When it comes to the state of packaged web browsers for Debian GNU/Linux, unfortunately it leaves a lot to be desired at the moment and for those wanting to be secure and up-to-date it can mean resorting to proprietary or un-packaged browser builds.
The post is funny because nearly 2 months ago Firefox ESR had 2 versions as maintained (and you could choose which one you download from an advanced form) and a month ago, with the release of Firefox ESR 91.3.0, the branch for 78 was deprecated.
In the Debian tracker, the Firefox ESR package upgrade seems stuck by a different reason that the one listed there, it is waiting for tests (not mentioned) to be passed in order to migrate to the last ESR.
I’m a long time Debian user and this is not the first time ESR are delayed
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A major release distro doesn’t prevent bugs, it just keeps the amount of bugs the same. This is good for servers, but I’m a big proponent for rolling-release desktops since fixes usually take a week or two max.
I had a few problems with that on Debian. But, my current favorite 3 (Brave, FF, and LibreWolf) all do fine. If the Debian staff are required to look at the code and dependencies or compatibility of all software in their repos, then…well, time and money run out… My understanding is that Debian is the most stable distro because they are more careful or conservative. There are other distros for you if you like living dangerously. Let’s try not to remake every distro to fit our whims. Just change distros. Try looking at flatpaks and appimages for those other browsers. Sadly, flatpak is acquainted with RedHat (BigTech), I think. I think appimages are rather independent, though.
Flatpak and appimage are far from a security improvement. The real solution is for upstream developers to release software that is not incredibly difficult to build and provide security fixes for.
