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Firefox on other mobile OSes

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  • Last reply by Kevin

Paspie
Paspie

I would like to know what the 'barriers to entry' are for the next gen mobile OSes (Tizen, Sailfish, BB10, Ubuntu Touch etc.). I know iOS and most of the older ones are ruled out because of no support, but I can't come to terms with the development aspects because most of the above OSes (mostly Linux based) use very similar libraries, so I don't understand why porting even the old Maemo version would be difficult. Thanks in advance.

I would like to know what the 'barriers to entry' are for the next gen mobile OSes (Tizen, Sailfish, BB10, Ubuntu Touch etc.). I know iOS and most of the older ones are ruled out because of no support, but I can't come to terms with the development aspects because most of the above OSes (mostly Linux based) use very similar libraries, so I don't understand why porting even the old Maemo version would be difficult. Thanks in advance.

Chosen solution

There are no plans on Mozilla developers working on native applications for any of those phones. If a dedicated community wanted to maintain a port there should be some infrastructure available.

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James (On Leave in doing support)
James (On Leave in doing support)
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There is no iOS version due to Apple restrictions about browser and JavaScript engines being used. Mozilla did have a private browser experiment called Junior a couple years ago but of course it did not have the browser and Javascript engines that say Firefox uses due to the Apple restriction.

There is not likely going to be a version of Firefox for BlackBerry OS 10 as the QNX support has long since been removed from the Mozilla source tree. And side-loading the apk may work but can be buggy.

Paspie
Paspie Question owner

Okay, I already knew the iOS and BB10 barrier, my question was mainly concerning the new Linux-based mobile OSes because they must share similar libraries and development structures as to what Firefox uses on the desktop Linux, and Maemo versions. What are the prospects for Firefox on Sailfish, Ubuntu Touch and Tizen, besides apk side-loading?

Kevin
Kevin

Chosen Solution

There are no plans on Mozilla developers working on native applications for any of those phones. If a dedicated community wanted to maintain a port there should be some infrastructure available.