Version 5 changelog

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DaveG
Flagfox Developer
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Version 5 changelog

Post by DaveG » Wed Feb 26, 2014 4:22 pm

The current version of Flagfox is available on the Mozilla Add-ons page.

Flagfox 5.2.3 was the last standard version of Flagfox to support versions of Firefox prior to Firefox 57, due to a mandatory rewrite to use Mozilla/Google's new WebExtension API, after which point Mozilla banned all prior "legacy" APIs and banned addons that used them from posting any updates, as of the Firefox 57 release. Everyone should use Flagfox 6.0+ if it is supported by your browser version. Flagfox 5.2.x is currently the only version of Flagfox to support Firefox 52 ESR or SeaMonkey (which is currently based on 52 ESR), as WebExtension support is insufficient in those versions. Firefox 52 ESR will receive security/stability updates until mid-2018, after which point you'll need to upgrade or be unsafe, regardless of whether you like their new versions or not. Flagfox 5.2.4 and potential future updates exist to continue support for Firefox 52 ESR, which Mozilla doesn't really fully support, but is still in wide use. Updates will not be released every month and will not be released indefinitely.

Use of particularly old versions of Flagfox will eventually result in inaccurate flags, as your IP location database will be out of date.

The file sizes listed below are for the unsigned installers. The signature and Mozilla's less-than-ideal compression make the final file size a bit larger. Some release dates differ from the versions download page due to timezone differences (or AMO bugs, in a few old extreme cases).

The new changelog for Flagfox 6.x changes is now available here.

Below is a list of Flagfox version 5.x changes:

Version 5.2.11 (ESR) — September 7, 2018 — 564 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for September 2018
=> Flagfox 5.2.x extended support update for Firefox 52 ESR and forks
=> Firefox 52 ESR is now EOL; This is the final update for Flagfox 5.2.x
(Note that recent ESR updates contain a fix for some drag/drop functions)

Version 5.2.10 (ESR) — August 26, 2018 — 589 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for August 2018
=> Flagfox 5.2.x extended support update for Firefox 52 ESR and forks
(Note that recent ESR updates contain a fix for some drag/drop functions)

Version 5.2.9 (ESR) — July 18, 2018 — 586 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for July 2018
=> Flagfox 5.2.x extended support update for Firefox 52 ESR and forks
(Note that recent ESR updates contain a fix for some drag/drop functions)

Version 5.2.8 (ESR) — June 30, 2018 — 588 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for June 2018
* Dropped now-defunct XMarks and URL Parser default actions
=> Flagfox 5.2.x extended support update for Firefox 52 ESR and forks
(Note that recent ESR updates contain a fix for some drag/drop functions)

Version 5.2.7 (ESR) — May 31, 2018 — 585 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for May 2018
* Updated Flagfox-Geotool CAPTCHA pass mechanism
=> Flagfox 5.2.x extended support update for Firefox 52 ESR and forks
(Note that recent ESR updates contain a fix for some drag/drop functions)

Version 5.2.6 (ESR) — April 30, 2018 — 582 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for April 2018
=> Flagfox 5.2.x extended support update for Firefox 52 ESR and forks
(Note that recent ESR updates contain a fix for some drag/drop functions)


Version 5.2.5 (ESR) — March 30, 2018 — 575 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for March 2018
=> Flagfox 5.2.x extended support update for Firefox 52 ESR and forks
(Note that recent ESR updates contain a fix for some drag/drop functions)


Version 5.2.4 (ESR) — February 28, 2018 — 571 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for February 2018
=> Flagfox 5.2.x extended support update for Firefox 52 ESR and forks
(Note that recent ESR updates contain a fix for some drag/drop functions)


Version 5.2.3 — November 8, 2017 — 563 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for November 2017
* Minor optimizations/cleanups in new preferences handling code
* Replaced use of some old XPCOM interfaces
* Minor CSS and string handling cleanups; switched to some newer JS, when available
* Replaced the flag icons preview window's size and color sorting with a pre-sorted cache. Now loads instantly and color sorting uses a much better algorithm. (now sorted by xyY colorspace coordinate, red to blue)
* Disabled use of WebExtension pref system in applications other than Firefox (SeaMonkey's WebExtension support is broken, not just missing)

Version 5.2.2 — November 1, 2017 — 559 KB
* Work around Firefox's subscript cache randomly being insane, again, but in a new and more stupid way. (I keep underestimating the level of Mozilla's brokenness, and there's no real way to reproduce this glitch. My thanks to the users who reported these issues. Anyone with Flagfox startup issues after this should clear their Firefox cache and reinstall/update Firefox.)

Version 5.2.1 — November 1, 2017 — 559 KB
* Work around Firefox's subscript cache randomly being insane, again, but in a new and more stupid way.

Version 5.2.0 — October 30, 2017 — 558 KB
* Ported user settings/data storage from nsIPrefService to WebExtension storage (upgrade to Flagfox 5.2.x prior to upgrading to Firefox 57+ is REQUIRED keep prefs; Mozilla does not have ANY method of accessing old prefs from a pure-WebExtension!)
* Removed all use of mozIJSSubScriptLoader due to Mozilla cache bugs that can't be fully worked-around
* Converted IPDB metadata file to proper JSON, now loaded async on startup
* Fixed bug that caused actions pref to take up more storage space than needed when reset to default
* Minor flag icon updates
* Significant default action updates (some fixed/replaced/HTTPS-ified/etc.)
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for October 2017
-> This Flagfox version supports Firefox 24-56 and SeaMonkey 2.21+
-> Recommended minimum version is Firefox 52+
-> Last major version to support pre-WebExtension-apocalypse-Firefox; rewrite for new APIs mandated for Firefox 57+ pending for Flagfox 6.0, release TBD

Version 5.1.29 — September 27, 2017 — 553 KB
* Fix IPDB load error that randomly occurred for a small portion of people
after an update by working around yet another Firefox script caching bug.
(take two, now with more hacks to counter more Firefox brokenness)

Version 5.1.28 — September 27, 2017 — 553 KB
* Fix IPDB load error that randomly occurred for a small portion of people
after an update by working around yet another Firefox script caching bug.

Version 5.1.27 — September 26, 2017 — 552 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for September 2017
* Added proper icon handling for moz-extension:// URLs
* IPs not in the DB now use globe icon & indicate CDN in tooltip
* Successful lookups of unlisted IPs are now cached the same as listed

Version 5.1.26 — August 21, 2017 — 550 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for August 2017

Version 5.1.25 — July 25, 2017 — 547 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for July 2017

Version 5.1.24 — June 19, 2017 — 543 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for June 2017

Version 5.1.23 — May 19, 2017 — 542 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for May 2017

Version 5.1.22 — April 18, 2017 — 540 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for April 2017
* Fix action drag/drop to reorder with workaround for recent Firefox bug

Version 5.1.21 — March 19, 2017 — 534 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for March 2017

Version 5.1.20 — February 18, 2017 — 538 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for February 2017

Version 5.1.19 — January 15, 2017 — 536 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for January 2017

Version 5.1.18 — December 14, 2016 — 534 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for December 2016

Version 5.1.17 — November 20, 2016 — 533 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for November 2016
* Chinese locale updates

Version 5.1.16 — October 10, 2016 — 531 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for October 2016

Version 5.1.15 — September 13, 2016 — 531 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for September 2016

Version 5.1.14 — August 23, 2016 — 509 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for August 2016
* Minor flag icon set updates
* Changed IPDB files to fetch from loaded XPI fully async, rather than only deferred

Version 5.1.13 — July 20, 2016 — 506 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for July 2016

Version 5.1.12 — June 19, 2016 — 504 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for June 2016

Version 5.1.11 — May 18, 2016 — 502 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for May 2016

Version 5.1.10 — April 19, 2016 — 500 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for April 2016
* Added Catalan (ca) locale

Version 5.1.9 — March 17, 2016 — 494 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for March 2016

Version 5.1.8 — February 14, 2016 — 491 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for February 2016

Version 5.1.7 — January 12, 2016 — 489 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for January 2016

Version 5.1.6 — December 20, 2015 — 487 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for December 2015
* Minor flag icon set updates
* Reverted unneeded automatic "fixes" from AMO's overzealous script
(the actually needed changes were done 2 months ago in version 5.1.4)

Version 5.1.5 — November 18, 2015 — 486 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for November 2015
* Updated Geotool URL to use HTTPS without a redirect again

Version 5.1.4 — October 18, 2015 — 484 KB
* IPv4 address location database updates for October 2015 (no v6 update from Maxmind)
* Update use of 'let' to work with newest Nightly changes
* Changed Geotool domain name to attempt to deal with DDoS

Version 5.1.3 — September 11, 2015 — 482 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for September 2015

Version 5.1.2 — August 11, 2015 — 480 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for August 2015
* Fixed bug in updating flag under Reader Mode

Version 5.1.1 — July 17, 2015 — 479 KB
* IPv4 address location database updates for July 2015 (no v6 update from Maxmind)
* Added a small results cache for each window (not saved to disk)
-> Users with bad Internet connections will keep found flags instead of showing errors

Version 5.1.0 — June 9, 2015 — 476 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for June 2015
* IPDB files now encoded in a new compressed format, saving space & some memory
* Locale files now JARed for better compression & simpler code sign verification
* Updated Geotool and Whois actions to HTTPS (default flag click & middle-click)
* Added support for Firefox 38+ Reader Mode
* Minor flag icon set updates
* Switched to newer "drop" event naming to maintain compatibility
* Dropped support for Gecko 17-23 based browsers
-> This Flagfox version supports Firefox 24+ and SeaMonkey 2.21+
-> Recommended minimum version is Firefox 38+

Version 5.0.15 — May 11, 2015 — 724 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for May 2015
* Updated many actions to use HTTPS now that they support it
* Minor flag icon set update

Version 5.0.14 — April 12, 2015 — 724 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for April 2015

Version 5.0.13 — March 12, 2015 — 728 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for March 2015
* Fixed minor bug due to interface change

Version 5.0.12 — February 12, 2015 — 720 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for February 2015

Version 5.0.11 — January 12, 2015 — 714 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for January 2015

Version 5.0.10 — December 9, 2014 — 713 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for December 2014
* Added Slovenian (sl-SI) locale
* Fixed bug causing localized Wikipedia action names to not show

Version 5.0.9 — November 9, 2014 — 710 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for November 2014
* Minor locale and flag icon updates

Version 5.0.8 — October 11, 2014 — 710 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for October 2014

Version 5.0.7 — September 7, 2014 — 694 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for September 2014
* Added support for "view-source:" & "jar:" protocol prefixed URLs
* Improved TLD check to report nationality for restricted gTLDs (edu/gov/mil/asia)
* Minor refactoring to simplify location handling
* Avoid additional lookups on navigation within pages
* Fixed e10s issue caused by recent changes in Nightly

Version 5.0.6 — August 11, 2014 — 692 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for August 2014
* Added e10s support for JS actions and improved form field handling
* Significantly reduced usage of CPOWs under e10s (none on page load now)
-> Multiprocess Firefox now fully supported (new install.rdf flag set to true)

Version 5.0.5 — July 3, 2014 — 687 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for July 2014

Version 5.0.4 — June 5, 2014 — 679 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for June 2014
* Flag icon updates
* Added support for form field actions under e10s
* Updated TLD mismatch warning country code whitelist
* Updated Validate.nu action to use new URL (old is down)
* Minor startup improvements

Version 5.0.3 — May 8, 2014 — 676 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for May 2014
* Removed temporary survey link and 5.0 first update first-run page
* Fixed minor script error in form field actions without button ID

Version 5.0.2 — April 12, 2014 — 673 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for April 2014
* Added temporary link to a user survey to get stats and suggestions about built-in actions

Version 5.0.1 — March 14, 2014 — 660 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for March 2014
* Improved styling of flag icon border to work better with dark themes
* Optimized XPI compression slightly for better extractionless loading
* Removed hack needed to support Australis prior to recent update
* Added ability to unload IPDB files on memory-pressure:heap-minimize
* Minor localization fixes

Version 5.0.0 — February 26, 2014 — 657 KB
* IPv4 & IPv6 address location database updates for February 2014
* New Flagfox logo & new icon for Geotool actions in the menu
* Converted Flagfox to a restartless installation/update addon
-> New Flagfox installs and future updates no longer need a Firefox restart
* Converted Flagfox to an extractionless installation/update addon (with no internal JAR)
-> This should also fix a certain bug stemming from Firefox profile corruption
* Usage of input streams has been replaced with JavaScript typed arrays & DataView
-> This is needed for both extractionless and restartless support, and should be faster
-> Memory reported for Flagfox in about:memory should actually be somewhat accurate now
* Replaced all usage of old resource:// URIs
* Replaced old flag icons with a new custom built set of larger, more detailed
and accurate flag icons based on public domain Wikimedia Commons flag images
-> New set comes with many flag updates and will be possible to update regularly
-> Flag icons will now all show using their proper aspect ratios and accurate colors
-> The icon set is under a Creative Commons permissive license (see license text file)
* Added support for ctrl/shift modifiers on action menu item click
-> ctrl+click opens in background tab/window & shift+click opens in new window
* Added ability to middle-click on an action in the menu to open it in a background tab
* Added ability to middle/ctrl+click multiple actions in a row without closing menu
* Added and updated quite a few country entries (including flags & localized names)
* Added new "formfield:" action pseudo-protocol to allow for some actions without URL APIs
* Replaced old server status checking action with a new more informative one
* Added new Virus Scan (VirusTotal), Netcraft, Bit.ly, is.gd URL, & SSL Server Test actions
* Updated a few more actions to use HTTPS (Virus Scan, WOT, Xmarks, Bit.ly, & Tiny URL)
* Fixed action parameter parsing to properly handle meta tags with dashes in their names
* Fixed error message shown on close of tab with tab-modal prompt from a JS action open
* Removed last usage of Addon Manager JSM APIs (bootstrap.js:startup() is sufficient now)
* Changed actions customizations pref format to store using less space
* Improved default actions list update checking and merging algorithm
* Improved default actions list to asynchronously load from a file, rather than a pref
* Added ability for IPDB files to each load on-demand rather than on startup
-> Flagfox startup is now simpler and quicker; database files don't load unless needed
* Optimized IPDB lookups a little bit & improved IPv6 address parsing code a little bit
* Started using Services.jsm & XPCOMUtils.jsm everywhere applicable (code simplifications)
* Rewrote the about dialog to be more maintainable (translators are now in a scroll box)
* Rewrote the preview icons dialog to show new icons and added ability to sort them there
* Added a few new minor keyboard shortcuts to the options dialog
* Added drop shadow for button icon hover in options dialog to better indicate clickability
* Added new default icon for actions that can't load favicon (and in options when disabled)
* Changed icon to hide at built-in home and new tab pages (no icon if no address shown)
* Fixed detection of offline mode to update the icon immediately
* Fixed a bunch of minor warnings for the AMO addon validator & other misc. code cleanups
* Switched to using ES5 strict mode and fixed a few strict mode issues
* Converted Flagfox preference naming from "flagfox.*" to "extensions.flagfox.*" names
* Removed some obsolete strings and an obsolete country entry
* Removed quirks/hacks needed to support old versions of Firefox and SeaMonkey
* Replaced usage of some deprecated interfaces with newer APIs where needed
* Added first run page to be shown for major updates (with localization for most users)
* Added Malaysian (ms-MY) locale
* Dropped Persian (fa) and Catalan (ca) locales due to lack of translators
* Dropped support for all Gecko 16.0 and older browsers (15.0+ and 17.0+ features used)
-> This Flagfox version supports Firefox 17.0+ (old ESR) and SeaMonkey 2.14+
-> Recommended minimum version is Firefox 24 ESR or latest stable Firefox or SeaMonkey


Version 4.x changelog is available here.

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