Firefox: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:55, 2 May 2025

Firefox is a popular, open-source web browser.

Installation

To install Firefox, firstly enable the Community repository, then type in the terminal:

For the Extended Support Release (ESR) (firefox-esr):

# apk add firefox-esr

For the current release (firefox):

# apk add firefox

Alternatives

The Alpine packages does not disable most telemetry and similar tracking shipped by upstream. Consider using librewolf, a privacy-centric fork which disables Mozilla's first-party spyware and analytics:

# apk add librewolf

Stability

If tabs crash, then try disabling hardware acceleration, in the Preferences - Performance menu.

Notifications

For Firefox to use native notifications (e.g.: via a notification daemon) the libnotify package is required.

DRM content using Widevine workaround

As per #16783, to play DRM content using Widevine(i.e Spotify and other streaming websites) you will have to manually configure it up. Install the necessary packages:

# apk add gcompat patchelf

GMP sandbox needs to be disabled on launch:

$ MOZ_DISABLE_GMP_SANDBOX=1 firefox

Now open about:config and enable media.gmp-widevinecdm.enabled and media.gmp-widevinecdm.visible.

Open a DRM Stream test to load the plugin then patch the library:

$ patchelf --add-needed libgcompat.so.0 ~/.mozilla/firefox/*/gmp-widevinecdm/*/libwidevinecdm.so

Finally, reload the page and it should be working.

Once the above steps are carried out once, use the command $ MOZ_DISABLE_GMP_SANDBOX=1 firefox to launch Firefox whenever DRM content needs to played.

Warning: Use the command $ MOZ_DISABLE_GMP_SANDBOX=1 firefox only when playing content from trusted sites.

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 == DRM content using Widevine workaround ==
-To play DRM content (Spotify and other streaming websites) you will have to manually set it up. You will need:
+As per {{Issue|16783}}, to play DRM content using Widevine(i.e Spotify and other streaming websites) you will have to manually configure it up. Install the necessary packages: {{Cmd|# apk add {{Pkg|gcompat}} {{Pkg|patchelf}}}}
-{{Cmd|# apk add {{Pkg|gcompat}} {{Pkg|patchelf}}}}
+GMP sandbox needs to be disabled on launch: {{Cmd|$ MOZ_DISABLE_GMP_SANDBOX{{=}}1 firefox}}
-GMP sandbox needs to be disabled on launch:
+Now open <code>about:config</code> and enable <code>media.gmp-widevinecdm.enabled</code> and <code>media.gmp-widevinecdm.visible</code>.
-{{Cmd|# MOZ_DISABLE_GMP_SANDBOX{{=}}1 firefox}}
+Open a [https://bitmovin.com/demos/drm DRM Stream test] to load the plugin then patch the library: {{cmd|$ patchelf --add-needed libgcompat.so.0 ~/.mozilla/firefox/*/gmp-widevinecdm/*/libwidevinecdm.so}}
-Now open <code>about:config</code> and enable <code>media.gmp-widevinecdm.enabled</code> and <code>media.gmp-widevinecdm.visible</code>.
-Open a [https://bitmovin.com/demos/drm DRM Stream test] to load the plugin then patch the library:
+Finally, reload the page and it should be working.
-{{cmd|# patchelf --add-needed libgcompat.so.0 ~/.mozilla/firefox/*/gmp-widevinecdm/*/libwidevinecdm.so}}
+Once the above steps are carried out once, use the command {{ic|$ MOZ_DISABLE_GMP_SANDBOX{{=}}1 firefox}} to launch Firefox whenever  DRM content needs to played.
-Finally, reload the page and it should be working (see sources below).
+{{Warning|Use the command {{ic|$ MOZ_DISABLE_GMP_SANDBOX{{=}}1 firefox}} only when playing content from trusted sites.}}
 == See Also ==