Don't throw tomatoes ... but there's an Intel version

UPDATE: to whomever posted this to root86, do us all a favour and either link this post or the IntelBuild wiki page. It's uncool to offer an unsupported product without comment and not allow people to read about the support level first. I really don't want to get people complaining down the road if this port goes off the rails. Fix your link, please.

Remember in 1997 how Bill Gates appeared at Macworld with Steve-O and got booed because the enemy was now within the gates? Well, this is like that.

At least one of you has discovered the work of our newest contributor Claudio, who contributed patches in issue 204 for enabling TenFourFox 17 to build on Intel 10.4. This is a common question I get ("why is TenFourFox not universal? why doesn't it work on my MacBook?"), so Claudio has graciously consented to handling the Intel fork for the moment. Beforehand, however, let's get a few things straight:

• PowerPC remains the primary architecture of development for TenFourFox. The Intel version is a sideline maintained by an interested contributor. This is, as Apple says about AppleTV, a "hobby." The Intel version will never delay the PowerPC version, which is the primary focus of development, nor will unnecessary limitations required for an Intel build be applied to a PowerPC build (we have enough of our own limitations to worry about), nor will it be offered on the main page for the foreseeable future.
• If you own an Intel Mac running 10.4 or 10.5, your best option is still to upgrade to at least 10.6 and run real honest-to-JWZ Firefox. This is only for those people who for some reason can't or won't upgrade, and understand the risks of staying with 10.4 or 10.5 (which are much higher in practice than the risks to Power Mac users with the same versions).
• I don't build the Intel version (I have a single solitary 10.6 Intel Mac); Claudio builds it himself. I haven't even tried running it yet, but the patches look good.
• The Intel version, as well as trying to run the PowerPC version under Rosetta, is unsupported. Let me say that again. The Intel version, as well as trying to run the PowerPC version under Rosetta, is unsupported. Do not report bugs to Tenderapp. You may report them to the Google Code project (as you may for unstable releases), but bugs reported to the Google Code project are under the same limitations: you must test them under Firefox on a Tier-1 architecture before you make any report to demonstrate the bug is not Mozilla's or the bug will be marked invalid. And, even if you do report it, the Intel fork is not release quality. It's an experiment. Bugs, even major ones, may not be repaired quickly or at all, and releases may not be timely. If you want a real release quality Firefox on Intel, do yourself a favour and upgrade to 10.6.
• The Intel version may cease development at any time. Right now it works with 17. We have not tried getting 19 to compile, though it probably will, but you shouldn't assume that nor that there will be even another ESR release of the browser. There. Is. No. Support.

The long and short: don't make me or Claudio regret offering this, okay? If you are expecting the same level of quality or service you get from Firefox or from mainline PowerPC TenFourFox, do not download this browser.

Having scared the entitled cheapskates off to OmniWeb, those of you in this very, very, very small demographic can get the download link and a refresher course on the very many limitations attached to it from the "official" Intel build Wiki page.

Back on regular development, 19 has had a lot of display and graphics issues, as expected. The good news is most of these will be corrected. More on that as the final release approaches.