Swiftweasel is optimized using the following methods:
P.G.O.
As of the 3.0.3 release, Swiftweasel has shifted its primary optimization from processor specific to profile-guided optimization (PGO).[1] It is a two step building process. The application is compiled one time and then run to produce a profile. The profile is then used to guide a second compilation of the application.
Some of the older optimizations are still used, but there are now only Intel and AMD versions of each build. It is released compiled in a tar.gz package. There are also separate installers for Ubuntu and Arch linux available through their communities.
Binary code optimization
Swiftweasel is compiled with options that optimize for speed rather than binary size.
Compiled with the -O3 compile flag[2] (the highest level), with the resulting Swiftweasel binary being larger than that of Firefox.
Firefox is compiled with the -Os compile flag,[3] which is for binary size.[4]
Compiled with newer versions of GCC (Firefox 2.0 uses 3.3.2, Swiftweasel 2.0 uses 4.0.3, and Swiftweasel 3.0.3 uses 4.2.3).[5]
Increased Security
Better protection from Buffer overflow attacks[6] (Swiftweasel 2.0 uses -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2; Firefox 2.0 uses gcc 3.x, which does not support this).[5]
Simplify
IPv6DNS lookups are disabled, preventing slowdowns;[5]
The default icon set has been replaced with the Kempelton[10] icon set.
Swiftweasel uses its own settings directory. The settings, including bookmarks, history, and extensions are imported from Mozilla Firefox the first time Swiftweasel runs.
Plugins stored in /lib/mozilla/plugins and /lib/Firefox/plugins are detected and used by Swiftweasel.
