Kagi search interface no longer works on Firefox ESR

kagi-not-working

When I

open the browser
open a tab using my Kagi Session Link
enter some search terms and try to press enter

nothing happens. Looking at the browser console shows a syntax error.

SyntaxError: expected expression, got '='[Learn More] k_lan.min.js:1:756
SyntaxError: expected expression, got '?'[Learn More] tooltip.min.js:1:323

I have observed this behavior in three browsers on OSX 10.9.5

Firefox 78.15osr
Vivaldi 1.15.1147.64
Waterfox 2022.02

I've attached a screenshot from Waterfox.

I was expecting to be able to type in my search, press enter and get results.
I've used Kagi dozens of times a day on this laptop without problems until this afternoon.

[EDIT] as shown in screenshot below Kagi search seems to work as expected from Safari.

georgee

kagi-not-working I've used Kagi dozens of times a day on this laptop without problems until this afternoon.

Just to verify, it was working fine in all 3 browsers mentioned above until recently?

maddy

kagi-not-working Firefox 78.15osr

Firefox ESR 78 support was ended in 2021, the latest ESR release is 115. Maybe it's time to get your security fixes in?

kagi-not-working

Here is a screenshot of the same problem from Firefox.

kagi-not-working

Here is a screenshot of the problem from Vivaldi.

kagi-not-working

When I tried copying my Kagi Session Link into Safari and doing a search it appeared to work as expected.

This is with Safari Version 9.1.3 (9537.86.7.8)

kagi-not-working

Here is an emacs window highlighting the location of the syntax error from Firefox.

kagi-not-working

Using Safari + Kagi to search now turned up this issue which looks similar although the operator they report (??=) question is slightly different than the one in this error (||=).

https://githubissues.com/openstreetmap/iD/9930

kagi-not-working

If https://caniuse.com/?search=%7C%7C%3D is to be trusted, the JavaScript operator: Logical OR assignment (x ||= y) operator is not supported on Firefox 78 and it appears Kagi's minified js now makes use of this.

kagi-not-working

georgee

Just to verify, it was working fine in all 3 browsers mentioned above until recently?

This is a 2009 MacBook Pro running OSX 10.9.5 where Firefox 78 osr works well for leisurely reading. I only tested the other browsers because I happened to have them installed. I am certain Kagi worked on this version of Firefox until recently but I don't know about the other browsers. I don't use Safari and the fact that the search worked on Safari was a bit surprising to me.

Fortunately Kagi still works fine for me on Safari and my work system with OSX 10.15 and latest Firefox.

kagi-not-working

maddy

Firefox ESR 78 support was ended in 2021, the latest ESR release is 115. Maybe it's time to get your security fixes in?

I am running the most recent version of Firefox ESR supported by OSX 10.9.5.
While Apple no longer supports or releases fixes for it, the system works well for my needs.
I've also taken many of my own security precautions. While it's not a system I use for "serious"
development, thanks to macports I'm able to run all the software I care about on it.

georgee

kagi-not-working Thanks for the report, It will be fixed in the next release.

maddy

kagi-not-working

If your hardware or operating system is no longer supported with security fixes I don't think it's reasonable to expect full functionality, having to fall back to older development strategies can be quite a burden on many developers.

Ideally though, Kagi search works without JS altogether, relying on progressive enhancement to enable features that would need it, though that could be very difficult depending on how Kagi is developed. But perhaps that's the better thing to ask for to enable situations like yours.

kagi-not-working

Thank you so very much. Very impressed you fixed it so quickly.
(guessing it was something simple like specifying "--target=firefox78" to esbuild).

I didn't see the release announcement so I've actually been using
Chromium legacy https://github.com/blueboxd/chromium-legacy
on my OSX 10.9.5 laptop for my Kagi searches for the past month.
But now I can go back to using Firefox again! 💗

kagi-not-working

Unfortunately as of Wed Jan 31 05:43:06 UTC 2024 search from Firefox 78 esr
is not working again. The problem appears the same but unlike before the error
appears after pressing the enter key. Here are some screenshots:

Here is a screenshot with the cursor where the error is reported: