Mozilla Swats Firefox Bug With a Patch

Source: eweek.com Author:firefoxer Read number:

Officials at Mozilla said they have released an update to fix a flaw in the recently released 2.0.0.10 version of their Firefox browser.

It is the first time ever Mozilla has released two versions of the open-source browser in the same week. When Mozilla released Firefox 2.0.0.10 Monday, it included a bug in its rendering canvas HTML elements. Canvas elements allow for dynamic, scriptable rendering of bitmap images in HTML.

"The bug affects a specific use case of the Canvas tag, which is not yet in wide use," said Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering at Mozilla. "We used our standard process of releasing a beta to tens of thousands of users and had no reports of this issue prior to the full release of 2.0.0.10. Once we became aware of the issue, we worked overtime to address it."

The new version, Firefox 2.0.0.11 is now available for Windows, Mac, and Linux for free download.

According to the company, those users with Firefox 2.x will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. The update can also be applied manually by selecting Check for Updates from the Help menu. 

Acknowledging some users may be upset about the presence of the bug, Schroepfer said the product was thoroughly tested before it was released.

"Firefox code is reviewed and tested by tens of thousands of people worldwide," he said. "While this regression is unfortunate, it impacts a small minority of uses on the Web, and most importantly once it was discovered it was addressed in a matter of days. Thanks to our open process anyone in the world can participate in testing and fixing issues such as this."

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