Other Chromium Legacy: Google Chrome for OS X 10.7 – 10.9

[Wowfunhappy]

FWIW, Snow Leopard doesn't support thread-local storage. I'm not sure if Chromium uses it, but Rust does, and therefore any modern Rust-requiring Firefox won't work on SL. There could be another similar limitation as well.

Do MacPorts’s “emulated TLS” compilers help with this?

 

[kencu]

most MacPorts compilers support TLS on SnowLeopard (all gcc versions > 4.6 or so, certainly > 5, and all clang versions > 5.0). That was a project of mine a couple of winters ago, that like most projects wasn't too hard once the solution was identified (llvm has a built-in fallback TLS for platforms that don't support it natively, in newer versions).

Same on Leopard and on Tiger, although PPC can still only reliably use gcc still.

To allow libc++ to support TLS requires one extra bootstrapping step -- you have to build libc++ with clang-3.4, then build clang-5.0, then use clang-5.0 to build a fully-TLS libc++ to replace the bootstrap version. I'd prefer to automate that, but have quite finished that step yet.

But the issue with rust has to do with the fact that it uses a prebuilt rustc to build itself, and that prebuilt rustc doesn't run on older systems because of API and also the TLS they used.

Same thing happened with haskell/ghc... there I went back 5 years until I found the last one that did build on SL, and then used that to stepping-stone up to a current ghc that runs on SL. Someone could do that with rust too, if motivated enough to spend the time!

 

[kencu]

Despite the name, TenFourFox for Intel is current (FPR32) while TenSixFox, which was a one-off thing, is a few years out of date (insofar as security patches go).

Glad you find it useful! Riccardo and I spent a few weeks working through the fixes needed to make TFF work on Intel a couple of winters back, and I've been building and uploading it to Cameron's SourceForge site for a few years.

 

[kencu]

No, but read between the lines a bit here:

• Chromium Legacy tracks upstream Chromium relatively closely.
  • No major architectural rework is required to make Chromium support down to Lion. Google just didn't care and wanted to simplify their codebase.
• Google dropped Snow Leopard, Lion, and Mountain Lion at the same time
  • Snow Leopard was probably dropped for the same reason as Lion and Mountain Lion.
• The developer of Chromium Legacy runs Lion.
  • He probably decided to stop at the version he uses personally, which is perfectly reasonable in an unpaid personal project.

So, I suspect the reason is there is no reason! Google just couldn't be bothered. A developer of sufficient experience and motivation could probably create a pull request for Chromium Legacy which adds Snow Leopard support.

Not to overstate my roll here, because Bluebox wrote the actual fix and because adding forwards-compatibility is generally easier than back-porting—but the reason Chromium Legacy works on Mavericks today is because I spent many weekends figuring out why it used to crash at startup on that OS. Once I'd tracked down the cause, Bluebox was able to push a fix.

(Notably, this is a different situation than Firefox, which has a hard requirement on Lion because it uses Rust.)

I have been pondering an attempt to make this work on systems < Lion but the build system is a bit daunting and I've been lazy about that. Any 1-pager on how to set it up you might know about?

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I have been pondering an attempt to make this work on systems < Lion but the build system is a bit daunting and I've been lazy about that. Any 1-pager on how to set it up you might know about?

I went through this (finally) a couple of weeks ago: https://github.com/blueboxd/chromium-legacy/discussions/24

It ended up being quite easy due to bluebox's build script, it was merely intimidating! The pieces are here, just run build.sh! (I encountered a few issues in that thread linked above, but Bluebox says he's since fixed them!)

Note that this needs to be done on macOS 10.15 or above; Chromium Legacy cannot itself be built on a legacy OS. And, definitely plan on letting the build run over night and then some, it's sloooooow!

 

[kencu]

Thanks...probably a long shot, but it would be nice if it worked. I have been using this browser on 10.7, and it's been very useful.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Thanks...probably a long shot, but it would be nice if it worked. I have been using this browser on 10.7, and it's been very useful.

You're very welcome, please do report back on what you find either way!

 

[parrotgeek1]

most MacPorts compilers support TLS on SnowLeopard (all gcc versions > 4.6 or so, certainly > 5, and all clang versions > 5.0). That was a project of mine a couple of winters ago, that like most projects wasn't too hard once the solution was identified (llvm has a built-in fallback TLS for platforms that don't support it natively, in newer versions).

Same on Leopard and on Tiger, although PPC can still only reliably use gcc still.

To allow libc++ to support TLS requires one extra bootstrapping step -- you have to build libc++ with clang-3.4, then build clang-5.0, then use clang-5.0 to build a fully-TLS libc++ to replace the bootstrap version. I'd prefer to automate that, but have quite finished that step yet.

But the issue with rust has to do with the fact that it uses a prebuilt rustc to build itself, and that prebuilt rustc doesn't run on older systems because of API and also the TLS they used.

Same thing happened with haskell/ghc... there I went back 5 years until I found the last one that did build on SL, and then used that to stepping-stone up to a current ghc that runs on SL. Someone could do that with rust too, if motivated enough to spend the time!

Thank you for all of this investigation. I had no idea that a TLS-supporting compiler existed for SL. However, to be frank, I don't have the time or energy to do all this bootstrapping. I would only consider working on something for SL if the required compiler binaries were provided. Good luck on your Chromium adventure! That would be amazing to see.

EDIT: As of 2021-10-24, Firefox Legacy is no longer supported, and there will be no further work done on it.

 

[kencu]

everything I described is available as prebuilt binaries on the MacPorts buildbot, automatically downloaded and installed on request, so an end user needs to build nothing from scratch. As are hundreds of MB of other software.

examples:

clang-11-11.1.0_3+analyzer+defaultlibcxx+emulated_tls+libstdcxx.darwin_10.x86_64.tbz2
llvm-11-11.1.0_2+emulated_tls.darwin_10.x86_64.tbz2
cctools-949.0.1_1+llvm34.darwin_10.x86_64.tbz2
libcxx-5.0.1_4.darwin_10.x86_64.tbz2
libgcc11-11.2.0_1.darwin_10.x86_64.tbz2
gcc11-11.2.0_1.darwin_10.x86_64.tbz2


clang-11-11.1.0_3+analyzer+defaultlibcxx+emulated_tls+libstdcxx.darwin_10.i386.tbz2
llvm-11-11.1.0_2+emulated_tls.darwin_10.i386.tbz2
cctools-949.0.1_1+llvm34.darwin_10.i386.tbz2
libcxx-5.0.1_4.darwin_10.i386.tbz2
libgcc11-11.2.0_1.darwin_10.i386.tbz2
gcc11-11.2.0_1.darwin_10.i386.tbz2

 

[bbbc]

I have been using this browser on 10.7, and it's been very useful.

Can I ask what version you're using with Lion 10.7.5? I installed 96.0.4652.0 (September 24, 2021) and once it opens, the UI is quite garbled and completely unusable. I'm on a BlackBook with an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 and only 2GB.

Luckily, Waterfox Classic 2021.09 runs well with uBlock Origin Legacy and Bitwarden 1.48.1 . I'm purposely blocking updates beyond this version of Bitwarden since newer versions crap out.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Can I ask what version you're using with Lion 10.7.5? I installed 96.0.4652.0 (September 24, 2021) and once it opens, the UI is quite garbled and completely unusable. I'm on a machine with only 2GB.

Did this happen as of a recent build? You may want to post an issue with screenshots on the Github project. Bluebox runs Lion himself so I imagine the problem will be fixed relatively soon, unless it is somehow specific to the amount of memory in your machine... but I can't really think of why that would be...

 

[AndrewVerse]

Hello. I recently had a computer crash and will be installing Mac OS 10.7 on a 2010 Imac. I have realized that running Safari on Mac OS 10.7 doesn't allow me to access many websites at all anymore. Google Chrome however does still allow me to access quite a few websites on 10.7. My issue here is that I don't know have anyway that I have found to install an older version of Google Chrome onto a Mac OS 10.7 system. I came across this thread here about Chromium Legacy.

Will Chromium Legacy work on a Mac 10.7 similar to an older version of Google Chrome? How can I download and install?
Which version should I download and install and do I need an old version of Google Chrome to install it?

thanks,

Andrew

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Will Chromium Legacy work on a Mac 10.7 similar to an older version of Google Chrome?

It should, and it'll be more secure and work with every website. You may encounter a few more bugs here and there.

I recommend using https://jonathanalland.com/downloads/chromium-legacy-downloader.dmg so it's easy to update in the future.

 

[AndrewVerse]

It should, and it'll be more secure and work with every website. You may encounter a few more bugs here and there.

I recommend using https://jonathanalland.com/downloads/chromium-legacy-downloader.dmg so it's easy to update in the future.

Thanks. I have installed chromium 3 times now using different "builds". The installation is successful, but every time I open the Chromium App it tries to load but then crashes. Should I just try installing different "builds"?

Andrew

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Thanks. I have installed chromium 3 times now using different "builds". The installation is successful, but every time I open the Chromium App it tries to load but then crashes. Should I just try installing different "builds"?

Andrew

Yes, if the newest one (at the top of the list) didn't work, I might try the oldest one next (bottom of the list). If both of those crash on startup then something is probably wrong, and it would be great to see a crash log.

Edit: Also, try downloading a build directly from https://github.com/blueboxd/chromium-legacy/releases. It will contain some bugs that my downloader fixes, and of course it will be more annoying to update. But, this will tell us if the problem was caused by my downloader of if it's in the builds themselves.

 

[bbbc]

@AndrewVerse I have figured out a means to get Chromium Legacy from crashing on my old MacBook 4,1 , but it might be a bit cumbersome for a novice since you create a shortcut icon to open the legacy build that you've downloaded manually - https://github.com/blueboxd/chromium-legacy/issues/32#issuecomment-926872441 . Printing does not work for me though with 10.7.5 and Chromium Legacy.

You may want to get a combo of Waterfox Classic 2021.09, uBlock Origin Legacy, and Classic Add-ons Archive to cover most of your browsing and printing for now, but video streaming like YouTube is flakey unfortunately.

Waterfox Classic (scroll down to Classic editions) - https://www.waterfox.net/download/
uBlock Origin Legacy (install XPI) - https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock-for-firefox-legacy/releases
Classic Add-ons Archive (install XPI) - https://github.com/JustOff/ca-archive/releases

If you need a modern compatible office suite
NeoOffice Classic Edition (3.4.1.28) - https://www.neooffice.org

@Wowfunhappy Thank you for the tweak you messaged me with and your continuous help to the Lion refugees. Any chance you can update your downloader with a toggle switch (build it in) to help others who may be in my situation needing arguments until things are fixed?

 

[Wowfunhappy]

@Wowfunhappy Thank you for the tweak you messaged me with and your continuous help to the Lion refugees. Any chance you can update your downloader with a switch toggle (build it in) to help others who may be in my situation until things are fixed?

I'd like to wait for a few months and see if more information comes to light as to why the problem is appearing on your machine. If we can isolate the cause, the flag could be enabled automatically.

 

[bbbc]

I'd like to wait for a few months and see if more information comes to light as to why the problem is appearing on your machine. If we can isolate the cause, the flag could be enabled automatically.

I just got the vibe AndrewVerse was going through the same thing too. No worries and as usual, thanks for the help.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

If I'm understanding properly, AndrewVerse's build is just outright crashing at startup.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

@AndrewVerse In case you haven't been following the Github, your problems should disappear when you install Apple's Security Update 2014-004.

 

[davigarma]

Finally the tragic day has arrived and Firefox 78 esr has just received the latest update 78.15 for 10.9, 10.10 and 10.11. Firefox just died for Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan. Now only Chromium remains for Mavericks and Yosemite. El Capitan still receives official Chrome updates

 

[MacBiter]

Finally the tragic day has arrived and Firefox 78 esr has just received the latest update 78.15 for 10.9, 10.10 and 10.11. Firefox just died for Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan. Now only Chromium remains for Mavericks and Yosemite. El Capitan still receives official Chrome updates

I don't understand. If Firefox 78 ESR (78.14 is currently running fine in Mavericks, by the way) has just received an update, then why do you say only Chromium remains for Mavericks?

 

[B S Magnet]

I don't understand. If Firefox 78 ESR (78.14 is currently running fine in Mavericks, by the way) has just received an update, then why do you say only Chromium remains for Mavericks?

It means 78 ESR will no longer be updated with minor revisions and security updates, as 78 ESR was the last major version of Firefox Mozilla offered which has been supported on Mavericks and later OS X/macOS version. With 78.15.0 ESR, the 78 ESR updates have ended.

Of course, there may still be community-based builds based on Firefox which will find ways to bring in features like security updates, but those builds will not be produced or provided by Mozilla.

 

[MacBiter]

It means 78 ESR will no longer be updated with minor revisions and security updates, as 78 ESR was the last major version of Firefox Mozilla offered which has been supported on Mavericks and later OS X/macOS version. With 78.15.0 ESR, the 78 ESR updates have ended.

Of course, there may still be community-based builds based on Firefox which will find ways to bring in features like security updates, but those builds will not be produced or provided by Mozilla.

Ah. Then when you said "latest" above, you actually meant "last"? Ok, I understand now. But I think you're premature. If Firefox 78 ESR has just been updated to 78.15, then it's not dead yet, but will gradually start to break at some unknown point in the future.

 

[B S Magnet]

Ah. Then when you said "latest" above, you actually meant "last"? Ok, I understand now. But I think you're premature. If Firefox 78 ESR has just been updated to 78.15, then it's not dead yet, but will gradually start to break at some unknown point in the future.

I mean, you are welcome to split hairs… but yah: it’s end of the line for Firefox-branded Mozilla browsers on the impacted OS X versions.