64 bit builds: Difference between revisions

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You can run a 32 bit version of a Mozilla application using a 64 bit kernel (Windows 7 x64 etc.), but a 64 bit version is frequently preferred in order to increase performance. There aren't any official 64 bit builds of Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey for Windows. 64 bit builds for Mac OSX and Linux have been available at http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/ since Thunderbird 5.0 and Firefox 4.0.
You can run a 32 bit version of a Mozilla application using a 64 bit kernel (Windows 7 x64 etc.) though a 64 bit version "supposedly" increases performance. However, unless the the application is able to take advantage of the wider registers (typically multimedia encoding/decoding, cryptographic, or number crunching applications), you may not see any performance improvement. If you had poor performance before you might not notice any improvement. Typically you only want to use a 64 bit version if the application exceeds the 4GB virtual memory space limit.


Unofficial 64 bit builds of Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey for Windows are available at [http://wiki.mozilla-x86-64.com/Download wiki.mozilla-x86-64.com] . There are a couple of other locations such as [http://www.start64.com/ start64] but they don't seem to update their builds as often. The [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=42 Third Party/Unofficial Builds] forum has optimized 3rd party builds that may include some 64 bit builds for Windows.  
[https://www.raymond.cc/blog/mozilla-firefox-64bit-build-performance-compared-to-32bit/ This updated blog post]  benchmarks 32 and 64 bit versions of Firefox, including Waterfox (specifically compiled for 64-bit) and concludes that "''We should see some performance improvements in the future, but Firefox 64-bit doesn’t appear to give you a faster browsing experience at this time.''" [http://www.ghacks.net/2016/01/03/32-bit-vs-64-bit-browsers-which-version-has-the-edge/ This Ghacks article] compares 32 and 64 bit versions of popular browsers and concludes "''Most differences are marginal and not visible to the user''. "


Many Linux distros provide 3rd party 64-bit builds of Firefox and Thunderbird in a repository.
* Code that uses a lot of pointers will consume more memory. 64 bit pointers are larger than 32 bit pointers, so there's more memory to move around, causing a potential performance hit. The effective processor cache size will also be reduced.
* Code that is not careful about memory packing/alignment can run less efficiently as 64 bit.
* Code that uses large data types (64/128 bit WORDs) will be faster because you don't need to play the 'split it into 32 bit WORDs' game.
* A 64 bit version might be faster due to it being optimized for CPU's that support x86-64 (it has twice as many general purpose registers and SSE/SSE2 registers as a x86 CPU, and they're all twice the width).
 
==Linux==
 
64 bit builds for Linux are available at http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/ . Many Linux distros provide their own 64 bit builds of Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey in their repositories.
 
==OS X==
 
64 bit builds for Mac OS X are available at http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/ .
 
==Windows==
 
Official 64 bit builds of Firefox for Windows are available on the normal download page starting with version 43.0. There aren't any official 64 bit builds of Thunderbird and SeaMonkey for Windows. [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=814009]
 
There are 64 bit Thunderbird Beta builds for Windows available on [http://download-origin.cdn.mozilla.net/pub/thunderbird/releases/ some Mozilla web sites] but they are unofficial and there is no ETA when they will be supported. One of the members of the Thunderbird Council stated "When you see something in an official blog post, or release notes, or on an official Thunderbird web page, then you will know it is available and supported." [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=14802694#p14802694]
 
64 bit Daily builds (Thunderbird) are available at http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/nightly/latest-comm-central/ . These should be considered experimental and may break for a while if 64 bit specific issues are encountered.


Tracking bugs:
Tracking bugs:
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: [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=634180 64 bit Windows package for Lightning]
: [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=634180 64 bit Windows package for Lightning]


==Add-ons==
==Third Party Builds==
[http://waterfoxproject.org/ WaterFox] and [http://www.palemoon.org/ Pale Moon] are optimized 64 bit versions of Firefox for Windows. [http://www.start64.com/ Start64] and [http://www.firefox64bit.com/ Firefox 64] have several 64 bit builds of Firefox (nightly, WaterFox etc.) for several operating systems.[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox/jpX_z5zieD4] .
 
The [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=42 Third Party/Unofficial Builds] forum has optimized 3rd party builds that may include some 64 bit builds for Windows.
 
==Extensions and themes==


Most add-ons don't care what operating system you are using, or whether you are using a 32 bit or 64 bit application.
Most extensions and themes don't care what operating system you are using, or whether you are using a 32 bit or 64 bit application.


You can not use a 32 bit build of Lightning with a 64 bit build of Thunderbird or SeaMonkey. There are official 64 bit builds of Lightning available for [http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/nightly/latest-comm-central/linux64-xpi/ Linux] and [http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/nightly/latest-comm-central/macosx-xpi/ OS X] but they're for nightly builds. Nightly builds are automated untested builds . Unofficial 64bit builds of Lightning for Linux are available at [http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/releases/1.0b1/contrib/linux-x86_64/ here]. Also look in the contrib subdirectory of the latest release in [http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/releases/ releases.mozilla.org]
You can not use a 32 bit build of Lightning with a 64 bit build of Thunderbird or SeaMonkey. There are official 64 bit builds of Lightning available for [http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/nightly/latest-comm-central/linux64-xpi/ Linux] and [http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/nightly/latest-comm-central/macosx-xpi/ OS X] but they're for nightly builds. Nightly builds are automated untested builds . Unofficial 64bit builds of Lightning for Linux are available at [http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/releases/1.0b1/contrib/linux-x86_64/ here]. Also look in the contrib subdirectory of the latest release in [http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/releases/ releases.mozilla.org]


The [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/unity-launcher-integration/ Unity Launcher Integration] add-on for Thunderbird used to only support 32bit kernels. Supposedly the latest version also works with 64bit kernels. [http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/03/thunderbird-unity-launcher-extension-available-to-ubuntu-11-04-64bit-more-users/]
==Plug-ins==


The [http://enigmail.mozdev.org/download/index.php.html Enigmail] add-on supports Linux x86-64 but doesn't support 64 bit OS X.
You need to use a 64 bit version of a plug-in if you use a 64 bit Firefox build. The Adobe and Foxit web sites auto-detect whether you use 32 or 64 bit.


[[Category:Firefox]]
[[Category:Firefox]]
[[Category:Thunderbird]]
[[Category:Thunderbird]]
[[Category:SeaMonkey]]
[[Category:SeaMonkey]]

Revision as of 03:06, 12 June 2018

You can run a 32 bit version of a Mozilla application using a 64 bit kernel (Windows 7 x64 etc.) though a 64 bit version "supposedly" increases performance. However, unless the the application is able to take advantage of the wider registers (typically multimedia encoding/decoding, cryptographic, or number crunching applications), you may not see any performance improvement. If you had poor performance before you might not notice any improvement. Typically you only want to use a 64 bit version if the application exceeds the 4GB virtual memory space limit.

This updated blog post benchmarks 32 and 64 bit versions of Firefox, including Waterfox (specifically compiled for 64-bit) and concludes that "We should see some performance improvements in the future, but Firefox 64-bit doesn’t appear to give you a faster browsing experience at this time." This Ghacks article compares 32 and 64 bit versions of popular browsers and concludes "Most differences are marginal and not visible to the user. "

  • Code that uses a lot of pointers will consume more memory. 64 bit pointers are larger than 32 bit pointers, so there's more memory to move around, causing a potential performance hit. The effective processor cache size will also be reduced.
  • Code that is not careful about memory packing/alignment can run less efficiently as 64 bit.
  • Code that uses large data types (64/128 bit WORDs) will be faster because you don't need to play the 'split it into 32 bit WORDs' game.
  • A 64 bit version might be faster due to it being optimized for CPU's that support x86-64 (it has twice as many general purpose registers and SSE/SSE2 registers as a x86 CPU, and they're all twice the width).

Linux

64 bit builds for Linux are available at http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/ . Many Linux distros provide their own 64 bit builds of Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey in their repositories.

OS X

64 bit builds for Mac OS X are available at http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/ .

Windows

Official 64 bit builds of Firefox for Windows are available on the normal download page starting with version 43.0. There aren't any official 64 bit builds of Thunderbird and SeaMonkey for Windows. [1]

There are 64 bit Thunderbird Beta builds for Windows available on some Mozilla web sites but they are unofficial and there is no ETA when they will be supported. One of the members of the Thunderbird Council stated "When you see something in an official blog post, or release notes, or on an official Thunderbird web page, then you will know it is available and supported." [2]

64 bit Daily builds (Thunderbird) are available at http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/nightly/latest-comm-central/ . These should be considered experimental and may break for a while if 64 bit specific issues are encountered.

Tracking bugs:

Windows x64
Windows 64 bit builds in Thunderbird
64 bit Windows package for Lightning

Third Party Builds

WaterFox and Pale Moon are optimized 64 bit versions of Firefox for Windows. Start64 and Firefox 64 have several 64 bit builds of Firefox (nightly, WaterFox etc.) for several operating systems.[3] .

The Third Party/Unofficial Builds forum has optimized 3rd party builds that may include some 64 bit builds for Windows.

Extensions and themes

Most extensions and themes don't care what operating system you are using, or whether you are using a 32 bit or 64 bit application.

You can not use a 32 bit build of Lightning with a 64 bit build of Thunderbird or SeaMonkey. There are official 64 bit builds of Lightning available for Linux and OS X but they're for nightly builds. Nightly builds are automated untested builds . Unofficial 64bit builds of Lightning for Linux are available at here. Also look in the contrib subdirectory of the latest release in releases.mozilla.org

Plug-ins

You need to use a 64 bit version of a plug-in if you use a 64 bit Firefox build. The Adobe and Foxit web sites auto-detect whether you use 32 or 64 bit.