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by lvh 3146 days ago
So far, Chrome has better sandboxing support on most platforms (especially Linux), though Chrome's catching up quickly.

I'm generally optimistic about Rust code having fewer exploitable defects, although it's a reasonable argument to suggest that the previous C++ parts had a lot more public scrutiny.

Also, for me personally: I use a lot of different profiles and using multiple Firefox profiles simultaneously is a mess. The only UX that still works is about:profiles (all of the profile switcher extensions broke since the move to WebExtensions) and I've had Firefox beachball (hang -- I'm on macOS) on me twice while doing that.

Don't get me wrong! I love Firefox and I'm really excited about this change.

3 comments

Hey lvh. As imron suggested, I've found containers have largely replaced my need for multiple profiles day-to-day, with the main exception of throwaway profiles, which `firefox --profile $(mktemp -d) --new-instance` handles well enough.

I'd love to talk to you more about the ergonomics of containers / profiles for your use case. You know how to reach me. :)

Containers are great, but there needs to be an easier way to open a link in a new container. Right now it's burried in a sub menu of the context menu. Lifting the menu item to the top level of the context menu would be a great improvement. Ideally there should also be a configurable keyboard shortcut.
> firefox --profile $(mktemp -d) --new-instance

Thanks for that, I can now replace `chromium --temp-profile`.

> and using multiple Firefox profiles simultaneously is a mess.

Not sure if it meets your use case, but checkout Firefox containers.

Is https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account... really broken? That was a test pilot experiment till two month ago, it would be very bad (and a bit ridiculous) if that addon were already broken.
Containers are different from Profiles.

Containers only separate Cookies and login data, to make you look towards the internet like multiple people.

Profiles on the other hand separate everything, as if you had two completely independent Firefox installations. Different browsing history, bookmarks, themes, extensions.

They work very well for allowing multiple people to all have their own Firefox, even though it's the same installation. But also really well for single-person use, for example I have a normal Profile for everyday browsing and then a webdev Profile, where I don't put in content/tracking blockers.

You can manage Profiles by typing "about:profiles" into the URL bar or with this: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-...

Not broken. Using it on FF57 stable.