After more than 20 years, a bug in Mozilla’s Firefox browser has finally been fixed. The bug, known as Bug 148624, involved a persistent tooltip issue where a little yellow box would stay on the screen even when the browser was in the background. The issue was first reported in June 2002 and persisted through various versions of the browser. However, in early September 2023, a fix for the bug was pushed, finally resolving the long-standing issue.
The fix itself was relatively small, adding a check for whether a document has focus to the tooltip-showing code. The person behind the fix, Yifan Zhu, encountered the bug in Thunderbird on Linux and decided to take matters into their own hands. Despite having no prior experience with projects as complex as Firefox, Zhu diligently searched the code base for possible solutions and eventually made the necessary commit. The fix has since been refined and incorporated into the code base.
While the bug may not have been a high priority due to its cosmetic nature and difficulty to reproduce, its resolution has been met with rejoicing from the community. The fix serves as a reminder that anyone can make a significant contribution, regardless of their experience or background. Overall, this long-awaited bug fix brings closure to a persistent issue that has plagued Firefox for over two decades.
