The developers of the Pale Moon web browser have released Pale Moon 30.0 to the public for all supported operating systems. Pale Moon 30.0 is a landmark release that includes several major changes, several of which improve the browser’s compatibility with browser extensions.
Pale Moon 30.0 can be downloaded from the project website for Windows and Linux devices. Existing users can use the built-in update system to update the browser to the new version. A manual check for updates is available at Pale Moon > Help > Check for updates.
Pale Moon 30.0
Pale Moon 30.0 is a historic release. It includes changes that were announced in December 2021. At that time, the team announced that it would be changing the direction of the project regarding extension support.
The new version uses the Firefox GUID instead of Pale Moon’s own GUID to improve compatibility with “old, unmaintained Firefox extensions.” Browser users get more freedom when it comes to installing these browser extensions, but the developers point out that with this freedom comes responsibility, as users have to solve “more problems” in the future.
The new version restores compatibility with legacy Firefox extensions, which users can reinstall in the browser. Extensions unique to Pale Moon must also be updated to point to the Firefox GUID.
The Pale Moon website will provide downloads for new and old versions of the browser for some time, as users may need this time to adjust to the changes.
Another major change in Pale Moon affects the use of UXP. No longer used on milestone release. UXP, the Unified XUL Platform, began as a fork of the Mozilla-Central code repository. Now it is delivered “to the community for its maintenance and coordination.”
The development team plans to focus “more strictly” on Pale Moon’s Goanna rendering engine, cutting components and target platforms in the process that can’t be maintained.
Pale Moon 30.0 introduces several other important changes:
- Global Privacy Control has been implemented. Users find the option in Preferences > Privacy.
- The default browser controls have been moved to the General tab.
- Several libraries have been updated.
- The structure of the language pack changed. Some languages may have “a few more untranslated strings” until these are addressed in future releases.
- Various fixes for issues, eg memory security fixes, a possible crash fix.
You can check the full changelog here.
Now you: Do you use the Pale Moon web browser?
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