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Why is the newest version of Firefox/Thunderbird ESR not available in the Application Catalog?

Symptoms

When looking in the Patch My PC Application Catalog, why do I see an older version of Firefox/Thunderbird ESR listed compared to what is available according to the Release Notes on the Mozilla website?

Cause

This issue occurs because Mozilla keeps two versions of the Extended Support Release (ESR) version of Firefox/Thunderbird live for three-point releases whenever they issue a major ESR release:

  • An older stable version.
  • A newer version that is potentially unstable but can be rapidly stabilized by Mozilla as issues are resolved.

Resolution

As Mozilla officially supports both versions, they provide the same vulnerability patches to both versions until they reach their end of life.

However, adding newer ESR versions of Firefox/Thunderbird every time Mozilla releases them would significantly increase the number of Firefox/Thunderbird updates in our catalog and potentially introduce complicated applicability considerations.

We could add the newer unstable ESR versions as separate products, but these would only be valid during this 3-month transition period.

Therefore, at Patch My PC, we have decided only to publish the stable ESR versions of Firefox/Thunderbird, as we assume customers choosing the ESR release are doing so for its stability benefits.

More InformationNote: For Firefox 115, Mozilla has extended the support ONLY for Windows 7 and 8.1. However, Patch My PC has decided to move up to ESR 128 early October 2024.