Arch Linux User Repository

@peter.kehl okay, I'll push a new pkgbase at bin-32-firefox-bin, and request this to be merged.

@xiota

1. Why 32-bit firefox on 64-bit Linux? To push the limits.
2. I test various resource limits by systemd + Firefox shell arguments + about:config + policies
3. It gives a (rather harsh) notification when I'm pushing too much (when any process reaches the 4GB addressable space). As I understand, Mozilla makes the x32 build with memory options different to x64 builds.

4. It is actually faster for me than the official x64 Arch Firefox package. I believe it's the size of pointers and related caches (most likely directly speeding up Javascript only, but thus speeding up the whole browser anyway).

5. Thank you for pointing to Archlinux32. But its Firefox package is half a year old; Firefox doesn't like/allow reverting user profiles to earlier versions; and that Archlinux 32 package seems to be compiled from source (too many dependencies), so out of my capabilities to update/maintain it.

For anyone's reference, when choosing an Archlinux32 package for the latest/last x32 CPUs (or if running on x64), you don't want i686 architecture , but you want pentium architecture: https://archlinux32.org/packages/pentium4/extra/firefox.

What is the use case for 32-bit firefox on 64-bit linux? Doesn't archlinux32 already have firefox in its repos.

@MarsSeed or anyone who can answer: If this package bin32-firefox, as is (v. 116.0.3-1), doesn't conform to AUR submission guidelines, could you or someone rename it to bin32-firefox-bin? It hasn't been maintained for long, so it seems unlikely anyone would step up and change it to be compiled from source.

(I'd be interested in compiling from source, but only as my secondary priority; for now I'm open to be a maintainer of this as-is, that is, using a binary downloaded from Mozilla. (I did look at the standard (x64) Firefox package, compiled from source (https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/packaging/packages/firefox), and I'd need some help to apply that to compile it from source for x32. Could anyone mentor me, please?)

@MarsSeed Does that mean that this package, as is (v. 116.0.3-1), doesn't conform to AUR submission guidelines either?

If so, can someone make this package (as is) obsolete (or anything similar)?

@peter.kehl, the patch you shared is not enough to make this package conform to AUR submission guidelines. It should be submitted to AUR as bin32-firefox-bin.

This current package would only be valid if it built a 32-bit Firefox for x86_64 Arch Linux from source.

Please, apply the below patch, to 1. update to the current (122.0), and 2. add lib32-pciutils as an optional dependency. Without that, I've been consistently getting the following (and similar) errors on stderr:

[GFX1-]: glxtest: libpci missing
...
[Parent 739017, Main Thread] WARNING: g_find_program_for_path: assertion 'program != NULL' failed: 'glib warning', file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/toolkit/xre/nsSigHandlers.cpp:187
...
(firefox:739017): GLib-CRITICAL **: 14:06:20.450: g_find_program_for_path: assertion 'program != NULL' failed
...
[Child 815347, MediaDecoderStateMachine #1] WARNING: Decoder=dffe0580 state=DECODING_METADATA Decode metadata failed, shutting down decoder: file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/dom/media/MediaDecoderStateMachine.cpp:372
[Child 815347, MediaDecoderStateMachine #1] WARNING: Decoder=dffe0580 Decode error: NS_ERROR_DOM_MEDIA_METADATA_ERR (0x806e0006): file /builds/worker/checkouts/gecko/dom/media/MediaDecoderStateMachineBase.cpp:166
...

Plus, without lib32-pciutils, my Firefox would crash about twice a day (I have many tabs, but nevertheless). With lib32-pciutils it hasn't crashed yet.

(I did have the above, or similar, problems with both 116 and 122, until I've installed lib32-pciutils. So it's needed regardless of Firefox version.)

While on this topic: Could the above warrant making lib32-pciutils a required dependency? Would anyone be opposed?

The following is an output of my git diff --cached. You can apply it with patch -p1 < file-where-you-saved-it.txt, or (probably with) git apply). Or I can share my changes on GitHub.

diff --git a/.SRCINFO b/.SRCINFO
index 5bdc444..c3ea85f 100644
--- a/.SRCINFO
+++ b/.SRCINFO
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 pkgbase = bin32-firefox
        pkgdesc = Standalone web browser from mozilla.org - 32bit version for 64bit systems
-       pkgver = 116.0.3
+       pkgver = 122.0
        pkgrel = 1
        url = https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/
        arch = x86_64
@@ -14,10 +14,11 @@ pkgbase = bin32-firefox
        optdepends = lib32-librsvg: svg_loader.so library
        optdepends = lib32-gtk-engines: libclearlooks.so library
        optdepends = lib32-ffmpeg: extra codec support (x264)
-       source = https://download-installer.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/firefox/releases/116.0.3/linux-i686/en-US/firefox-116.0.3.tar.bz2
+       optdepends = lib32-pciutils: libpci 32 bit
+       source = https://download-installer.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/firefox/releases/122.0/linux-i686/en-US/firefox-122.0.tar.bz2
        source = firefox32.desktop
        validpgpkeys = 14F26682D0916CDD81E37B6D61B7B526D98F0353
-       sha256sums = 70b68ad04bbc5a36414111c6e0586a1ddf5c4d0d36d31d22ac0c0c9004e6f672
+       sha256sums = d986a5321fd200f22cf6c0104725637712f107ab2b38f34ad61e6712aee3e4d8
        sha256sums = 8477bb0a22be7fc39fcad1daad444862fac359b74662b447954811fdae1a5bf2

 pkgname = bin32-firefox
diff --git a/PKGBUILD b/PKGBUILD
index 2d3ff45..e20c616 100644
--- a/PKGBUILD
+++ b/PKGBUILD
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 # Contributor: Ali Akbar

 pkgname=bin32-firefox
-pkgver=116.0.3
+pkgver=122.0
 pkgrel=1
 pkgdesc="Standalone web browser from mozilla.org - 32bit version for 64bit systems"
 arch=('x86_64')
@@ -18,10 +18,11 @@ url="https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/"
 depends=('lib32-dbus-glib' 'lib32-gtk3' 'lib32-libxt' 'lib32-nss')
 optdepends=('lib32-librsvg: svg_loader.so library'
             'lib32-gtk-engines: libclearlooks.so library'
-            'lib32-ffmpeg: extra codec support (x264)')
+            'lib32-ffmpeg: extra codec support (x264)'
+            'lib32-pciutils: libpci 32 bit')
 source=(https://download-installer.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/firefox/releases/$pkgver/linux-$_arch/en-US/firefox-$pkgver.tar.bz2
         'firefox32.desktop')
-sha256sums=('70b68ad04bbc5a36414111c6e0586a1ddf5c4d0d36d31d22ac0c0c9004e6f672'
+sha256sums=('d986a5321fd200f22cf6c0104725637712f107ab2b38f34ad61e6712aee3e4d8'
             '8477bb0a22be7fc39fcad1daad444862fac359b74662b447954811fdae1a5bf2')
 validpgpkeys=('14F26682D0916CDD81E37B6D61B7B526D98F0353') # Mozilla Software Releases <release@mozilla.com>

Memory usage of Firefox drastically went down after major updates last year.

I can open ~300 tabs whereas previously my RAM was full after ~100 tabs.

I think this makes the bin32 package of Firefox much less necessary.

if you encounter

==> Verifying source file signatures with gpg...
    firefox-81.0.tar.bz2 ... FAILED (unknown public key F1A6668FBB7D572E)
==> ERROR: One or more PGP signatures could not be verified!

do $ gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net:80 --recv-key 0x61B7B526D98F0353

this will download and trust the mozilla pgp certificate.