I've been using Marmaduke's builds for years now and they usually work perfectly (some issue might arise with some not yet updated extensions, that's all). Only downside for the "ungoogled" version: it may be delayed quite a lot (currently 2 months and there's no sign there'll be a new one sometime...) Marmaduke seems to have switched his preference to the "sync" version, lately, probably easier to build. Still the fastest browser around!
There's a great thing about Chromium, it's the easy use of profiles. You can have a main profile and another one dedicated to Facebook, etc. each one having the settings and extensions it needs.
It's still the fastest browser around, even if it has become slower since version 76, as some tests show.
I've seen a lot of people complaining about bugs in v80, so for the time being I'm staying at v79.
Chromium first wants access to my Keychain, then it connects to google without even having any browser window open. So much about Chromium being un-googlefied. No other browser acts like that, constantly trying to snoop and crawl and connect to services which you never wanted or used, trying to find and report anything that can be sold on the market for ads. For me anything google or chrome is just unacceptable. This is only on my harddisk for testing browser compatibility in webdevelopment. Sadly the Chromium people are obviously not able to get the spyware out of the code. Probably because there wouldnt be any code left.
This is great that FreeSMUG is offering those builds. THANK YOU! One problem though is that the updater no longer works and is automatically removed and then no longer operational. The website says "This build hasn't "Check for Updates…" command as building Sparkle update framework at 64 bit fail." Not sure, this should be solvable as sparkle is used in other 64bit applications. Hope they can find a solution for an update mechanism.
Version 68.0.3440.84 says OS X 10.9 or later. I am on OS X 10.9, and it does not open! I even downloaded it twice, wasting 180 MB of mobile internet for — nothing!
Chromium v68 won't run on OS 10.9, even if FreeSMUG's site still says "OS X 10.9 or late".
Other Chromium based browsers (such as Vivaldi) still run on 10.9, just because they're still using Chromium v67. ;-)
Hi, Where can we download The FreeSMUG updater extension now ? I have manually unpacked and installed it, but it disappear after next chromium launch ... What's that ?? ?
It seems impossible to have both Chromium and SRWare Iron in my set of browsers. If I download one, it replaces the other. Can I only have one? If so, which is the better choice?
The FreeSMUG 1.1.5 updater extension has to be manually unpacked and installed and no longer auto-updates and is no longer available to install from the Chrome Store. Shame. This was excellent for helping me keep Chromium up-to-date.
As I mentioned in a former comment, you can find various builds of Chromium, including the one on this page — from FreeSMUG) there: https://chromium.woolyss.com/#mac-64-bit You'll find a build with all the codecs to play video and audio, made by a dev identified as "Marmaduke": he now provides a "stable" version — which I use — following the same build number as FreeSMUG's and another "lkcr" dev version (currently 66.0.3330.0) for the bold. ;-) I'm absolutely satisfied with this browser! It's Chrome without Google telemetry and stuff, running all extensions without any issue. Actually, this browser together with uBlock Origin, uMatrix and Decentraleyes is lightning fast, even on an "old" machine! I still use Firefox 52 ESR but Chromium has become my main browser. The only thing I don't like are the trapezoid tabs, but Chrome has got the same and Firefox Quantum's interface is even worse.
I've been using Chromium quite intensely since last summer and I must say it's mainly the interesting conversation I had with Mcr (see posts below) that prevented me from using it as my main browser.
I'm actually not using FreeSMUG's build (because of the lack of audio/video codecs) but Marmaduke's build that you can find elsewhere — a developer build that includes codecs.
A recent conversation I had with the devs at https://chromium.woolyss.com/#comment-2694 convinced me that there's no "safe" build of Chromium (not even Google's Chrome itself ;-) ) and that internet security on its whole is a big concern, no matter what browser you use.
Basically, it's up to the end user to trust or not a particular browser (on what criteria can you say that Firefox, Safari or else is reliable enough to give it the "keys" to your bank account?) The cascade of security patches that pours on our OSes and software, year after year says it all...
I'm still to find a 100% safe browser, but in the meantime, one thing is pretty certain: Chromium is a good one and, based on my 4 months experience, I'd say that I'm not feeling more at risk using Marmaduke's build (with codecs "No sync • No WebRTC • No Widevine" — i.e. Google's useless crap ;-) ) than FreeSMUG's — yet, I'm still using Firefox for my bank account, maybe out of some superstition... ;-)
If I could watch videos (including Netflix) in Chromium it would be a perfect browser. As matters are, I have to use Chrome to do too much stuff Chromium ought to be able to handle but can't.
I gave it a try but quickly discovered I wasn't able to login to a single site due to 1Password being incompatible with Chromium.
I'm not about to use one browser for general surfing and another for sites where I need access to my accounts.
1Password's dev. says: "The Chromium team has no plans to begin signing Chromium. That means 1Password has no way of knowing if your Chromium installation is safe. Switch to a browser that has been signed, like Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Opera.
Chromium is not code signed, so the only way for 1Password to work in Chromium is to disable code signature verification (which is there for your protection), and thereby lower your security."
Sorry Chromium - although we were just getting to know each other, we must part. I think it's for the best.
It's not me, it's YOU. You lack the security I look for in a browser, so I just don't feel safe when I'm with you.
Don't feel bad, you'll find other users. There are literally thousands of people out there willing to overlook your flaws in order to spend time with you.
And remember - it's their fault, not yours, if they should get blindsided by a hacker as the two of you are wandering amongst the Interwebs; After all, it's a dangerous place.
That's why the other major browsers protect their users with code signing. No, no - don't be jealous. That doesn't mean you're not as pretty as Chrome, just...different.
So long Chromium, I'll never forget you. And maybe one day our paths will cross again.
I've been intensely trying Chromium for a few days, now, and I must say it's one of the best browsers I've tried so far.
Compared to Firefox, it has some good points and some drawbacks.
- you can find equivalent extensions (except NoScript), or even have the work done by Chromium itself (zoom levels for each site)
- until FF fires multiprocess for everybody, Chromium deals a lot better with a lot of tabs open, as each one is an independent process
- old Bookmacster 1 works with Chromium while it doesn't work with FF 52 (forcing me to stay at v45.9 — and being stuck at OS 10.9.5 for various reasons, it means a lot to me!)
- but 1Password extension doesn't recognize Chromium's signature and that won't be fixed in the near future (there's a workaround, though, but it opens a — theoretical — breach in 1P's security)
- at this point, the reasons keeping me from switching from FF to Chromium are very few, but having to deal with various languages everyday, the dictionaries in FF win the day, for the time being.
- Oh, I was forgetting an important drawback: it doesn't support H264 videos (some of Youtube's), mp3 or aac! :-o So a lot of music players won't work. :-(
- though I've got Flash PPAPI installed, it doesn't seem to be recognized by every site.
In the end, I'll stick to FF, but instead, as I was using old Safari 9.1.3 as a secondary browser for certain sites, that role will probably be good for Chromium until it resolves incompatibilities and lacks.
Chromium works well for me, however I only use it for YouTube or if I need to look up price comparisons with Google search. Since using either of these is going to send your information to Google anyway, using a Google browser avoids sharing this information with a browser from another company such as Apple or Mozilla (I use Firefox for day to day use).
Version 58.0.3029.81 is available and contains security fixes:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/osxportableapps/files/Chromium/Chromium_OSX_58.0.3029.81.dmg/download
This version still has issues playing video on multiple web sites that both Safari & Firefox have no problem with, (Flash NOT installed on my system) . Dropping Chromium until a fix is issued.
Here's what I did. Download the PPAPI Flash plugin for Chromium at
https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/flash-player-chromium.html
Use Pacifist to unpack the actual plugin file 'PepperFlashPlayer.plugin', don't run the installer as it will install the Flash preference pane in System Prefs (or if that doesn't bother you, then do it).
Place the manifest.json file and plugin file into /Library/INternet Plug-Ins/PepperFlash/
Chromium should be able to find it automatically. If not, go to http://chromium.woolyss.com/
and search on that page for instructions on installing your own Pepper Flash and the script to launch Chromium via Terminal, including the command line args that tell Chromium where to find the plugin.
Sorry, first build was bad signed (first 100 downloads). New build available if Gatekeeper give you an error that app can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.
Note that no flash plugin in this build and in the future.
Anybody else having a problem, when you go to watch any video, Chromium Version 51.0.2704.84 (64-bit) says "couldn't load plug in"??? running iMac OS X 10.11.5 Any suggestions??? Thank you.
Issue with the Chromium updater extension version 0.1.1.2 Press the 'Visit Website' button from the Updater icon drop down. It attempts to connect using https secure protocol to https://freesmug.org/chromium. This results in an error because freesmug.org site is hosted by www.wikidot.com with subdomain freesmug.wikidot.com, so it fails the site certification. Chromium will issue 'Privacy error' and will not connect. The Updater should be using the plain http://freesmug.org/chromium (not https but http). To duplicate, press Chromium Updater icon, in the drop down are two buttons "Visit Website' and "Download Update". Press "Visit Website".
So, we have a situation where the browser itself is incapable of checking for newer versions of itself, because the Sparkle framework for some 'reason' won't compile in Chromium 64-bit mode. This Sparkle issue has been going on for how long now? I have at least a dozen other apps on my Mac now that use Sparkle for updating, most of them 64-bit. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the Mac Chromium builds, but you would think by now there would be some communication between the folks that build Chromium and the folks that build Sparkle, and the issue would be uncovered and resolved. But all of that can be forgiven as long as there is an alternative that works
Okay, so the 'solution' is to rely on an extension for updating, okay cool, that's fine. Except the extension, for the LONGEST TIME (8-10 months?) didn't even work, it would never connect to the server site. The developer of the extension 'stullig', either didn't know about the error, or knew but didn't bother to fix. Either way, what does it say when that goes unresolved for 8-10 months.
Then a supposed fix to the extension (version 0.1.1.2) is released about two months ago which technically works (it will identify if there is a newer Chromium version, it will connect, and will allow you to download it), but if you attempt to go to freesmug.org directly from the extension, fails, because of a security error.
A security error which a simple TEST before release would/should have caught. It's now been 2 months, and the updater hasn't been updated, for what should be a very simple fix (change https to http). Granted, the main function of the extension works, I get it.
Overall, the whole situation just doesn't give you that warm fuzzy feeling, or inspire confidence. Yes, I still use Chromium, because I use it the few oddball times that I need Adobe Flash, and I'm not quite ready to install Google Chrome (I think I would rather live without Flash completely before I install Chrome).
How to wreck a Browser:
- Delete a Updater
- Let People install a "FreeSMUGs update checker" witch does not work.
- Make FreeSMUGs Homepage, as complicated as you can, to find a download.
(as chrome) chromium also tries to connect to google without any reason. starting up without a home page set should result in an idle browser, not in an app wanting to log me in to all the google services i dont want anyway.
It has enabled Flash Player. It is comfortable. But...
Due to the fact that it is open source does not contain a proprietary H.264 decoder, which is Chrome. Some movies do not play.
If you want to have the decoder you have a compile Chromium yourself.
It takes a little more RAM memory than Chrome.
I think this browser sucks. So disappointing. I tried it because I switched from google Chrome to Torch, which I loved until that stupid flash problem, the Torch people had a fix for Windows but not for Mac, so then I tried this one. It's slow, it staggers, if there's more than two tabs open at a time, I feel like I'm driving a steam engine. I know that's not computer tech language, but that's what it's like. I don't know why there's no update button, I guess I am supposed to go searching for it.
I am installing the latest version and I'll see if that's better, but I'm ready to give up. Running 10.6.8 on MacBook.
I know it's free but.....
Have now trashed chromium & gone back to Firefox. Seems to me chromium has been getting a little more flakey with each release & this latest issue in combination with some web sites' continued use of Adobe's problem child (flash), and the multiple chromium helper issue hogging memory resource (still) makes it unuseable to me. That plus the update cycle is a little too slow for my liking.
Chromium 44.0.2403.89 with Flash v. 18.0.0.209 is ready. As Sourcefoge.net upload is down get it here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2-BVXbmeRD1ZS1lT0hiYXgxVms/view
Chrome seems to have the highest number of insecurities of any browser out here:
www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/26/chrome_trumps_all_in_reported_vulnerabilities/
Chromium may be just as bad, if it is a mere fork.
I just downloaded tonight's build of Chromium, 46.0.2460.0, hoping that maybe the developers had snuck in an updated Pepper Flash, but there's actually no sign of any kind of Flash Player plugin/extension in the latest build at all. So the only solution at the moment seems to be to keep using the current stable build of Chromium, and when an alert appears at the top of a web page saying Flash Player is out of date and asks if we want to run it this one time, click the button to let it, though you'll find yourself doing this a lot, depending on the websites you visit.
Suddenly began receiving an "Adobe Flash Player was blocked because it is out of date" notice on Chromium, even though AFP is up to date. Any ideas how to rectify?
"Google eavesdropping tool installed on computers without permission"
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/23/google-eavesdropping-tool-installed-computers-without-permission
No longer auto-updates. Downloaded Version 43.0.2357.81 directly, and it's WILDLY unstable on 10.6.8. Has bombed 6 times in the last hour while doing things as simple as clicking a link. Going back to v38.
I am currently using Chromium for 'flash-only'/no-Safari-compatible web pages, avoiding the installation of Flash itself, in order to preserve as much CPU/RAM as possible for heavier tasks.
Up to the previous version, everything was working relatively ok. Since version 42.0.2311.90, Chromium (and in particular "Chromium Helper") is hammering the CPU with percentages above 60, if anything more a couple of simultaneous tabs are open. As soon as I close the application, it feels like an airplane has finally landed (because of the fans being in constant 'turbo mode' while Chromium is open).
Please try to optimizing it/fixing whatever 'leak' causes this unnatural draining of system resources and whenever possible (promise to return a rating-star whenever fixed) and restore Sparkle update framework or any other solution for automatic updates.
FYI: Starting in version 42, Chromium (and any Chrome variations) have disabled NPAPI plugins (so no Java, Google Talk, Facebook Chat, Silverlight, etc.) unless you enable NPAPI support by visiting: chrome://flags/#enable-npapi and relaunching the app.
Not sure how I am going to continue to use this app when they totally and completely remove NPAPI support in a few months.
This version and the previous one (41.0.2272.101) crash very often on 10.6.8 (e.g., when adding a bookmark, clicking on Ghostery button etc.). I'm not going to contact developer team as they weren't that friendly in the past. SL users steer clear of these two releases. 41.0.2272.89 is the last version working fine on SL.
Without additives from Google, but takes up more RAM. Will not play some movies in HTML5, because there is no non-free codecs (which contains the Chrome). You need to use the Flash. There is no automatic update since version 64 bit. Nothing special.
