Firefox bug gets fixed after 25 years

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Age and Context of the Bug

  • Original bug is ~24–25 years old, predating Firefox and coming from the Netscape/Mozilla Suite era.
  • Some commenters were subscribed to it for decades and describe periodic notifications as a kind of long-running in-joke.
  • Fix is implemented via a user/extension preference, not a default web feature, partly for security reasons (e.g., clickjacking concerns).

Bugzilla, Long-Lived Bugs, and Project Practices

  • Bugzilla is praised as a long-lived, still-solid bug tracker; some consider it superior to many modern alternatives.
  • Other trackers (e.g., Mantis) are criticized as clunky, while FogBugz is mentioned with curiosity and nostalgia.
  • There is appreciation that Mozilla does not blindly auto-close old bugs, in contrast to some modern workflows.

User Frustrations with Unfixed or Old Bugs

  • Multiple long-standing issues are cited: Thunderbird’s folder-fetch behavior, copy/paste restrictions in Firefox, x.com breakage, and a 12-year-old LibreOffice graphing bug.
  • These are used as examples of how complexity, legacy code, or prioritization can block seemingly “simple” fixes for years.

Configuration, XDG, and App Data Debates

  • Some hope Firefox will adopt XDG base directories; others argue the spec is messy, not widely valued by typical users, and driven by vocal distro communities.
  • There’s debate over whether XDG meaningfully solves problems vs. just “cleaning” $HOME.
  • Broader desire for sandboxed, per-app data isolation is expressed, with references to Flatpak-like models.

UI/UX Complaints (Dates, Hover, Textareas)

  • Strong criticism of “human-readable” relative timestamps (“yesterday”, “a month ago”) without easy access to exact dates/times.
  • Some like relative times but insist they must be supplemented (e.g., via hover or tap); mobile makes this harder.
  • Hover-based UI in general divides opinions: some defend it as valid desktop affordance; others find popups and hidden info infuriating.
  • Textareas are described as neglected, “1990s” components lacking modern alternatives with good OS integration.

Attitudes Toward Auto-Closing and “Bug Bankruptcy”

  • Auto-closing or locking issues (e.g., GitHub stale bots, AWS bug purges) is widely condemned as disrespectful to reporters’ time.
  • Some argue old bugs should just be closed; others insist bugs are long-term documentation and should remain open unless verified as fixed.