Iceweasel

Debian Iceweasel icon
Unbranded Firefox globe currently used by Gnuzilla IceWeasel
Official Logo
Developer:	GNU	Debian
Latest release:	1.5.0.7 / Oct 22, 2006	2.0.0.3 / Mar 23, 2007
OS:	Linux
Use:	Web browser
License:	MPL/GPL/LGPL tri license
Website:	Homepage of GNU Gnuzilla and IceWeasel

Iceweasel is the name of two currently independent Mozilla Firefox rebranding projects. One is part of the Gnuzilla project, a GNU project to provide versions of Mozilla programs which are made of entirely free software. The other is a rebranded build prepared by Debian in order to satisfy a demand from Mozilla that they either drop the Firefox name or comply with terms incompatible with Debian policies. Mozilla Firefox is a graphical web browser developed by the Mozilla Corporation and a large community of external contributors. ... Gnuzilla is a free software derivation of the Mozilla Application Suite created by the GNU Project as an attempt to be entirely free software. ... GNU (pronounced ) is a computer operating system composed entirely of free software. ... Mozilla was the official, public, original name of Mozilla Application Suite by the Mozilla Foundation, nowadays called SeaMonkey suite. ... Clockwise from top: The logo of the GNU Project (the GNU head), the Linux kernel mascot Tux the Penguin, and the FreeBSD daemon Free software is a term coined by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation[1] to refer to software that can be used, studied, and modified without... Debian is a project based around the development of a free, complete operating system through the collaboration of volunteers from around the world. ...

Gnuzilla IceWeasel removes the artwork and plugins^[1] classified as non-free by free software advocates. Though Gnuzilla claims^{[citation needed]} to have removed the talkback plugin, there is no way to include this in unofficial builds since the source code is not available. It is a fork of Firefox, but its maintainers plan to continue to synchronize with upstream releases in the future. Proprietary software is a pejorative term used by the Free Software Foundation to describe software in which the user does not control what it does or cannot study or edit the code, in contrast to free software. ... In software engineering, a project fork or branch happens when a developer (or a group of them) takes a copy of source code from one software package and starts to independently develop a new package. ...

Debian Iceweasel is based on the modified version of Firefox provided in the Firefox package, but has now removed the Firefox branding replacing it with a new set that fits with the new name. Thunderbird and SeaMonkey have been renamed to Icedove and Iceape respectively in the same way and for the same reason. Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. ... SeaMonkey is a free, open source, and cross-platform Internet suite that is the continuation of the former Mozilla Application Suite. ... IceDove is the free software derivation of the Mozilla Thunderbird mail reader, along with IceWeasel and Gnuzilla. ... Iceweasel is the name of two currently independent Mozilla Firefox rebranding projects. ...

Debian Iceweasel still uses some Internet-based services from Mozilla, including the Mozilla plugin finder service, Mozilla Add-Ons, and notification of updates. There has also been no change to how non-free components, such as Flash, are found or used.

The Debian Iceweasel maintainer has stated that he will contact the Gnuzilla team to see if the two projects can collaborate; there was no time for collaborative changes before the release of Debian Etch.

The current release of Gnuzilla IceWeasel is based on the 1.5.0.7 version of Mozilla Firefox,^[2] while the current version of Debian Iceweasel is based on the 2.0.0.3 release of Firefox.

Debian backports any required security fixes to whatever versions of software are shipped in their stable releases until support for those stable releases are dropped; the Iceweasel rename represents no change in this regard.

Gnuzilla IceWeasel features

The main advantage of using GNU's IceWeasel is an ethical one: it is made of entirely free software.^[3]

Differences from the official Firefox release:

• Contains only free software — see Licensing below
  • Replacement of the proprietary artwork with free artwork
  • Removal of the proprietary Talkback crash reporting system (due to its non-free "binary only distribution" licensing)
  • Use of a plugin finder service that offers only free plugins
• Added privacy features — protection from:
  • 3rd party zero-length image files resulting in 3rd party cookie (web bugs).^[3] Note that in Firefox 1.0 and 1.5 3rd party cookies can be disabled completely via the UI. However the UI option was removed in 2.0.
  • URL redirection (warning only)^[3]

Clockwise from top: The logo of the GNU Project (the GNU head), the Linux kernel mascot Tux the Penguin, and the FreeBSD daemon Free software is a term coined by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation[1] to refer to software that can be used, studied, and modified without... Proprietary indicates that a party, or proprietor, exercises private ownership, control or use over an item of property, usually to the exclusion of other parties. ... A crash reporter is an application whose function is to report crash data to a third party, usually to the party responsible for the crashed program. ... A plugin (plug-in, addin, add-in, addon or add-on) is a computer program that interacts with a main (or host) application (a web browser or an email program, for example) to provide a certain, usually very specific, function on demand. ... HTTP cookies, sometimes known as web cookies or just cookies, are parcels of text sent by a server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server. ... A web bug (also known as a tracking bug, pixel tag, web beacon or clear gif) is a technique for determining who viewed an HTML-based email message or a web page, when they did so, how many times, how long they kept the message open, etc. ... URL redirection, also called URL forwarding, domain redirection and domain forwarding, is a technique on the World Wide Web for making a web page available under many URLs. ...

History

Origins of the name

Mozilla enforces trademarks vigorously and claims the right to deny the use of the name "Firefox" to unofficial builds.^[4] Distributions that do not have special permission must either compile the Firefox source with an option enabled that gives Firefox a different name and does not use the official logo or other artwork, or use the binaries supplied by Mozilla.^[4] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Compile (software company). ... Computer files can be divided into two broad categories: binary and text. ...

This policy led to a long debate within the Debian Project in 2004 and 2005. During this debate, the name "Iceweasel" was coined to refer to rebranded versions of Firefox. The first known use of the name in this context is by Nathanael Nerode^[5], in reply to Eric Dorland's suggestion of "Icerabbit".^[6] It was intended as a parody of "Firefox."^[3] Iceweasel was subsequently used as the example name for a rebranded Firefox in the Mozilla Trademark Policy^[4], and became the most commonly used name for a hypothetical rebranded version of Firefox. By January 1, 2005, rebranding was being referred to as the "Iceweasel route".^[7] Debian, created by the Debian Project, is a widely used distribution of free software developed through the collaboration of volunteers from around the world. ...

The term "ice weasel" appeared earlier in a line fictionally attributed by Matt Groening to Friedrich Nietzsche: "Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come."^[8] Matthew Abram Groening (born February 15, 1954[2] in Portland, Oregon;[3] his family name is pronounced ) is an Emmy Award-winning American cartoonist and the creator of The Simpsons,[4] Futurama and the weekly comic strip Life in Hell. ... Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) (IPA: ) was a German philosopher. ...

Debian was given permission to use the trademarks, and adopted the Firefox name.^[9] However, because the artwork in Firefox has a proprietary copyright license which is not compatible with the Debian Free Software Guidelines, the substituted logo had to remain.^[10] The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) are a set of guidelines that the Debian Project uses to determine whether a software license is free software license, which in turn is used to determine whether a piece of software can be included in the main, free software distribution of Debian. ...

Iceweasel 2.0.0.1 on Debian Etch

Image File history File links Size of this preview: 704 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (1095 × 932 pixel, file size: 87 KB, MIME type: image/png) Screenshot of Iceweasel 2. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 704 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (1095 × 932 pixel, file size: 87 KB, MIME type: image/png) Screenshot of Iceweasel 2. ...

Gnuzilla IceWeasel release

In August 2005,^[11] the Gnuzilla project adopted the IceWeasel name for a Firefox distribution^[11] using free artwork.

The first Gnuzilla IceWeasel release was based on the 1.5.0.4^[12] version of Firefox. There was no release based on Firefox 1.5.0.5 or 1.5.0.6. The current version of IceWeasel is 1.5.0.7, released on October 22, 2006.

Debian Iceweasel appears

In February of 2006, Mike Connor, representing the Mozilla Corporation, wrote to Debian and informed them that Mozilla did not consider the way in which Debian was using the Firefox name to be acceptable.^[13] Connor confirmed that the Mozilla Corporation was revoking the previous agreement with Debian that allowed them to use the Firefox name. Further messages from Mike Connor clarified Mozilla's current policies: "Yes,if you are shipping a browser called Firefox, we should be signing off on every deviation from what we ship."; and "If you are going to use the Firefox name, you must also use the rest of the branding." Debian could not use the logo because of the Debian Free Software Guidelines. The Mozilla Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that coordinates and integrates the development of Internet-related applications such as the Mozilla Firefox web browser and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client by the growing global community of open-source developers, only some of whom are employed... The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) are a set of guidelines that the Debian Project uses to determine whether a software license is free software license, which in turn is used to determine whether a piece of software can be included in the main, free software distribution of Debian. ...

The "Iceweasel" name was revived in the Debian community as a possible name to give the rebranded version of Firefox. The Iceweasel used in Etch is not the GNU application of the same name but a rebranded Firefox created by Debian. The Debian maintainer has stated that he will "get in touch with them to see what we can do together"^[14] Because exactly the same problems required that Debian rename Mozilla Thunderbird and SeaMonkey, the names Icedove and Iceape were coined and used to rename those two applications. Soon after the renames Debian also replaced Mozilla's unbranded logos with new logos designed to fit with the new names. Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. ... SeaMonkey is a free, open source, and cross-platform Internet suite that is the continuation of the former Mozilla Application Suite. ...

Downloads available

Gnuzilla

IceWeasel is available as a free download for the 32-bit, i386 architecture. Both binaries and source are available, though the current build is available only for Linux. 32-bit is a term applied to processors, and computer architectures which manipulate the address and data in 32-bit chunks. ... The Intel 80386 is a microprocessor which was used as the central processing unit (CPU) of many personal computers from 1986 until 1994 and later. ... It has been suggested that Criticism of Linux be merged into this article or section. ...

Debian

According to packages.qa.debian.org, Iceweasel, Icedove and Iceape were first accepted into the Debian project's unstable repository on November 20, 2006, on October 14, 2006 and on December 1, 2006, respectively. Icedove was migrated to Etch and Thunderbird removed on November 11, 2006. Iceape was migrated to Etch on January 11, 2007 (the old Mozilla suite having previously been removed on October 6, 2006). Iceweasel was migrated (and Firefox removed) on January 18, 2007. Debian's first stable release to include Iceweasel, Icedove, and Iceape was Debian 4.0 Etch, released April 8, 2007. Debian is a project based around the development of a free, complete operating system through the collaboration of volunteers from around the world. ... November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... October 14 is the 287th day of the year (288th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... October 6 is the 279th day of the year (280th in leap years). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

Licensing

Neither Gnuzilla nor Debian has seen fit to restrict their modifications to the code any more than the original. Both are available under Mozilla's standard MPL/GPL/LGPL tri-license. Unlike Mozilla, both Iceweasels' default icons are under the same tri-license. In computing, the Mozilla Public License (MPL) is an open source and free software license. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ... GNU logo The GNU Lesser General Public License (formerly the GNU Library General Public License) is a free software license published by the Free Software Foundation. ...

See also

• Mozilla Firefox
• History of Mozilla Firefox
• Debian Free Software Guidelines
• Comparison of web browsers

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Mozilla Firefox is a graphical web browser developed by the Mozilla Corporation and a large community of external contributors. ... The Mozilla Firefox project was created by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross as an experimental branch of the Mozilla project. ... The Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) are a set of guidelines that the Debian Project uses to determine whether a software license is free software license, which in turn is used to determine whether a piece of software can be included in the main, free software distribution of Debian. ... The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of web browsers. ...

Notes

1. ^ List of What's Removed.
2. ^ IceWeasel 1.5.0.7 Download location.
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Gnuzilla Homepage
4. ^ ^{a b c} Mozilla Trademark Policy.
5. ^ Nathanael Nerode 27 Feb 2004 email to debian-legal.
6. ^ Eric Dorland 27 Feb 2004 email to debian-devel.
7. ^ Joel Aelwyn 01 Jan 2005 email to debian-legal.
8. ^ Groening, Matt (1986). Love Is Hell. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0394744543. 
9. ^ Gervase Markham 14 Jun 2005 email to debian-devel.
10. ^ Gervase Markham 19 Jun 2005 email to debian-devel.
11. ^ ^{a b} Gnuzilla/IceWeasel Project Application.
12. ^ IceWeasel 1.5.0.4 Download location.
13. ^ Debian bug report started by Mozilla and containing much information on the Iceweasel issue.
14. ^ Facts about Debian and Mozilla® Firefox®.

Matthew Abram Groening (born February 15, 1954[2] in Portland, Oregon;[3] his family name is pronounced ) is an Emmy Award-winning American cartoonist and the creator of The Simpsons,[4] Futurama and the weekly comic strip Life in Hell. ... Pantheon Books was an American publishing company that was acquired by Random House in 1961. ...

External links

• Homepage of Gnuzilla and IceWeasel
• Debian and Mozilla - a study in trademarks - a summary of the debate at LWN.net
• Arguments on the Debian Bug tracking system
• Kerner, Sean Michael. "Firefox Not Really Free?", internetnews.com, September 27, 2006. 
• Kerner, Sean Michael. "Firefox Set Free in IceWeasel", internetnews.com, October 6, 2006. 
• Kerner, Sean Michael. "Debian Fights Mozilla's Fire, Thunder With 'Ice'", internetnews.com, October 17, 2006. 
• Logo proposals in Ubuntu Wiki