Forums

Skip to content

Advanced search
  • Quick links
    • Unanswered topics
    • Active topics
    • Search
  • FAQ
  • Login
  • Register
  • Board index Assistance Unsupported Software
  • Search

Swiftfox - faster Firefox :-)

This forum covers all Gentoo-related software not officially supported by Gentoo. Ebuilds/software posted here might harm the health and stability of your system(s), and are not supported by Gentoo developers. Bugs/errors caused by ebuilds from overlays.gentoo.org are covered by this forum, too.
Post Reply
Advanced search
148 posts
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • Next
Author
Message
nik1982
n00b
n00b
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2004 12:20 pm

Swiftfox - faster Firefox :-)

  • Quote

Post by nik1982 » Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:49 am

Hi there,

how about trying Swiftfox? I noticed realy great speed improvements compared to Firefox.
http://getswiftfox.com/

Nik
Top
mark_alec
Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
User avatar
Posts: 6066
Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:40 am
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:
Contact mark_alec
Website

  • Quote

Post by mark_alec » Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:46 am

Moved from Networking & Security to Off the Wall.
Top
PaulBredbury
Watchman
Watchman
User avatar
Posts: 7310
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:47 pm

  • Quote

Post by PaulBredbury » Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:51 am

Here's a working ebuild for swiftfox. Don't forget to tailor the CPU line for your hardware.

/usr/local/portage/www-client/swiftfox-bin/swiftfox-bin-2.0.0.2.ebuild

Code: Select all

# Copyright 1999-2007 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: $
# Ebuild from http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-472065.html
inherit eutils
# *CHANGE* *THIS* for your hardware - http://getswiftfox.com/releases.htm
CPU="pentium3"
MY_PN="swiftfox"
MY_PV=${PV/_/}
DESCRIPTION="Optimized binary build of the Mozilla Firefox web browser"
HOMEPAGE="http://getswiftfox.com/"
SRC_URI="http://getswiftfox.com/builds/releases/${PV}/${MY_PN}-${MY_PV}-${CPU}.tar.bz2"
KEYWORDS="~x86"
SLOT="0"
LICENSE="MPL-1.1 NPL-1.1"
IUSE=""
RESTRICT="mirror strip"
RDEPEND="virtual/jre
	>=www-client/mozilla-launcher-1.39
	>=sys-devel/binutils-2.16.1
	>=dev-libs/nss-3.10
	>=dev-libs/nspr-4.6.1
	~sys-devel/autoconf-2.13
	!www-client/swiftfox"
DEPEND="${RDEPEND}
	>=dev-java/java-config-0.2.0"
S=${WORKDIR}/${MY_PN}
dir=/opt/${MY_PN}
pkg_setup() {
	elog "Using CPU: ${CPU}"
}
src_install() {
	insinto "${dir}"
	exeinto "${dir}"
	doins -r * || die "doins -r failed"
	rm -f "${D}/${dir}"/{${MY_PN}{,-bin},updater,run-mozilla.sh} || die
	doexe {${MY_PN}{,-bin},updater,run-mozilla.sh} || die
	local i
	for i in "" "-bin" ; do
		if [[ -e "firefox${i}" ]] ; then
			if $(diff -q {swiftfox,firefox}${i}) ; then
				# Files are identical, so symlink them.
				einfo "Symlinking firefox${i} to swiftfox${i}"
				# Link is necessary because setting Swiftfox as the default
				# browser using Swiftfox's preferences, sets the command
				# in Gnome's "Preferred Applications" to:
				# /opt/swiftfox/firefox "%s"
				dosym /opt/${MY_PN}/{${MY_PN},firefox}${i} || die
			else
				rm -f "${D}/${dir}/firefox${i}" || die
				doexe "firefox${i}" || die
			fi
		fi
	done
	dodir /opt/bin
	dosym /opt/${MY_PN}/firefox /opt/bin/${MY_PN} || die
	newicon icons/icon48.png ${MY_PN}.xpm || die "newicon failed"
	make_desktop_entry ${MY_PN} "Swiftfox" ${MY_PN}.xpm "Application;Network"
}
pkg_postinst() {
	elog "Test Java at:"
	elog " http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml"
	elog "If it does not work after following the Gentoo Java upgrade guide:"
	elog " http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/java/java-upgrade.xml"
	elog "Then run as your normal user e.g.:"
	elog " mkdir -p ~/.mozilla/plugins"
	elog " ln -sfn /usr/lib/nsbrowser/plugins/javaplugin.so ~/.mozilla/plugins/"
	echo
}
Edit: Bumped version to 2.0.0.2
Last edited by PaulBredbury on Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:57 am, edited 13 times in total.
Top
bunder
Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
Posts: 5957
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2004 5:13 am

  • Quote

Post by bunder » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:16 am

what makes this any better than firefox with the fasterfox extension?
Neddyseagoon wrote:The problem with leaving is that you can only do it once and it reduces your influence.
banned from #gentoo since sept 2017
Top
PaulBredbury
Watchman
Watchman
User avatar
Posts: 7310
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:47 pm

  • Quote

Post by PaulBredbury » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:23 am

Fasterfox has nothing to do with how the app was compiled. Here's some good info.
Top
bunder
Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
Posts: 5957
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2004 5:13 am

  • Quote

Post by bunder » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:29 am

firefox is slow?

the only sluggishness i see using it is the inital startup time, but that can be fixed by prelinking and ram drives... both of which i could care less to implement myself.
Neddyseagoon wrote:The problem with leaving is that you can only do it once and it reduces your influence.
banned from #gentoo since sept 2017
Top
PaulBredbury
Watchman
Watchman
User avatar
Posts: 7310
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:47 pm

  • Quote

Post by PaulBredbury » Sat Jun 17, 2006 4:34 am

bunder wrote:firefox is slow?
Yes. Swiftfox feels faster to me.
Top
zenlunatic
Guru
Guru
Posts: 312
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2003 11:53 pm

  • Quote

Post by zenlunatic » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:13 am

wtf is a ram drive?
Top
bunder
Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
Posts: 5957
Joined: Sat Apr 10, 2004 5:13 am

  • Quote

Post by bunder » Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:16 am

zenlunatic wrote:wtf is a ram drive?
mounting filesystems dynamically in ram... of course you wouldn't be able to write permanent changes to the directory, but its faster than reading it all from disk.
Neddyseagoon wrote:The problem with leaving is that you can only do it once and it reduces your influence.
banned from #gentoo since sept 2017
Top
codergeek42
Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
Posts: 5142
Joined: Mon Apr 05, 2004 4:44 am
Location: Anaheim, CA (USA)
Contact:
Contact codergeek42
Website

  • Quote

Post by codergeek42 » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:04 am

So these are binaries built specifically for a certain processor...Would someone please explain to me how that's different than emerging firefox with proper CFLAGS set?
~~ Peter: Programmer, Mathematician, STEM & Free Software Advocate, Enlightened Agent, Transhumanist, Fedora contributor
Who am I? :: EFF & FSF
Top
PaulBredbury
Watchman
Watchman
User avatar
Posts: 7310
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:47 pm

  • Quote

Post by PaulBredbury » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:18 am

codergeek42 wrote:Would someone please explain to me how that's different than emerging firefox with proper CFLAGS set?
Well, of course it can be done in an ebuild.

The point is, these particular compiler and Firefox configurations result in a noticeably faster browser than the current mozilla-firefox-1.5.0.4 ebuild in Portage compiled with the current stable Gentoo compiler and safe CFLAGS.
Top
Zepp
Veteran
Veteran
User avatar
Posts: 1246
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2004 9:43 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

  • Quote

Post by Zepp » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:28 am

codergeek42 wrote:So these are binaries built specifically for a certain processor...Would someone please explain to me how that's different than emerging firefox with proper CFLAGS set?
I was wondering the same thing...
Top
nik1982
n00b
n00b
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2004 12:20 pm

  • Quote

Post by nik1982 » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:43 am

http://getswiftfox.com/builds/releases/ ... on-xp.html

nice to see what they're using... but that's not so different from my personal choice of cflags. So i'm wondering why there is such a speed difference between firefox-ebuild and swiftfox...

Nik
PS: Ubuntu Folks also seem to like it: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... t=swiftfox
Top
greasy_grasshopper
Apprentice
Apprentice
Posts: 171
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2005 6:23 am

  • Quote

Post by greasy_grasshopper » Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:25 pm

Zepp wrote:
codergeek42 wrote:So these are binaries built specifically for a certain processor...Would someone please explain to me how that's different than emerging firefox with proper CFLAGS set?
I was wondering the same thing...
It seems from what I read, that the obvious difference is that it's an already compiled binary. You might get the the same results by compiling it yourself (which would take a lot of time). And people using binary distros can also benefit from it.

Overall it seems like an interesting idea, but I'm not convinced that I'll see any noticable improvement in speed.

EDIT: OK, I'm not sure if it's a binary or not. Can anyone confirm that it is? I'm at work and using Windows now.
Top
PaulBredbury
Watchman
Watchman
User avatar
Posts: 7310
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:47 pm

  • Quote

Post by PaulBredbury » Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:48 pm

Yes, it's a binary. No, I'm not exactly sure myself why it's noticeably faster. However, I'm using it now, and I believe my own eyes. This is what they look like: 8O
Top
jmbsvicetto
Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
User avatar
Posts: 4735
Joined: Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:33 pm
Location: Angra do Heroísmo (PT)

  • Quote

Post by jmbsvicetto » Sat Jun 17, 2006 3:10 pm

Moved from Off the Wall to Unsupported Software.
Since PaulBredbury has contributed with an ebuild, I think it belongs here.
Jorge.

Your twisted, but hopefully friendly daemon.
AMD64 / x86 / Sparc Gentoo
Help answer || emwrap.sh
Top
nxsty
Veteran
Veteran
User avatar
Posts: 1556
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2004 7:00 pm
Location: .se
Contact:
Contact nxsty
Website

  • Quote

Post by nxsty » Sat Jun 17, 2006 6:47 pm

Some of those CFLAGS are bad for firefox. If it's faster it's probably because gentoo enables cairo by default and swiftfox don't.
Top
Gergan Penkov
Veteran
Veteran
User avatar
Posts: 1464
Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2004 9:42 pm
Location: das kleinste Kuhdorf Deutschlands :)

  • Quote

Post by Gergan Penkov » Sun Jun 18, 2006 3:16 am

it is faster, because of
1. using static build probably against older gtk+,
2. does not enable pango, which causes major headaches for many people - on gentoo this could be disabled only at run-time, but could not be omitted in the build, as mozilla has not patched this issue for a very long time although they knew that it slows seriously down the browser for some of the users (and in fact the original source could not be built at all without patches with newer gtk+ versions and the most used patch is to link against pango, which in turn makes the browser slower for some)
3. does not enable cairo (which was required for the enable-official-branding on gentoo)
and uses insane cxx-flags
"I knew when an angel whispered into my ear,
You gotta get him away, yeah
Hey little bitch!
Be glad you finally walked away or you may have not lived another day."
Godsmack
Top
whitesouls
Guru
Guru
User avatar
Posts: 358
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2004 9:02 am
Location: In Front of My Laptop

  • Quote

Post by whitesouls » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:32 pm

Me too. I tried a cold boot of swiftfox on my dual proc pentium3 and my eyes went like this 8O
whitesouls

Please insert the [SOLVED] tag if your problem is solved in your respective thread.
Top
akb
Guru
Guru
Posts: 314
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2003 1:14 pm
Location: Wolfenbüttel/Germany
Contact:
Contact akb
Website

  • Quote

Post by akb » Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:49 am

Gergan Penkov wrote:it is faster, because of
1. using static build probably against older gtk+,
2. does not enable pango, which causes major headaches for many people - on gentoo this could be disabled only at run-time, but could not be omitted in the build, as mozilla has not patched this issue for a very long time although they knew that it slows seriously down the browser for some of the users (and in fact the original source could not be built at all without patches with newer gtk+ versions and the most used patch is to link against pango, which in turn makes the browser slower for some)
3. does not enable cairo (which was required for the enable-official-branding on gentoo)
and uses insane cxx-flags
any way to easily avoid all this when building it from source (ebuild preferred)? :D
Top
Gergan Penkov
Veteran
Veteran
User avatar
Posts: 1464
Joined: Sat Jul 17, 2004 9:42 pm
Location: das kleinste Kuhdorf Deutschlands :)

  • Quote

Post by Gergan Penkov » Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:12 am

Probably downgrading the dependancies (to gtk-2.6 and pango - to version before gnome-2.10) and building it static disabling the pango and and the cairo with the used c/cpp flags, after that upgrading :) if you want
I personally use epiphany on xulrunner it is times faster than the firefox bloat
"I knew when an angel whispered into my ear,
You gotta get him away, yeah
Hey little bitch!
Be glad you finally walked away or you may have not lived another day."
Godsmack
Top
bob_111
Apprentice
Apprentice
Posts: 155
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 7:15 am

  • Quote

Post by bob_111 » Mon Jun 19, 2006 11:50 am

I think this is good because even on a source bassed distro like gentoo we can be a little slacker and dload a "Optomised" binary!. And its qute handy for us dialupians
Top
krigav
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper
User avatar
Posts: 121
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 2:18 pm

  • Quote

Post by krigav » Mon Jun 19, 2006 3:57 pm

Yes, swiftfox is fast.
But when I execute my self compiled (C[XX]FLAGS="-march=i686 -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe") firefox 1.5 with pango disabled there isn't a speed difference for me.
MOZ_DISABLE_PANGO=1 firefox
There are no dumb questions, just dumb answers. So please help users that are new to linux/gentoo by answering unanswered questions.
Top
circus-killer
n00b
n00b
User avatar
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:24 am
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

  • Quote

Post by circus-killer » Thu Jun 22, 2006 1:27 pm

honestly, i dont see the speed difference being all that drastic. maybe im wrong. just seems to me like here are the people that want that 0.00002% speed increase. if firefox is slow....UPGRADE TO A PENTIUM II. :wink:
seriously guys, you're worried over the speed of your browser. if firefox is slow, you need a new machine. :P
Get the f*ck outta here if you ain't down with the clown!

(\ /)
(O.o)
(> <)
This is Bunny. Copy Bunny into your signature to help him on his way to world domination
Top
PaulBredbury
Watchman
Watchman
User avatar
Posts: 7310
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 3:47 pm

  • Quote

Post by PaulBredbury » Thu Jun 22, 2006 1:32 pm

circus-killer wrote:honestly, i dont see the speed difference being all that drastic.
Well, I do. It's noticeable, so the difference is not some tiny percentage, and I like speed increases which have no apparent drawback. It's been rock-solid for me for the past few days.

And this is with a reasonable PC: AMD Athlon XP 2.8 x86, 2.5gb RAM.
Top
Post Reply

148 posts
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • Next

Return to "Unsupported Software"

Jump to
  • Assistance
  • ↳ News & Announcements
  • ↳ Frequently Asked Questions
  • ↳ Installing Gentoo
  • ↳ Multimedia
  • ↳ Desktop Environments
  • ↳ Networking & Security
  • ↳ Kernel & Hardware
  • ↳ Portage & Programming
  • ↳ Gamers & Players
  • ↳ Other Things Gentoo
  • ↳ Unsupported Software
  • Discussion & Documentation
  • ↳ Documentation, Tips & Tricks
  • ↳ Gentoo Chat
  • ↳ Gentoo Forums Feedback
  • ↳ Duplicate Threads
  • International Gentoo Users
  • ↳ 中文 (Chinese)
  • ↳ Dutch
  • ↳ Finnish
  • ↳ French
  • ↳ Deutsches Forum (German)
  • ↳ Diskussionsforum
  • ↳ Deutsche Dokumentation
  • ↳ Greek
  • ↳ Forum italiano (Italian)
  • ↳ Forum di discussione italiano
  • ↳ Risorse italiane (documentazione e tools)
  • ↳ Polskie forum (Polish)
  • ↳ Instalacja i sprzęt
  • ↳ Polish OTW
  • ↳ Portuguese
  • ↳ Documentação, Ferramentas e Dicas
  • ↳ Russian
  • ↳ Scandinavian
  • ↳ Spanish
  • ↳ Other Languages
  • Architectures & Platforms
  • ↳ Gentoo on ARM
  • ↳ Gentoo on PPC
  • ↳ Gentoo on Sparc
  • ↳ Gentoo on Alternative Architectures
  • ↳ Gentoo on AMD64
  • ↳ Gentoo for Mac OS X (Portage for Mac OS X)
  • Board index
  • All times are UTC
  • Delete cookies

© 2001–2026 Gentoo Authors
Gentoo is a trademark of the Gentoo Foundation, Inc. and of Förderverein Gentoo e.V.
The contents of this document, unless otherwise expressly stated, are licensed under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license.
The Gentoo Name and Logo Usage Guidelines apply.

Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Limited

Privacy Policy

AltStyle によって変換されたページ (->オリジナル) /