La New version of Firefox 140 has been released and arrives as an extended support release (ESR), ensuring continuous updates throughout the next year. Along with this new release, maintenance releases have also been released for the previous ESR branches: Firefox 115.25.0 and 128.12.0.
Firefox 140 fixes 17 security vulnerabilities, six of which are related to memory management errors, such as buffer overflows or accesses to freed memory. Also A critical issue has been fixed with the WebCompat plugin, which could have allowed user tracking by generating persistent UUIDs, even in private mode.
Main new features of Firefox 140
In this new version of Firefox 140, the following stand out:Improvement in the vertical tab panel, that now allows resizing the pinned tabs areaThis allows you to prioritize access to important pages at the expense of reducing the space available for conventional tabs, simply by dragging the separator.
Furthermore, has been added to the context menu a new option called «Download tab", what unload inactive tabs from memory, thus reducing RAM and CPU consumption.
La toolbar It also received improvements, since It is now possible to hide the extensions button from the customization interface. If you do this, you'll still be able to access extensions from the browser's main menu, maintaining a cleaner interface.
Custom engines and optimized translation
Firefox 140 now lets you add custom search engines from websites that use the tag This feature can be activated from the context menu above a search field or from the settings menu in the search section.
Also the translation system has been improved of full pages, which Now translate only the visible content first and progressively translate the rest as you browse. This improvement not only saves resources but also improves performance and fluidity when using the translator.
In addition, Firefox 140 introduces improvements to the support for advanced accessibility features, including the aria-keyshortcuts attribute, which allows you to define keyboard shortcuts accessible to people with disabilities.
In the area of ​​privacy, The sandbox on Linux systems has been strengthened, further restricting access to device drivers via ioctl calls. In addition, In private browsing mode, it is now possible to use Service Workers, as well as IndexedDB and DOM Cache, with encrypted storage for background tasks.
What's new for developers: new APIs and tool improvements
Firefox 140 incorporates several new APIs designed to make the work of developers easier:
- CookieStore API: allows you to manage cookies asynchronously from pages and Service Workers.
- Custom Highlighting API: Allows you to apply arbitrary styles to ranges of text without altering the DOM, ideal for text editors or collaborative highlighting.
- Pointerrawupdate: event that offers more precise, real-time pointer tracking, useful for design tools and web games.
- Unifying style in headings within different semantic elements, improving visual coherence.
In the developer tools, the inspector panel now makes it easier to search the DOM tree, sort results, and apply pseudo-classes.
Changes in Android
In its mobile version for Android, Firefox 140 Improve bookmark management with one button to select all items at once. Also, Private browsing mode has been strengthened with stricter security controls.
The Navigatorr has also removed components related to the Pocket service, both on the new tab page and in the toolbar, reflecting Mozilla's decision to discontinue Pocket as an integral part of Firefox.
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