There is a new Firefox fork in town: Konform Browser. Its focus is privacy, security and user freedom. Yes, I know this sounds familiar - but hear me out, I do think we have something to bring to the table!
The project started as a fork of LibreWolf and now stands on its own four feet.
Some highlights to give an idea to those familiar with LibreWolf or other FF fork:
- Security: Konform is based on Firefox ESR. This means a more stable base without missing out on the latest security updates, in exchange for longer time waiting for the newest features from Firefox. It also enables shorter lead times to backport upstream updates.
- In this sense (and a few others), Konform Browser is closer to IceCat/GNUZilla than it is to Librewolf.
- Freedom: Konform allows a higher level of customization. It gives the user control and trusts you with that responsibility. Some examples:
- Allows enabling dark mode and following system theming even when Resist Fingerprinting is enabled.
- Allows installing your own self-built unsigned add-ons
- "Spoof referer source" user configuration option
- Privacy and security: Disables all browser features relying on external network connections.
- "RemoteSettings" is completely disabled^1^.
- No cloud "AI" integrations. You can run Konform on a disconnected network and not notice any reduced functionality.
- All telemetry, metrics, and ads from the browser disabled.
- OCSP turned off (but we have CRLite).
- tcpdump and see the difference
I should add that even if we contrast with LibreWolf above, this is not at all meant as a dig or criticism. That we chose it as base and that it's the easiest to compare with is a testament both to how closely aligned we are and that Konform has a lot to thank Librewolf and the wider Firefox customization community for. Like they built from Librefox and Arkenfox to bring private browsing to a wider audience, so are we but the next to try help widen and deepen the browser ecosystem.
The recommended installation method is building from source but there are also binary packages for x86_64 and arm64 built by Codeberg CI. Currently Linux only, considering Android next and could use some assistance with that.
Doors open for users, testers and contributors. Looking forward to hear what you think and if there's anything missing.
^1^: This means that local full-page translation is also unavailable even if in principle it should be possible to bundle and run translations fully locally. It's just the way Mozilla built it. Patches towards allowing users to enable fully offline translations would be very welcome.
Sources: https://codeberg.org/konform-browser
See releases for details.
I wrote a bit of the "why"s already in the OP. Could expand further for you but what do you have in mind? "Why did you choose librewolf as upstream", "why fork and not another approach", "why bother with any of this at all", ...?
Flatpak is something we want and have been looking at already. See here for what's holding that back. There is already an (untested) repo for it.
While AppImages can be very convenient, we are ambivalent on some their security aspects among other things. Currently not prioritizing it until we have what we consider generally more solid options covered but will consider outside contributions if anyone feels motivated and puts in the effort to makes it happen.
Issue thread for new distribution targets where interested Codeberg users can follow up: https://codeberg.org/konform-browser/source/issues/9
I see why users prefer flatpaks or appimages but just for consideration some ways I can think of one could run it on an atomic distro today:
toolbxstyle running the browser in a rootless podman container ^1^.rpmin your overlay^1^: Would anyone actually use it if there was a
Containerfilefor it? We currently don't have a public one but I can attest this works fine in general and if people indicate interest for it I think it's a neat idea that Konform Browser could provide that as an option.^2^: I think this is fine for testing and short-lived installations but unless you are technical enough to reason about the trust involved and automate for verified updates (or at least getting notifications for them), I wouldn't recommend it for long-term (>= months) installations so that you don't get stuck on unpatched versions without thinking about it. This is the least secure way to run it. Not generally recommended for non-technical users.
^3^: Something I recommend becoming more familiar with in general if one has the time, resources, and patience. The catch with updates applies here too if this is for production use.
Update: There is now a Containerfile producing images using the prebuilt
.debif anyone wants to try the container-based approach to run Konform Browser in podman or docker or whatever. Some basic testing done using rootless podman under either Wayland and X11 on Kinoite and both ran fine.https://codeberg.org/konform-browser/oci
If you want it to have the dark theming activate depending on your desktop theme it should work by adding
-v ${HOME}/.config/gtk-3.0:/home/user/.config/gtk-3.0:ro,z. Or-v ${HOME}/.local/share/konform-browser-1:/home/user:Zfor an isolated persistent homedir (similar to Tor Browser).