Hi Mikey.

Mikey via Dng - 14.07.24, 16:33:03 CEST:
> The current version in Daedalus is 22.12.1, the version in Debian
> Trixie is 24.01.75
>
> It doesn't matter what dependencies these are, the newer version from
> Debian cannot be installed. I can say, there are dependencies in
> relation to the version of the needed packages and not the packages
> themselves, that's it. The question is why a outdated browser version
> is delivered in Devuan and what you can do.
> Flatpak would not be an option.

Devuan 5 aka Daedalus is based on Debian 12 aka Bookworm. It is not based
on the upcoming, *not yet released* Debian 13 aka Trixie. That would be
the upcoming Devuan Excalibur.

Neither Devuan 5 nor Debian 12 is a rolling distro. That means package
versions remain the same during the lifetime of the distribution. With
very few exceptions.

Firefox is for example one of those exceptions. The Debian Firefox
packagers move it to a new version in case the old ESR version is not
supported by upstream anymore. In the main repository they only provide
the ESR release of Firefox I think.

Sadly Falkon can currently be considered a niche browser. It is not in
that exception.

You may ask either the maintainer of the Falkon package or on Debian
backports mailing list, preferably both, for a backport. There has been a
backport for Bullseye, but there currently is no backport for Bookworm.

Politely! Kindly!

If you go like "Provide an updated version of Falkon. Now!" good luck. It
likely won't work. Most of the maintainers work in their free time. You do
not have the right to decide what people are doing in their free time.

If you kindly ask them, you may be lucky.

It is really that simple. How you speak out into the world it will respond
back.

However on the other hand it is not all that simple: Falkon uses Qt
WebEngine and unless there is a backport of that as well, it may either
not be possible to provide an updated Falkon as a Backport or… it may not
fix your issue due to still being based on an outdated Qt WebEngine. But I
bet the maintainer can clarify on which one it would be.

If you need a browser that is supported during lifetime of Devuan
Daedalus, then use Firefox. I bet Chromium is also covered by an
exception, but I never checked.

Otherwise something like a Flatpak is the only easy option I see.

If you complain on the pure fact that an outdated browser is delivered,
well… then in case is it not yet covered by a no / limited security
support exception which check-support-status from the package
debian-security-support would show you may open a bug for the package to
add it there. It does not show Falkon here, so it is probably not in their
list. Well its based on Qt WebEngine and that *is* in their list. So no
security support for Qt WebEngine and anything that is based on it.

* Source:qtwebengine-opensource-src
Details: No security support upstream and backports not feasible, only
for use on trusted content
Affected binary packages:
- libqt5webengine-data (installed version: 5.15.17+dfsg-3)
- libqt5webengine5:amd64 (installed version: 5.15.17+dfsg-3)
- libqt5webenginecore5:amd64 (installed version: 5.15.17+dfsg-3)
- libqt5webenginewidgets5:amd64 (installed version: 5.15.17+dfsg-3)
- qml-module-qtwebengine:amd64 (installed version: 5.15.17+dfsg-3)
- qtwebengine5-dev-tools (installed version: 5.15.17+dfsg-3)

It is as clear as it can get: "only for use on trusted content".

I have the new version anyway, as I am on Devuan Ceres which is based on
Debian Unstable. That is a rolling distro with its own share of issues
every now and then. I am not sure I would recommend to switch to it. If
you are fine with dealing with bugs, then it may be a choice for you. If
not, at the current stage, better state with Daedalus.

If you are not happy with all of that, want no Flatpak, do not want to ask
for a backport, well then consider moving to a distribution that updates
more regularly. Or use a security supported browser another browser like
Firefox.

However no amount of complaining here will fix what Debian Stable on which
Devuan Stable is based on actually is. Especially it would not be the job
of Devuan maintainers to provide any backports for those packages. They
have enough on their plate making a distro based on Debian that works with
other than Systemd.

And… both Devuan and Debian come without warranty. They specifically do not
guarantee to keep your favorite niche browser updated during lifetime of a
stable release. That affects Konqueror as well, which is still available.

Browsers are hard these times. It is an immense effort to just keep Firefox
up-to-date enough and running during the lifetime of a Debian Stable
release. I understand your desire for a simple browser… but crazy websites
using the newest… whatever HTML/JavaScript stuff… difficult. A long time ago
one developer could develop and maintain a web browser. These days are
gone. That is way most other than Firefox and Chrome browser developers
use either Firefox or Chrome or at least their WebEngine as a base in
various forms. So sad WebEngine originated as KHTML within the KDE
project. It is also sad to see what a mess many modern web pages have
become.

One other thing you may consider: You may spoof your browser
identification. Cause in case websites tell you your browser is outdated,
it is probably just cause of the identification it sends. It is in the
settings under the last page "Other" or something like that.

But even if that works, I cannot recommend it. Falkon in Daedalus uses an
outdated Qt WebEngine. There is no security support for that. It may be
dangerous to use on some web pages. So the recommendation is to again:
only use it on trusted content.

Best,
--
Martin