Firefox 3.0 approaches end-of-life

Mozilla has confirmed that version 3.0 of its popular open source Firefox web browser is approaching its end-of-life (EOL). According to the Mozilla developer's weekly meeting notes, there will be no more updates for Firefox 3.0.x following the release of version 3.0.19, the last security and stability update to the 3.0.x branch. Mozilla had originally planned to discontinue support for Firefox 3.0 in January of this year, however, delays in releasing Firefox 3.6 extended its life for a few more months.

Firefox 3.0 was released in June of 2008 and featured an upgraded Gecko rendering engine and security and interface enhancements. It was one of the first releases that better integrated into Mac OS X and included completely re-worked bookmark and download managers.

Mozilla is also currently working on the 3.5.9 and 3.6.2 updates to the 3.5.x and 3.6 branches of their web browser, seemingly skipping a 3.6.1 release altogether. Baring any delays, the final release of the 3.0.19, 3.5.9 and 3.6.2 updates are all scheduled to be released on the 30th of March.

The latest stable releases of Firefox are version 3.0.18 and 3.5.8 from mid-February and Firefox 3.6 from January. Firefox binaries are released under the Mozilla Firefox End-User Software License Agreement and the source code is released under disjunctive tri-licensing that includes the Mozilla Public Licence, GPLv2 and LGPLv2.1.

See also:

• Mozilla releases second Firefox 4.0 preview, a report from The H.
• Zero day exploit for Firefox 3.6, a report from The H.
• Mozilla addresses critical bugs with Firefox updates, a report from The H.
• Mozilla officially releases Firefox 3.6, a report from The H.

(crve)