are non-functional.
• Double clicking a tab when using the Pinstripe theme opens a new one
• Automatic download of files to desktop not enabled by default
• First new window after closing all windows has non-functional UI (bookmarks, navigation, session history, etc)

This release also contains some performance enhancements resulting in 15-40% improvements in startup time on MacOS X 10.2 Jaguar and MacOS X 10.3 Panther depending on the speed and memory of your system.

Known Issues
This list covers some of the known problems with Mozilla Firebird 0.7.1. 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.
• “Use this theme” checkbox in theme install doesn’t function properly and you may have to switch themes by going to Tools > Options > Themes. Some themes may not apply completely until you open a new window, or restart the browser.
• An option exists to disable Form auto complete, but it only disables the UI, data is still collected as you complete forms. A future release will completely disable data collection.
• Firebird on Mac OS X is new and still very rough around the edges. Some UI may look or feel like Windows UI. The Firebird team is devoted to MacOS X and producing the best possible experience on MacOS X and optimizations and enhancements are planned before 1.0

Also the build is now static, and prebound with thanks to bryner… which means measured performance gains on warm starts ranging from 14% (Dual 2GHz G5) to a whopping 40% (average Single 867MHz G4) are now evident. (MacOS X 10.2 Jaguar and 10.3 Panther only) I haven’t done cold start testing, Macs take too long to start up . Basically I fixed only the worst bugs that made Firebird 0.7 irritating or impossible to use on MacOS X.