It has been less than a week since the last version of the mint-flavored Linux distribution. It came later than expected, more than likely because they had some bugs to fix. A few moments ago we had other news about Linux Mint, and it doesn't have much to do with the operating system itself or a monthly review, but rather an agreement they just signed.
So what they just published on the project blog, where, after saying that Linux Mint uses the browser and mail client of Mozilla and do a little review of its history, they have given the details of the new Firefox that will be in Linux Mint. Although, well, it is not that the browser is going to be different from what we can use in other distributions, but that there will be changes that will benefit both projects. Changes that will actually leave Firefox as it is.
Linux Mint will no longer show its default page in Firefox
The changes that will be introduced after this agreement are:
- Although it is not one of the points that they mention as part of the agreement, it is interesting to remember it because Ubuntu will start using the Snap package starting with 22.04. In Linux Mint it will continue to be available as a DEB package in the official project repositories.
- The start page will no longer go to linuxmint.com/start.
- The search engines by default will no longer be those of Linux Mint partners (Yahoo !, DuckDuckGo…), but rather those of Mozilla (Google, Amazon, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Ebay…).
- The default configuration will no longer be Mint, but Mozilla.
- Firefox no longer includes code changes or patches that come from Linux Mint, Debian, or Ubuntu.
Mozilla's goal is for Firefox to work the same on all platforms, making it easier to maintain and simplify development and bug fixes. For Linux Mint, development and maintenance is greatly simplified. Lefebvre says it is a trade and technical association, and transition is planned for january 11-12.
As for the end user, the changes that you will notice will be rather scarce, but if you were using search engines such as Yahoo or StartPage they will have to be configured again. Everything is to make things easier, especially Mozilla, which is the one who seems to need it the most.
Most users had to do a couple of things to make Google the default engine in Mint.
This collaboration simplifies that, reduces maintenance work and also ensures the .deb format.
It seems like a wise decision
In any agreement there is usually money involved, according to it seems it benefits Mozilla, how much money did Mozilla give Mint to accept said agreement?
The idea sounds very interesting, does that mean that the mozilla .deb will be available to install in Debian, for example, with official repositories?