why are most add-ons for firefox never compatable with the beta versions and the newly released versions???
what is so different that could make it so catastrophically incompatable???
Gee! These Aren't Roasted!
why are most add-ons for firefox never compatable with the beta versions and the newly released versions???
what is so different that could make it so catastrophically incompatable???
Add-on Developer
The problem with add-ons is that the developers of each add-on need to declare the compatibility in the add-on installation file. When a new version of Firefox is released, all versions of add-ons that do not contain the same compatibility declaration, becomes incompatible, even if they do not have any code that can break the extension. Some developers are slow in regard to updating the extension compatibility, others simply abandon the development.Originally Posted by Thehumorouscheese
Some time ago, Mozilla implemented a feature on the Add-ons web site, that allows to declare the compatibility, without editing the add-on installation file. This helped a lot, since developers no longer need to release a new version of their extensions, if it doesn't require any code change. They just need to edit the compatibility in the AMO site. However, when you upgrade Firefox, the extension is initially incompatible and you need to update your add-ons to apply those compatibility patches.
When Mozilla started the fast release Firefox cycle, they had a big challenge on their hands, because add-ons would break more often with frequent major releases. So they implemented a system that check if the add-ons are compatible with each beta version of Firefox and update the compatibility automatically. Only add-ons that are detected to be incompatible with the new code base are disabled. This includes add-ons that have binaries.
That being said, I have 62 add-ons installed and they are all compatible with the latest beta. Perhaps you are using too many add-ons that have binary components or you are using add-ons which have slow maintenance. Please list your add-ons. Perhaps we can help find better alternatives or at least determine why they are not compatible.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, the latest version of Firefox Aurora has a new feature that is latest phase of add-on compatibility plan. Add-ons are now considered compatible by default, since most add-ons usually just need a compatibility patch and no other code change. This will improve things a lot, but you will still find incompatible add-ons eventually, since Mozilla will blacklist add-ons that are detected to be incompatible.
Contrary to Chrome and Opera, Firefox exposes all it's features to add-ons, so developers can create feature rich extensions. This makes Firefox extensions more powerful than other browsers, since the developers don't need to rely on a special API to achieve what they want. However, this has a price. If you make profound changes in Firefox code, it can affect add-ons, making them behave badly or even stop working.
The subject is too complex. Sometimes for example the retire some functionality from the browser. If your add-on relies on that functionality, it simply stops working. Sometimes, they change how something is achieved. If the extension still uses the old deprecated method, the javascript throws an error and the extension stops executing the code. Sometimes instead of an error, the extension just throws a warning and continue to work as expected.
Anyway, since extensions have access to underlying features of the browser, sometimes, depending on the extension and code changes, they can actually break catastrophically, even preventing the browser from starting or messing the interface completely.
Last edited by lovinglinux; December 18th, 2011 at 02:41 PM.
Ubuntu Cappuccino Scuro
Hello lovinglinux,
Hello ubuntu users,
I would like to ask a question about radio streaming in firefox 9.0.
I'm going to: Tools->Addons->Plugins (4th option), and I'm able to see:
1)vlc multimedia plugin
2)vlc multimedia plugin (totem compatible)
3)windows media player plugin
4)windows media player plugin 10
I was trying to play online radio with firefox by having enabled all these plugins to no avail.
So I decided to "play" with them and decided to disable 1 and 3.
If I go to the website and choose a radio station, this won't start to play, yet on the right corner of streaming line it has an arrow. Clicking on that I have some options, with gnome-player one among them. Choosing this one I can hear radio, yet it takes a couple of minutes before starting.
On the contrary, if I choose opera, just in couple of seconds I'm able to hear radio, yet a wine window appears as well, which means that I might have installed media player inside wine.
As a result my question is:
which is going to be the best configuration for firefox in order to listen to online radio?
Thank you in advance,
Regards!
Add-on Developer
VLC plugin is bad. Remove it, along with Totem plugin and install gecko-mediaplayer. You can do that with the commands below:
Code:sudo apt-get remove totem-mozilla sudo apt-get remove mozilla-plugin-vlc sudo apt-get install gecko-mediaplayer
Ubuntu Cappuccino Scuro
Hello,
thank you for the prompt response. Doing what you said, it leaves only the option: windows media player plug in.
It tries to connect, yet it says: stopped. So, that way, I cannot hear radio at all.
Is there a way that I can assign to windows media player files in firefox the gecko player?
I'm referring to: Edit->Preferences->Applications->Windows Media Player... options.
EDIT: After some restarts of Firefox, that option seems to be much faster than before! Thank you lovinglinux!
Thank you once again,
Regards!
Last edited by Claus7; December 18th, 2011 at 03:48 PM.
Ubuntu Cappuccino Scuro
Hello,
ehmmm I was too fast! It is working, yet I cannot stop it! Closing the window, radio is still playing! Ahhhh!
Searching a little is seems to be a little buggy plug-in.
Regards!
EDIT: It seems that with ps ux:
2703 0.5 0.3 373736 13896 ? Sl 16:52 0:01 mplayer -profile gnome-mplayer -...
mplayer is responsible...
Think these info are helpful for others as well. Things are getting too complicated.
Last edited by Claus7; December 18th, 2011 at 03:59 PM.
Add-on Developer
Well, you can go back to totem plugin, but I wouldn't recommend vlc.
Ubuntu Cappuccino Scuro
Hello,
your recommendations and experience are more than welcome. Restarting my machine (and firefox) seems to make those buttons work better and as a result I can stop radio inside the pop-uped window. I'll stick to that configuration and I'm happy about it.
Thanks for filling me in!
Regards!
Add-on Developer
Firefox 9 has been released today. It is already available in the firefox-stable ppa for Maverick and Lucid. Natty/Oneiric users will have to wait a little bit, since the official repository is still distributing FF 8.0.
If you don't use a ppa, but download it from Mozilla, then get it at http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozi.../releases/9.0/
Mozilla claims Firefox 9 is up to 30% faster than Firefox 8:
http://blog.mozilla.com/blog/2011/12...-to-30-faster/
That's awesome.
Mozilla has also moved Firefox 12 to nightly. Later today, they will move Firefox 11.0a1 to Aurora channel and Firefox 10.0 to the beta channel. I think is worth mentioning that Firefox 10 is the one that will consider add-ons compatible by default, unless they are flagged as incompatible. So, the next beta release will be an exciting one.
Mozilla also announced today another 3-year contract with Google, to receive revenue from Google searches. So the rumors that Google would not renew the contract are over.
Last edited by lovinglinux; December 21st, 2011 at 03:00 PM.
Frothy Coffee!
Yes firefox 9 seems faster (btw lots of ram usage - ~100mb for just 3 tabs :thumbs down: , but then it's seems the current trend with all browsers.)
Anyway, my query is anybody here know any turbo(opera turbo) like service exists for firefox? Thanks.
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