Adblock Plus and (a little) more

Forward compatibility of filters [Done] · 2013-02-04 09:31 by Wladimir Palant

Done, this proposal has been implemented as of 2013-07-08.

Current state

A small number of our users stays on outdated Adblock Plus versions forever, e.g. 0.5% are still on Adblock Plus 0.7.* (mostly 0.7.5.5). There are similar numbers for Adblock Plus 1.3.10 which is the last version that can be installed on PowerPC Macs by regular means. Outdated versions create issues for filter list authors who don’t want to cause breakage for these users and have to use backwards-compatible filters like foo$popup,image,~image instead of just foo$popup. This is largely because Adblock Pus simply ignores unknown filter options.

Goal

Eliminate the need for backwards-compatible filters in future, so even when the current Adblock Plus version becomes outdated it will no longer have trouble with new filters.

Proposal

• Instead of ignoring unknown filter options, ignore filters using such options. This should be a better forward-compatibility approach in the long term. It will also eliminate the need for the special handling of the $donottrack option.
• For the scenarios where this isn’t enough, send Adblock Plus version to the server when updating filter subscriptions. As an extreme measure, the server can give a different version of the file to people with outdated Adblock Plus versions.

Tags: roadmap

Comment [3]

1. chakram · 2013-02-04 22:36 · #

   Is it posible to make a stand alone adblock plus addon for boat browser app on android, as I believe having a addon for the browser could also possibly block ads on the browser when connected via 3g. I am not saying the adblock app for android doesn’t work… the app is an awesome app however only works on wifi unless I root my device, which I cant as I am in contract, however like firefox browser app for android’s adblock which blocks ads in 3g, I am sure also having a boat browser addon would also make ads be blocked when connected via 3g.. I say this because I am always connected via 3g. Surprisingly my 3g speeds are bettter then my wifi.. therefore I need ads to be blocked in 3g not only wifi.. I could use firefox for android alternatively but even though I have a quadcore handset flash player on the firefox app doesn’t work properly.. ever.. and also the browser constantly crashes and slows down.. which is annoying to use.
   I always use firefox for desktop but the android app is disappointing therefore i use boat browser. My emails not fake, even though it says spamavert i use it because I can use it direct with my firefox for desktop browser as it is an addon for firefox desktop I can directly access all emails with just a click, so please reply back to the email. Thankyou and please consider what I am requesting.

   Reply from Wladimir Palant:

   The stock Android browser doesn’t allow add-ons which is why we had to do it with a separate app. Firefox on Android allows add-ons and Adblock Plus for Firefox works a lot better – but you don’t like it too much apparently.

   This comment is off-topic for this blog post and is removed, as usually.

2. snapper · 2013-03-11 05:51 · #

   Just checked and I am using 1.3.10 in Fx 3.5.16 on debian 6.0.7 (squeeze). This being the latest stable release of the linux distro. Not having a more recent copy in the repository, I downloaded Fx18 from the Fx website, but was presented with a folder of files I don’t know what to do with (I was expecting a .deb file).

3. Benjamín · 2013-03-16 16:05 · #

   Adblock Plus does not block ads for the following sites: (opera browser)

   I can not explain the types of advertising, so I add 3 url:

   2baksa.net /
   youtube.cl
   rutracker.org

   Adblock Plus is an alternative to Kaspersky Internet Security 2013 (anti-banner). I really hate Internet advertising.

   …. is my suggestion for adblock plus better in the future.

   Greetings.

Commenting is closed for this article.