google browser?

[Chad Perrin]

On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 01:52:58AM -0700, Devin Teske wrote:
> 
> I've heard certain noises on this list that the current port-maintainer
> of Chromium has dropped the ball (not my words, just paraphrasing the
> sentiment from the below thread).

My understanding is that the Chromium port maintainer's business model
interfered with his ability to keep the port updated for security
patches, and eventually someone else replaced him as port maintainer.
The new port maintainer has been working on getting the port back up to
snuff since then, which appears to be kind of a "starting over" operation
in some respects.  As such, one hopes that everything will be up to snuff
soon, and will stay that way under new management.


> 
> However, Freshports still has a less-than-favorable status for this
> port: http://www.freshports.org/www/chromium/

One might presume that this is because the previous port maintainer's
business model kept the port at v6.x, which is what is currently in
ports.  The current version of the chromium browser is 9.x, and I suspect
the "minor" work done early this year is work on getting v9.x ready for
inclusion in ports.


> 
> Now... that being said, I have a co-worker that is running Chromium
> every day on FreeBSD-8.1 and he's very happy with it. Though, given the
> above consideration, both him and I have decided to _not_ deploy this
> browser in production (at least until we can get some love on those
> vulnerabilities).

I have the version of chromium from ports on one of my computers, and
used it off-and-on alongside Firefox and Uzbl.  I might have completely
replaced Firefox if the extension system was robust enough to allow
proper implementation of vi-like keybindings and secure use of extensions
like HTTPS Everywhere, but the chromium extension system is still a
little too restrictive for that, from what I've seen.

I stopped using Chromium at all once those vulnerabilities had been
around and unfixed in ports for a few days.  You should probably do the
same.


> 
> So, I guess I'd like to throw the query out there...
> 
> If you had to pick between Firefox and Chrome for distribution to >1000
> FreeBSD systems running 8.1 in production... which would you choose?
> We're heavily leaning toward Firefox, but would love to hear other's
> opinions of Chrome (if it requires Linux emulation, that may be a
> death-knell, leaving Firefox the only real choice???).

Right now, I'd choose Firefox.  If the recent troubles of the chromium
port get sorted out satisfactorily by the current maintainer, I might
well choose that instead.  Unfortunately, you've stumbled onto the
situation during what appears to be a transitional period.

disclaimer: I am not involved with the chromium porting effort, and am
not particularly privy to the internal goings-on of its ports
maintenance.  My information may be out of date or misinformed.  Some of
what I said is pure speculation.  Your mileage may vary.

-- 
Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]
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