FoxTester: easily install and launch multiple versions of Firefox simultaneously

[lovinglinux]

FoxTester is an extension that allows to Install and launch multiple versions of Firefox while using the default installation and without affecting the default user profile.

http://www.webgapps.org/addons/foxtester

[darrenn]

This will be perfect for the people who want to try out Firefox Lorentz. Like most I hate it when a tab crashes the whole browser. Thanks in advance for creating this.

[lovinglinux]

This will be perfect for the people who want to try out Firefox Lorentz. Like most I hate it when a tab crashes the whole browser. Thanks in advance for creating this.

Thanks. I had the idea of creating this when testing Lorentz.

[Toost Inc.]

Very awesome. Thanks

Edit: I thought I found this bug where FoxTester didn´t work when the Danbooru Downloader addon was installed as well but aparently that was a fluke since I´ve got now both enabled and can´t reproduce it.

FoxTester does hoewer list every file and install twice for me, but that´s hardly minor.

Screenshot:
http://i41.tinypic.com/jfg7t4.jpg

Also maybe it´s an idea to add an option to copy your current profile/compatible extensions or like you said make the install more permanent.

[lovinglinux]

Very awesome. Thanks.

You are welcome and thanks for the feedback.

Edit: I thought I found this bug where FoxTester didn´t work when the Danbooru Downloader addon was installed as well but aparently that was a fluke since I´ve got now both enabled and can´t reproduce it.

The problem with Danbooru Downloader could be a compatibility issue, because a couple of functions weren't wrapped in the extension functions and were using common names, so they could conflict with other extensions using similar function names. This has been fixed in the version 1.0.1, which I have uploaded today.

Please let me know if it happens again.

FoxTester does hoewer list every file and install twice for me, but that´s hardly minor.

Please tell me if you get duplicated records when after restarting Firefox, when you first access the context menu?

I'm asking this because the extension scans for new files and update the database every time you access the menu and rebuild the menu options with all records from the database. So, instead of adding new records to the menu, it actually recreates all menu options on-the-fly. Nevertheless, I was experiencing a similar problem on another extension of mine. I'm still not sure if this is a Firefox bug or if there is something not working on the extension as it should be.

Also maybe it´s an idea to add an option to copy your current profile/compatible extensions or like you said make the install more permanent.

Both options were initially on the design plan, but the extension started to get bloated and complicated, so I decided to release a simpler version and improve from there, based on the users feedback. So there is a big chance that both features will be implemented in future versions. Thanks for the suggestion.

[lovinglinux]

Warning: FoxTester 1.0.1 is suffering from memory leak when you open several new windows instead of tabs. I know where the problem is, but I don't know yet how to fix it without disabling some functionality. Therefore, I'm putting this extension on inactive status, until I can provide a fully functional version. I recommend disabling this extension until then.

[lovinglinux]

FoxTester 1.0.2 has been released!

This new version brings some important bug fixes and new features. There is no more issues with leaking memory, the file integrity check incompatibilities has been fixed and now you can set any version installed through FoxTester to be your default browser, so you can use it with your Firefox user profile.

See the video demo.

[lovinglinux]

FoxTester has been approved by Mozilla, so now it is available through the Stable Channel and future updates will be available through Firefox add-on manager.

[primetime34]

I set the new firefox 4 beta as default...now I can't use foxtester to revert back to the stable release. Any help on how to do that? Thanks.

[lovinglinux]

I set the new firefox 4 beta as default...now I can't use foxtester to revert back to the stable release. Any help on how to do that? Thanks.

sudo rm -r /opt/firefox
sudo rm /usr/bin/firefox
sudo dpkg-divert --rename --remove /usr/bin/firefox

This will delete Firefox 4 and revert to the default version.