Mozilla Will Kill Legacy Firefox Add-Ons in Exactly Three Months (Now November 14, 2017)

Bleeping Computer ^ | August 14, 2017 | Catalin Cimpanu

[CedarDave]

On November 14 Mozilla will take the biggest gamble in its long history when the organization will ship Firefox 57, the first version of its browser that will stop supporting legacy Firefox add-ons.

This means that starting with Firefox 57 the browser will support only new add-ons written on top of the newer WebExtensions SDK.

All legacy Firefox add-ons written on the old XUL-based Add-Ons SDK will stop working.

In a blog post last week, Mozilla said it will continue to allow developers to upload and list legacy Firefox add-ons on its add-ons portal (AMO), but they'll only show up for users with older browsers and buried in search results under newer WebExtensions-compatible add-ons.

Changes are already being rolled out to AMO and Firefox 57 (currently Firefox's Nightly edition).

The release of Firefox 57 is the end of a two-year-long project that started in August 2015 when Mozilla announced the new WebExtensions API that would eventually replace the older Add-Ons SDK.

The new WebExtensions SDK is also compatible with the universal WebExtensions SDK implemented in Chromium and related browsers such as Brave, Chrome, Opera, and Vivaldi.

Firefox's large collection of legacy add-ons has always been one of Firefox's strongest points and one of the primary reasons the browser has been popular so many years.

When Mozilla announced the new WebExtensions SDK and the death of the old legacy add-ons system, many feared most add-on developers wouldn't bother to migrate their add-ons for the newer WebExtensions API and Firefox would lose most of its add-ons, and its strongest attraction point.

In April 2017, the Mozilla Add-ons Portal listed 18,814 add-ons, but only 2,273 add-ons were WebExtensions-compatible. Currently, this number is at 3,633, which is about 19.3% of all Firefox add-ons.

[Bikkuri]

Hmm... been on WinBlows (playing games) the last few weeks... was going to install CID on my KDE, but you are right, I can’t find ANY help on getting it installed on Linux :/
I will start messing around with the installation myself and see what I can switch up (I still have FF on my Linux.. but still despise it.. but will NOT use anything to do with Chrome (Chronium) because of it’s relationship with G00gle, not to mention that the add-ons aren’t there :p

There is always WINE (or virtualbox), which I will probably do if the situation isn’t fixed soon.

All of the Alt recommendations are not on my favorites list :p

Let me know if you find anything :@

[Bikkuri]

Here is a list of browsers as an alternative to firefox- I don’t know hardly anything about any of them- and you’ll have to note if they work with linux or not- if you use linux of course-

I missed this before my last reply.. and the Alt page you were looking at is the same as I was earlier.
There MAY be one I will check out, although it says nothing about security, as Ice Dragon does, and that is the Cyberfox(64). Have never used it, so I will have to tinker with it before I know if I like/trust it though.

I also have Midori installed on KDE for when I have trouble accessing a site using Mozilla, but I will ONLY use it when I know there is no hidden malacious script on the page I am visiting.

[daniel1212]

Thank God for what helps. Also, some might want to know they can run multiple installations as well as profiles of Firefox, or other Mozilla based browsers.

When installing Firefox, choose Custom in the Setup Type window, and if using Windows* install (if 64-bit) in your C:\Program Files folder, and in the next window change the name to such as C:\Program Files\2nd Firefox\.

Choose to place a shortcut on the Desktop and Start Menu (and BTW, the well known free classic start menu (http://www.classicshell.net/) is much an improvement I think)

Then right-click on the new Firefox icon on your Desktop and choose Rename and change the name to distinguish it from your other installation. Then right-click on this Firefox icon on your Desktop and hit Properties, and in the Target box add -no-remote -p to end of the address to your installation and hit Apply. In the example above it would exactly (quotes Included) be “C:\Program Files\2nd Firefox\firefox.exe” -no-remote -p

If you are running Windows 32 bit use C:\Program Files (x86)

Then launch this installation and you will see a window asking you which profile to use. You can create multiple ones (like one for shopping, another for forums, etc.) using different names, and even place the profiles where you want them, or launch other profiles already made Or you can just use the Default profile.

Once you launch Firefox with your chosen profile, then you can easily find out where it is by going to Help (Alt key and H, but you should also right click on the horizontal bars icon at the top and check Menu Bar) and hit Troubleshooting information and then across from Profile Folder hit Open Folder.

Also, the default folder for all profiles (though the names will not be what you named them) can be found by pasting this in your Run window (Winbdows key and r) %UserProfile%_000\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox

If you want to migrate things from another profile then I find the free but no longer supported http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/ works best to back up and restore the whole folder or files.

Most important files to migrate are

cert8.db

formhistory.sqlite

key3.db

persdict.dat

places.sqlite

signons.sqlite

You can manually copy and replace/over-write the default files if you want, by finding the profile folders you want to copy from and to, and closing all Firefox programs, and then copying from one to another. Best to make back ups first.

Most recommended extensions/add-ons are in post 65, esp.

Tab Mix Plus 0.3.8.6 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-mix-plus
Reduce tab width; Enable multiple tab rows; Change how active tab looks, etc.

FT DeepDark https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ft-deepdark/ Best theme i found.

Memory Restart https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/memory-restart/ Shows (not always accurate) how much ram FF is using, and enables easy restart to flush memory.

ColorfulTabs https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/colorfultabs/?src=search/ Make tabs distinctive. Options to change color per site, etc.

Session Manager 0.7.5 https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/session-manager/ Saves sessions where you want them.

*In Linux Ubuntu (based on when I used to use it) , Firefox program should be in /usr/lib/firefox

Profile should be in /home/username/mozilla/firefox (put your user name where it says username)

To add another profile, drag icon from Applications launcher (Start Menu,) to Desktop, r. clk and hit Launcher and change to firefox %u —Profilemanager and click close. Then launch and choose Create new profile.

Hope this helps someone., Glory to God, use PC for good.

[daniel1212]

You mean Pale Moon for Linux - Your browser, your way!

[SkyDancer]

Right now I’m trying to keep my drop down history from moving my standard links around. I have a set order of sites and I like to keep them in the order I go to them.

[Bethaneidh]

Seems it was an upgrade.

[taildragger]

"Use Waterfox (see my other posts on this thread). So far, it has installed and allows me to use my favorite add-ons. Give it a try. "

Is it better than Palemoon? Palemoon has turned into crapware. Sometimes slow, sometimes fast, won't take all the add-ons. One time it didn't work and I asked a poignant question and got nothing but chit from the moderator on their board.

I used to be a Palemoon zealot, now I can't wait to ditch it.

Does Waterfox allow "Profile Switcher"? Great add-on for your various browsing types aka, family, hobbies, investing, etc etc.

BTW I am trying Opera, for about a month, I am impressed...

[snarkpup]

Opera used to be my secondary browser. I uninstalled it after hearing it had been sold to the Chinese.

[Bob434]

[[I uninstalled it after hearing it had been sold to the Chinese.]]

Seriously? That was another i was going to try- dang- no way am i trusting any pc program the chinese have made-

[Bikkuri]

Did you get it working?

[snarkpup]

From the Wikipedia article on Opera:

In November 2016, the original Norwegian owner of Opera sold the Opera name and web browser business to a Chinese consortium under the name Golden Brick Capital Private Equity Fund I Limited Partnership for $600 million.[33][34][35] An earlier deal was not approved by regulators.[36]

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Crap. I guess this means no more hacking the extension's .rdf files to raise the minimum version level so old extensions will work on newer versions.

I have about 40 extensions I use and without them, FF is useless to me. I may have to just dump it and move completely to Pale Moon.

[CedarDave]

Crap. I guess this means no more hacking the extension's .rdf files to raise the minimum version level so old extensions will work on newer versions.

I have about 40 extensions I use and without them, FF is useless to me. I may have to just dump it and move completely to Pale Moon.

---

Yeah, hacking extension .rdf files won't work anymore. See the below link for add-ons that are ready for FF 57. You can do a search to see if any might replace what you will lose. There should be more in upcoming weeks. Unfortunately, mine (about a dozen) are still labeled legacy.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?tag=firefox57&page=

[snarkpup]

I have about 40 extensions I use and without them, FF is useless to me. I may have to just dump it and move completely to Pale Moon.

I am currently test-driving three other browsers as Firefox alternatives. I have started a "scoreboard" showing the current results on my FR homepage here:

freerepublic.com/~snarkpup/

I have been using Pale Moon as my secondary browser for some time; but, as shown on the scoreboard, it is already going to seed with respect to supporting even the current versions of "legacy" extensions; and I may abandon it shortly. Waterfox currently looks like the most viable over the intermediate term. Over the long term, both Pale Moon and Waterfox may cease to be viable if the implementers of the add-ons drop their support for the "legacy" system.

[CedarDave]

One more thing, there is a post from Aris-t2 regarding FF57 breaking Classic Theme Restorer. He lists hacks that can be used to restore some by using CSS code in the new Firefox. I’m not technical enough to follow the instructions so I’m going to FF 52 ESR version next week that will serve until things settle down next Spring.

https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx/issues/1/

[CedarDave]

Forgot the link for Arist2 discussion on FF57 breaking CTR:

https://github.com/Aris-t2/ClassicThemeRestorer/issues/299/

[daniel1212]

The sites shown and the order they are shown is a complex algorithm. You can read the following, but I advise staying away from the configuration settings if you do not have time to experiment over and over and over. This was written some time ago and may have changed a little. Some details here (read “Frecency (misspelled) Calculation” and “Configuration”): https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Namoroka/Improved_form_history#Frecency_Calculation

More: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/856200

[daniel1212]

Mozilla: Firefox 57 is so fast we're calling it Firefox Quantum | ZDNet

Mozilla: Firefox 57 is so fast we're calling it Firefox Quantum | ZDNet

I do notice that after a short time, Firefox really lags on opening new tabs or switching to others after having loaded close to 300.

Plan to run a separate install of 57 Beta and see how it does and report back.

[SkyDancer]

I’m running FF 56.0.1 (64-bit) and so far it seems okay.

[daniel1212]

Do not install 57 unless you want all your legacy extensions disabled, with no known way to enable them if you go back, unless perhaps a complete uninstall.