Firefox 149.0 released [LWN.net]

Version 149.0 of the Firefox web browser has been released. Notable features in this release include a new split-view feature for viewing two web pages side-by-side, a built-in VPN for browser traffic only, and more.

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File picker

Posted Mar 24, 2026 21:49 UTC (Tue) by agraven (subscriber, #159039) [Link] (3 responses)

> On Linux, Firefox will now default to the XDG portal file picker if available, rather than the GTK3 one, which is usually better integrated with the user's desktop environment, and more powerful.

I never thought I would see the day, I have lost count of how many years I've been longing for this. Exciting stuff!

File picker

Posted Mar 25, 2026 3:09 UTC (Wed) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link] (2 responses)

You can do this with older Firefox versions already:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Firefox#XDG_Desktop_Port...

With Debian builds of Firefox, put these lines in the /etc/firefox*/*firefox*.js files:

pref("widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.file-picker", 1);
pref("widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.mime-handler", 1);
pref("widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.settings", 1);
pref("widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.location", 1);
pref("widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.open-uri", 1);

File picker

Posted Mar 25, 2026 9:51 UTC (Wed) by mote (guest, #173576) [Link] (1 responses)

I might recommend storing customizations in `user.js` in the profile directory, replacing the initial `pref` with `user_pref`- rest is the same.

File picker

Posted Apr 9, 2026 6:35 UTC (Thu) by pabs (subscriber, #43278) [Link]

I strongly prefer the global config dir instead, so that all current and future profiles get the same settings. No point in having some profiles with non-native file pickers.

Split view is nice

Posted Mar 24, 2026 22:14 UTC (Tue) by fraetor (subscriber, #161147) [Link]

A few years ago I had hacked up a browser extension that did showed side by side browser panes, like the new split view does. I never got it working reliability, but its great to see it implemented properly.

Fox!

Posted Mar 25, 2026 9:18 UTC (Wed) by NHO (subscriber, #104320) [Link]

Now Kit is on every error page. Cute!

Credit where it's due

Posted Mar 25, 2026 12:50 UTC (Wed) by rbtree (guest, #129790) [Link]

No idea how long they intend to subsidize the built-in "VPN", but it now makes is that much easier to recommend Firefox to others in countries like mine, where:

1. about half of the web is blocked (to protect the children, to protect you from yourself, etc), and
2. monthly payments for even cheap commercial services cover about a day of your life expenses

so nobody has any money for them.

Practically everyone I know uses "free" VPNs, all of them have horrific privacy policies. Whatever Mozilla does with data they collect, it's bound to be less nefarious than the alternatives.