Why Does Some Failed Test Automation Require a Specific Firefox Version?

A clear sign of failed test automation.

Recently, one software engineer told me that there was a test automation suite that runs on a fixed version of Firefox. I asked, “it must be failed, or it has not been run for a long time”. The reply, “Yes”.

It does not make sense to use Firefox for test automation from a few years ago

According to the latest desktop browser market share stats (StatCounter, 2023–01),

Firefox is merely 6.87% , dropping from 9.18% a year ago (a drop of 25%). It is safe to say, Firefox will hardly be mentioned in browser discussions in a few years' time.

Chome, unquestionably, leads in the desktop browser market. If adding Microsoft Edge (based on Chromium as well, which works the same for automated test scripts as for Chrome), its market share reached 77.48% .

End-to-End Test automation is to verify the apps as an end-user would (the execution setup is not set by the automated testers). Now, most users browse the app in Chrome…