It is not patching Firefox. I already explained this bit I will say it again. No source code is changed, no promo icons, and no recompile is done, therefore it is not a fork. Tor browser does a lot of stuff behind the scenes. Arkenfox is not a fork. Tor browser comes prebundled with “No Script” extension, arkenfox cannot bundle extensions because it literally only copies text from one config file to another. Tor browser patches out the phone home to the Mozilla Add-on Store, Arkenfox literally cannot because it doesn’t modify the code and without recompiling it causes a crash. There are many many more differences between forks of Firefox and Arkenfox, I’ll leave that research for you because I think I have said enough. Arkenfox is not a fork of Firefox by definition, it does not modify any code. It would be like saying “I forked Minecraft” because I create a text file with my fav config of keybinds and settings and then share that config. Arkenfox is just a text file config and a script that modifies the default config of an existing Firefox profile. When you create a new Firefox profile, it is generated as default without Arkenfox settings. Librewolf, which uses much of Arkenfox’s user.js config, must follow the forking guidelines outlined by Mozilla, patches out phone homes, bundles extensions, changes ui, and (crucially) if you create a new profile, it is preconfigured with security and privacy settings.

Its not modifying the code, it’s changing existing settings that are already available to be changed to optimal settings for privacy…

It is not a fork you are completely wrong.

No, you’re mistaken. A fork is a whole new product. This is not a whole new product. It’s a patch.

Tor makes changes to the FF source though for it to run, no?

Arkenfox merely makes config changes in FF