Adblock Plus

I must point out that Firefox 3 (any version of Firefox 3) is the most bloated and slow piece of software i have EVER used in my life.

My suggestion: update the old version to work with the new subscriptions. it can't be that hard to just block the ads.

Wladimir Palant wrote:- Firefox 2.0 also took ages to reach reasonably low numbers. Some people simply don't update, ever.

some people don't consider a massive loss in (extension) functionality to be an "upgrade".

I'll "update" when it is actually an upgrade


thanks all the same for the great extension

the phasing out FF 3.0 support is fairly reasonable since there are no more new FF 3.0 nightly builds being produced after June 22. Mozilla retired support for Firefox 3.0 a few months ago, right around when FF 3.0.19 was released.

FYI, now all supported Ubuntu version has Firefox 3.6

An update: It looks like I will phase out support for Firefox 3.0 and 3.5 at the same time. Reason is that they are technically very close as far as Adblock Plus is concerned, currently dropping support for the one while still supporting the other makes no sense. It makes much sense to stop supporting both Firefox 3.0 and 3.5 however, code complexity will be significantly reduced (not to mention that I barely test things in 3.0 and 3.5 already).

When will this happen? According to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html support for Firefox 3.5 ends this month. However, Firefox 3.5.12 is still scheduled for early September and I doubt that it will be the last release. My guess is that there will be a Firefox 3.5.13 release in October after which Mozilla will stop supporting it. I'll probably drop support shortly after that, likely already in Adblock Plus 1.3 (I expect it to be released around October/November as well).

Current numbers indicate that around 13% of Adblock Plus users are still using Firefox 3.5. This number will likely drop significantly again when Mozilla makes their final update call. Around 6% are still using Firefox 3.0 - these are most likely a lost cause unfortunately.

However, Songbird and SeaMonkey will be problematic so maybe I'll delay this move to the next major Adblock Plus release after all. Current stable Songbird version is 1.7.3 which still uses Gecko 1.9.0. Songbird 1.9 successfully moved to Gecko 1.9.2 and the work on it is pretty far progressed - but I'm not sure whether it will be released to public once it is done.

Current stable SeaMonkey version is 2.0 which uses Gecko 1.9.1. SeaMonkey 2.1 Beta 1 is due soon, based on Gecko 2.0 (like Firefox 4). I would expect the final SeaMonkey 2.1 release a few month after Firefox 4 release - meaning early next year.

Thunderbird is not a problem: Thunderbird 3.1 has been released some time ago, it uses Gecko 1.9.2 so it caught up with Firefox 3.6. Thunderbird 3.0 will no longer be supported. Fennec isn't a problem either - it has been using Gecko 1.9.2 from the very beginning.

An update again: blog/dropping-support-for-firefox-30
In short: Adblock Plus 1.3 will no longer support Firefox 3.0. Adblock Plus 1.4 will most likely drop support for Firefox 3.5 as well.

Wladimir Palant wrote: Current stable SeaMonkey version is 2.0 which uses Gecko 1.9.1. SeaMonkey 2.1 Beta 1 is due soon, based on Gecko 2.0 (like Firefox 4). I would expect the final SeaMonkey 2.1 release a few month after Firefox 4 release - meaning early next year.

which is more unlikely to happen due to the numerous delays with the recent beta release of Firefox 4.0 (aka. beta 7). a few more upcoming betas of Firefox 4.0 (even a beta 10!) are being planned.
the final release of Firefox 4.0 could happen sometime in early 2011 but it's not a guarantee. and the final release of Seamonkey 2.1 would be more likely to happn perhaps close to mid-2011 (or later).

and Mozilla has NOT yet retired support for Firefox 3.5 as version 3.5.16 was released late last week.

I would say drop support for ff3.5 by the end of dec 2010 and clean up the code a bit for ff4 as each beta releases.

mozilla officially dropped support for ff3.5 in August 2010. but some users just will never upgrade.

No, Firefox 3.5 is still officially supported - way longer than usual. Firefox 3.5.16 is still not the last release from this branch, there will be at least Firefox 3.5.17 as well. On the other hand, Firefox 4 is also being delayed. So I guess that I will keep supporting Firefox 3.5 for now.

PS: Stats update: currently around 8% of the Adblock Plus users are still on Firefox 3.5. As we've seen with Firefox 3.0, this number won't get significantly lower even after Mozilla stops supporting it.

I know this is an odd question but is there anyway I can get the adblock that used to support 3.0.*? I can't upgrade my firefox at work and I need adblock. Thanks for the help.

HI, Wladimir. Firefox 4 will not be supported on PowerPC based machines. For those of us who still use G4 or G5 based machines, it will be impossible to upgrade those machines to Firefox 4.

Don't see Wladimir pulling support for 3.6 yet, so you would be still be safe with that release

Oxwil wrote:Just put a notification on the main add-on page & this website that Fx 3.0 support has been phased out, so when people using old versions come poking around to inquire what's wrong, they will know what to do if they still want to to use AB+.

I'm running CentOS 5.5 Live from a USB stick; it hs Firefox 3.0. Upgrading to 3.5 idn
t an easy option.


I don't care that the latest release doesn't support me, I would be perfectly content with the latest that does.

even if it does not receive security updates.

I'm bretty sad that you don't provide older releases than the latest stable.

Jean, see link provided by MonztA just a few posts above yours...