changelog: v56-alpha

[earthlng]

• date: 01-October-2017
• foreword: Here are the changes since the last changelog (v55-alpha).
• note: the comments in the code snippets below are for this changelog's commentary

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changelog: [all changes]

• all user.js updates for Firefox v56 are detailed in our ToDo: diffs FF55-FF56 issue
  • includes links to the commits made for each pref, links to bugzilla tickets, our discussions etc.
• renumbered a few sections to make room for our new section 4600: RFP (4500) ALTERNATIVES
  • privacy.resistFingerprinting will make more and more prefs obsolete. Instead of removing them from the user.js we'll move them to this section so that ESR and non-RFP users can continue to use them. We also added a reminder to the README section of the user.js:

/* EACH RELEASE check:
   - 4600s: reset prefs made redundant due to privacy.resistFingerprinting (RPF)
               or enable them as an alternative to RFP or for ESR users
   - 9999s: reset deprecated prefs in about:config or enable relevant section(s) for ESR

• we no longer disable any of the available TLS/SSL ciphers ! (neither does TBB btw)
• updated the [SETTING] lines to match the new Firefox Preferences layout
• other minor things (typos, link fixes, wording, better/more infos, etc)
  • PC Principal Pants promptly replaced any and all mentions of add-ons with extensions :)
  • we renamed our debug pref to _user.js.parrot
    • this way it's the first thing you see when you open about:config 👍
• for all the rest see the full list of pref changes below

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all pref changes:

• new active prefs:

user_pref("extensions.formautofill.available", "off");
user_pref("extensions.formautofill.creditCards.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.getAddons.showPane", false);
user_pref("intl.regional_prefs.use_os_locales", false);
user_pref("security.data_uri.block_toplevel_data_uri_navigations", true);
user_pref("toolkit.telemetry.updatePing.enabled", false);

• new in 56alpha but commented out by default:

//user_pref("browser.stopReloadAnimation.enabled", true);
//user_pref("privacy.resistFingerprinting.block_mozAddonManager", true);

• changed values:

user_pref("extensions.webservice.discoverURL", ""); // 55alpha: "http://127.0.0.1"
//user_pref("general.platform.override", "Win64"); // 55alpha: "Win32"
//user_pref("general.useragent.override", "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0"); // 55alpha: "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/45.0"

• commented out: (don't forget to reset these in about:config if necessary!)

//user_pref("dom.indexedDB.enabled", false);
//user_pref("dom.presentation.controller.enabled", false);
//user_pref("dom.presentation.discoverable", false);
//user_pref("dom.presentation.discovery.enabled", false);
//user_pref("dom.presentation.enabled", false);
//user_pref("dom.presentation.receiver.enabled", false);
//user_pref("dom.presentation.session_transport.data_channel.enable", false);
//user_pref("dom.vr.enabled", false);
//user_pref("dom.w3c_touch_events.enabled", 0);
//user_pref("font.name.monospace.x-unicode", "Lucida Console");
//user_pref("font.name.monospace.x-western", "Lucida Console");
//user_pref("font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode", "Arial");
//user_pref("font.name.sans-serif.x-western", "Arial");
//user_pref("font.name.serif.x-unicode", "Georgia");
//user_pref("font.name.serif.x-western", "Georgia");
//user_pref("gfx.direct2d.disabled", true);
//user_pref("media.mediasource.enabled", false); // previously active with value: true
//user_pref("media.mediasource.mp4.enabled", false); // previously active with value: true
//user_pref("media.mediasource.webm.audio.enabled", false); // previously active with value: true
//user_pref("media.mediasource.webm.enabled", false); // previously active with value: true
//user_pref("security.ssl3.dhe_rsa_aes_128_sha", false);
//user_pref("security.ssl3.dhe_rsa_aes_256_sha", false);
//user_pref("security.ssl3.ecdhe_ecdsa_aes_128_sha", false);
//user_pref("security.ssl3.ecdhe_rsa_aes_128_sha", false);
//user_pref("security.ssl3.rsa_des_ede3_sha", false);

• moved to 4600: RFP (4500) ALTERNATIVES:

user_pref("browser.zoom.siteSpecific", false);
// user_pref("device.sensors.enabled", false); // active in 55alpha
user_pref("dom.enable_performance", false);
user_pref("dom.enable_resource_timing", false);
// user_pref("dom.gamepad.enabled", false); // active in 55alpha
// user_pref("dom.maxHardwareConcurrency", 2);
user_pref("dom.netinfo.enabled", false);
user_pref("geo.enabled", false);
user_pref("geo.wifi.logging.enabled", false);
user_pref("geo.wifi.uri", "");
user_pref("geo.wifi.xhr.timeout", 1);
user_pref("media.webspeech.recognition.enable", false);
user_pref("media.webspeech.synth.enabled", false);

• moved to 9999: DEPRECATED / REMOVED:
  • extensions.formautofill.experimental
  • extensions.screenshots.system-disabled

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