Few days ago Mozilla announced the release of the new version 137 from your web browser Firefox, along with which we also released the extended support version updates: 115.22.0 and 128.9.0.
In this new release of Firefox 137, 14 vulnerabilities have been fixed, Of these, 13 are critical. Most are related to memory management errors, such as buffer overflows and access to freed memory.
Main new features of Firefox 137
The new version of Firefox 137 introduces a long-awaited feature: tab grouping, with which now the Users can combine multiple tabs into a single group, assign a name and color, and collapse it to save space on the tab bar. This option is ideal for organizing content by topic, such as entertainment, shopping, or to-read.
To create a group, You just have to right-click on a tab and select "Add tab to group"", or simply drag one tab over another. Although the feature isn't enabled by default for all users yet, it can be manually activated from about:config with the browser.tabs.groups.enabled option.
tab grouping
As an extra novelty, It is now possible to use the address bar as a calculator, since typing a mathematical operation will display the result directly in the drop-down menu. It's worth mentioning that these features are only active for some users, but they can be activated in about:config using parameters like browser.urlbar.quicksuggest.enabled or browser.urlbar.suggest.calculator.
Another improvement that is presented in Firefox 137 is in the address bar, which now includes a unified button to select search engines and quickly access features like history, open tabs, bookmarks, and settings. Additionally, when you perform a search, the text remains visible in the bar, making it easier to edit queries.
In Firefox 137 too Buttons have been added within the drop-down suggestions for quick actions like printing the page. For example, when browsing a site with its own search engine, Firefox will now suggest using that engine. After two similar searches, it will offer to add it to the search engine list.
On Linux, Firefox now uses hardware acceleration to decode videos in HEVC format (H.265)When viewing PDF files, the browser detects all links and converts them into hyperlinks. You can also attach an image with your signature using the new PDF viewer dialog box.
Of the other changes that stand out:
- Support for the SVG Path API has been added, which improves rendering of SVG shapes and adds methods such as getPathData(), setPathData(), and getPathSegmentAtLength().
- Firefox now includes new CSS properties.
- New JavaScript features, including Math.sumPrecise(), which improves precision when adding array elements.
- Added Atomics.pause() to reduce CPU consumption when a thread is waiting for access to a shared resource.
- A 10MB limit was imposed on data storage using storage.session.
- The Font Inspector panel now displays metadata such as version, author, and license.
- The Network Activity panel allows you to replace the actual response to a request with the content of a local file. The Android mobile version includes support for HEVC (H.265) video.
Interested in knowing more about it, you can consult the release notes in the following link
How to install Firefox on Linux?
If you are already a Firefox user, you should know that you can easily update to the latest version accessing the configuration menu. Those with automatic updates enabled need not worry as they will receive the new version without manual intervention.
Alternatively, if you prefer not to wait for the automatic update, you can do it manually by going to Menu > Help > About Firefox. This will open a window showing the installed version and, if the feature is enabled, it will check for available updates.
For Ubuntu, Linux Mint and other derivatives users from Ubuntu, too It is possible to update Firefox through the official PPATo do this, open a terminal and enter the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa -y sudo apt-get update sudo apt install firefox
Another available installation option is via Flatpak. To use this method, you need to have Flatpak support on your system. Once enabled, you can install Firefox by running the following command in the terminal:
flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.firefox
As for those who already have the browser installed, it is enough to execute the following command to not only update Firefox, but also all its applications that are in Flatpak format:
flatpack update
In the case of those who prefer the use of Snap, the installation of the browser can be done by typing the following command:
sudo snap install firefox
And to update the applications that we have installed in Snap format, just type the following in the terminal:
sudo snap refresh