Basilisk Browser (64-bit)

Basilisk Browser 64bit is a free and Open Source XUL-based web browser, featuring the well-known Firefox-style interface and operation. It is based on the Goanna layout and rendering engine (a fork of Gecko) and builds on the Unified XUL Platform (UXP), which in turn is a fork of the Mozilla code base without Servo or Rust. The tool is a modern, full-featured web browser. It aims to retain useful technologies that its sibling Firefox has removed.

The app is primarily a reference application for the development of the XUL platform it builds upon, and additionally a potential replacement for Firefox.

Basilisk is a development software. This means that it should be considered more or less "beta" at all times; it may have some bugs and is provided as-is, with potential defects. Like any other Free Software community project, it comes without any warranty or promise of fitness for any particular purpose. "That being said: of course we will do best to provide an as stable and secure browser as possible with every official release of Basilisk Browser 64-bit for PC".

It should be noted that because of this focus on platform development, the browser itself (the application code) will be released and maintained mostly as-it-is, with very little change or development on the user interface or browser front-end features. As the platform develops, some Firefox-specific features may be dropped; please do not expect this application to remain the same, forever.

Features and Highlights

• Full support for JavaScript's ECMAscript 6 standard for modern web browsing.
• Support for all NPAPI plugins (Unity, Silverlight, Flash, Java, authentication plugins, etc.).
• Support for XUL/Overlay Mozilla-style extensions.
• Experimental support for WebExtensions (in gecko-target mode). Please note that some Mozilla-specific WebExtension APIs are not yet available.
• Support for ALSA on Linux.
• Support for WebAssembly (WASM).
• Support for advanced Graphite font shaping features.
• Support for modern web cryptography: up to TLS 1.3, modern ciphers, HSTS, etc.

Important differences with Mozilla Firefox:

• Uses Goanna as a layout and rendering engine. Goanna behaves slightly differently than Gecko in certain respects and may result in different display of web pages. e.g.: Goanna renders gradients in a more accurate color space (non-premultiplied).
• Builds on UXP, XUL platform in development. As such XUL is alive and well in this internet browser and will not be deprecated.
• Has some long-standing known issues with the Mozilla code-base fixed (e.g. CVE-2009-1232).
• It does not use Rust or the Photon user interface. You can expect a familiar interface as-carried by Firefox between v29 and v56.
• It does not use Electrolysis (e10s, multi-process browsing).
• It does not require a walled-garden extension signing.