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Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

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Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#131

Post by pmontra »

sbernecchia wrote: post #20

also fennec from f-droid is able to use custom extensions (and also about:config) it is compiled from firefox stable, with minimal changes, and mozilla telemetry disabled. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/

I just checked. Firefox on Google Play is version 101.2.0 from June 8. Fennec on F-Droid is version 97.1.1 from February 26. Maybe it's not abandoned but it doesn't feel that one can count on it for timely bug fixes.

Edit: then I remembered that F-Droid has the quirk of requiring a manual refresh of its repository. I did it and got version 101.1.0 from June 5. Much better.

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#132

Post by yoasif_ »

capitainenemo wrote: post #109
yoasif_ wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, people that want to run extensions can either use Fennec (the F-Droid fork, not the old Firefox for Android) or Nightly versions. There are developers targeting this stuff - I wrote about some here: https://www.quippd.com/writing/2022/01/26/most-wanted-add-on...

It does require creating a Firefox account and creating a "collection" so it's definitely not out of the box.

I don't think I or my post implied that it was out of the box. You also don't need to create your own collection - one just needs to exist with the extensions you are looking for.

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#133

Post by dblohm7 »

causi wrote: post #19
guelo wrote: post #2

Mozilla doesn't seem to have a clue why people prefer firefox. It's not because of privacy or security, though that's nice. It's certainly not because it behaves similarly to chrome. It was always the extensibility. The power of plugins that allowed adblocking to be invented on firefox. They threw that away in the name of security and supposed clean code. Clean code doesn't get you users.

Mozilla lost the plot the day they decided chasing Chrome was more important than appealing to their actual userbase. That was about the time they started incrementing version numbers every six weeks and rendered the numbers meaningless.

Or you know, we just wanted to offer the closest thing we could get to continuous delivery of desktop software?

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#134

Post by dblohm7 »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #108

To this day Firefox for Android still does not have a tab bar on tablets. Which is double ridiculous since the previous two rewrites both did have one (in fact I contributed to the former...).

Yeah, but what's the tablet market for Android these days?

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#135

Post by nyanpasu64 »

schroeding wrote: post #60
dblohm7 wrote: post #29

(Former Mozilla developer here, who worked on GeckoView[1], the modern way to embed Gecko into Android apps, including all currently shipped Mozilla browsers on Android) From an engineering perspective, the sad thing about this is that the work to finish extensions in GeckoView was essentially completed in the months after the initial Fenix release. When GeckoView was still being rolled out into release, we understan…

That explains why all add-ons I tested in Nightly with the custom add-on list workaround[1] worked fine (ignoring the jank here and there due to missing optimization for small touch screens). It's quite irritating, as AMO even asks whether or not an add-on is compatible with Android when uploading. [1] https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2020/09/29/expanded-extensio...

There's one addon that doesn't work fine: Stylus Dropbox login fails due to "can't access property "getRedirectURL", chrome.identity is undefined".

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#136

Post by doix »

yoasif_ wrote: post #84
causi wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not understanding how that relates to the fact that the only thing stopping users from installing their XUL extensions on FF57 was a software switch they weren't allowed to touch without editing and compiling from source.

No editing or compilation needed. You just needed to disable signature checks (xpinstall.signatures.required) and enable extension experiments (extensions.experiments.enabled) in a developer edition version (or nightly) version of the browser.

I feel like if it was that simple, someone would have written instructions somewhere at the time. I remember having to set xpinstall.signatures.required before FF 57. I am not sure about extensions.expirements.enabled.

Unfortunately, I'm now at a point where I can't be bothered constantly fucking around with my setup and have resigned myself to just accepting whatever Mozilla wants to shove down my throat.

From what I can tell, the community has forked pentadactyl[0] and are using it on Palemoon[1]. I'm guessing if it could still run on Firefox today, they would do that instead of using Palemoon (but I could be wrong). Anyway, I still hate that they killed what made Firefox unique. Trying to beat Chrome at it's own game seems like a pointless battle.

[0] https://github.com/pentadactyl/pentadactyl

[1] https://www.palemoon.org/

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#137

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

dblohm7 wrote: post #125
allendoerfer wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can anyone defend product management to me? Shouldn't this basically be UX/UI designers working together with developers based on user input acquired in some scientific way (either quantitative or qualitative)? How do product managers provide additional value?

IMHO: Product managers are super important: it's their job to understand the market (where it was, where it is, and where it is going), the competitive landscape, and work with leadership on strategic planning. However, all three groups (UX, PM, Eng) need to work symbiotically. Everybody needs to be sharing information and acting as partners in the work they're doing.

> it's their job to understand the market

It’s their job to understand and copy chrome. Fixed that for you.

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#138

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

pessimizer wrote: post #106
Filligree wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The evangelism is mostly about stuff that nobody outside the USA cares about. It just looks like the browser is made by crazy people.

The evangelism was about web standards, web privacy, and user control. They deferred on standards to Google, and became positively hostile to the latter two subjects. I neither care about woke messaging, nor notice them doing very much of it because I'm not the kind of guy who thinks an interracial couple in a tv commercial is commie globalist mind control. My problem is that: 1) their messages on standards are incoh…

> I neither care about woke messaging, nor notice them doing very much of it

A lot of it is at Mozilla.org, the non profit parent of Mozilla.com

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#139

Post by jimmaswell »

jrochkind1 wrote: post #92
jimmaswell wrote: post #88

I wish the developers would all organize, break off ties with Mozilla, and endorse a fork as the new real Firefox.

i would think most of the developers have a job working for mozilla, by which they support themselves, which would make that somewhat harder.

Maybe Elon Musk or someone could pay them all to come to a new company, as long as I'm dreaming of pipes.

Re: Add-on support in new Firefox for Android (2021)

#140

Post by capitainenemo »

yoasif_ wrote: post #132
capitainenemo wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does require creating a Firefox account and creating a "collection" so it's definitely not out of the box.

I don't think I or my post implied that it was out of the box. You also don't need to create your own collection - one just needs to exist with the extensions you are looking for.

Sure. Wasn't implying anything. Just warning people. It's also why I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've made many accounts with Mozilla over the years and none of them were migrated over to this new system (ditto when they killed off moznet actually). I'm just sick of it. It's just enough friction that I haven't gotten around to fixing the annoyances of the missing addons.
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