Firefox to Discontinue Support for File Transfer Protocol

Mozilla has reportedly decided to discontinue support for the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) from its Firefox web browser. With a futurity update, Firefox users will be unable to download or view FTP folders via the browser.

Firefox'south plans to discontinue FTP was first reported past ZDNet. According to the report, Mozilla is getting rid of the protocol citing security reasons. "We're doing this for security reasons. FTP is an insecure protocol and at that place are no reasons to prefer it over HTTPS for downloading resource," says Michal Novotny, a software engineer at the Mozilla Corporation.

"Besides, a function of the FTP code is very old, dangerous and hard to maintain and we found a lot of security bugs in information technology in the past.", he added. Going by the report, Mozilla will be pulling the plug on FTP starting with its upcoming stable release Firefox 77. Firefox 77 is slated to release in June this yr.

It is worth noting that users volition still be able to view and download files via FTP after re-enabling a preference in nearly:config page (similar to Chrome flags), at least for at present.

However, the report mentions that the entire code for FTP will eventually be removed from the web browser starting adjacent year. That'southward when users volition have to entirely bid adieu to FTP.

Firefox is non the only spider web browser dropping support for File Transfer Protocol. Last year, Google proposed a deprecation timeline for FTP in its Chrome browser. Starting with Chrome 80 that got released concluding month, FTP is disabled by default for non-enterprise clients.

The changes will reflect all Chrome installations with Chrome 81 release, and will be completely removed with Chrome 82 release that was earlier expected to be coming this April. Google has currently paused updates for Chrome and Chrome Os due to coronavirus outbreak.