Mozilla Firefox 121 has been released, and it’s a notable one for Linux Wayland users.
For the Ubuntu 23.10 release, the Firefox Snap runs in Wayland mode by default (and like many of you I’ve noticed nothing but bountiful benefits resulting from the switch).
Mozilla’s workshop elves were clearly happy with the success of that trial as they’ve now chosen to make Firefox 121 run in Wayland mode by default for all Linux users (who use Wayland; the browser runs under Xorg/X11 as well as it ever did).
Why is Firefox enabling native Wayland mode by default a big deal? And how does that mode differ to the xWayland mode the browser has been running in on Wayland sessions prior to this release?
- Better graphics performance
- Non-blurry rendering on HiDPI displays/fractional scaling
- Per-monitor DPI settings respected
- Full support for touchpad and touchscreen gestures
Plus:
- It’s embracing the future ✨
Okay, so that bullet point isn’t something Mozilla is talking up but, as a Linux user, it’s clear that Wayland is the future for modern, secure, performant display server needs on Linux. Like 64-bit computing, it just is.
The prospect of Wayland being a “future” feature, shrouded in distant hopes and worries, has ceased to exist. It has arrived, it’s operational, it’s in great demand, and it’s introducing exciting features like HDR support for Linux.
To ensure that Mozilla Firefox continues to offer Linux users a stable, trustworthy, and seamless experience, it must stay abreast of technology advancements —and setting Wayland as the default (when supported) is a critical stride towards that.
Apologies for the slight digression there, sorry 😅.
Other significant alterations in Firefox 121 include:
- New option to force-underline links in websites
- Easier to delete drawings/text/images when editing PDFs
- Support for Voice Control commands on macOS
- Prompts users to install Microsoft AV1 Extension on Windows
Linux-specific bug fixes include:
- PiP window showing black borders on top and bottom
- AppStream metainfo in Firefox Flatpak now follows latest spec
- Dialogs/windows becoming ‘unnecessarily’ large in KDE Wayland
- Mouse cursor inappropriately changes icon
- Fix for issue causing slow startup on certain distros
- Browsing history being leaked to syslogs in GNOME
Firefox 121 boasts further expansion to its web platform capabilities, including support for hanging & each-line keywords in the CSS text-indent property, and support for text-wrap: balance to ‘harmonize’ line lengths in short, multi-line text blocks.
Download Firefox 121
If there are any changes that I have missed, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment.
Expect an update to Mozilla Firefox 121 on your system in the coming days. This can be in the form of an in-app update (for existing Firefox users on Windows, macOS, and Linux binary users), a background update (for the Firefox Snap users), or a repo update (for users of PPAs, AUR, etc).
Alternatively, Mozilla Firefox can be downloaded from the official website.