Firefox > Firefox extensions and their configuration >

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[UNTESTED] - Disable all addon compatibility checking ∞

• extensions.checkCompatibility

  • bug 521905 - Make extensions.checkCompatibility be per-application-version
• Disable Add-on Compatibility Checks -- untested

• Add-on Compatibility Reporter is supposted to have a way to disable compatibility checking, according to Mozilla's knowledgebase, but this is not true. I see no way. There are no options for it and no way to disable checking. Perhaps for an already-installed addon.

[WORKED] - Bypass compatibility checking for an individual addon ∞

[email protected]

1) Visit your addon page. e.g. [ 1 ]
2) Check for a development version. These are often fixed. [ 2 ]

3) Try installing the development version directly.

Alternately, you can download the development version, saving it into your profile/extensions folder and restarting Firefox.

[FAILED?] - edit the xpi ∞

This did not work for me when using the default version of scrapbook. I ended up using a newer beta version and installing it differently. See above.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210216070301/http://kb.mozillazine.org/Editing_an_add-on_to_change_its_compatibility

In the case where you want to keep compatibility on but adjust a particular addon, this is the process.

1) Visit the addon page. e.g. ScrapBook Plus

2) Download the addon. Right-click on its greyed-out "Add to Firefox" button. Save as.

3) Unpack the .xpi file.

file=scrapbook_plus-1.9.23.40-fx.xpi
\mkdir  "$file"_
\cd     "$file"_
\unzip  ../"$file"

4) Edit install.rdf.

5) Modify maxVersion to what you like. e.g.

<em:maxVersion>99.*</em:maxVersion>

I have tried variations, and nothing works.

• *
• 29*
• 29.0
• 29.0*
• 29.0.*
• 99.0.*
• 99.*
• 99*

• *.*

etc...

6) Re-pack the xpi

file=scrapbook_plus-1.9.23.40-fx.xpi
file2="$file"--edited.xpi
\zip  -r  "$file2"  .

7) Install the xpi

• Tools > Addons (Control-Shift-A)
• At the top-right, click the configuration button

• Install Add-on from file

Alternately, you can visit file꞉///directory and click your filename.xpi

I was using a mainstream version, and not the development version of the addon. I'm not sure if this is to blame.

Other failed attempts ∞

• Physically moving the edited .xpi to ~/.mozilla/firefox/PROFILE/extensions/ did not work. When Firefox is restarted, the file is still there but it is not seen in the addons list.
• Physically moving the edited .xpi to ~/.mozilla/firefox/PROFILE/extensions/ and renaming it to its addonid (e.g. {ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}.xpi) did not work. When Firefox is restarted, it is deleted.

• Physically moving the edited .xpi to ~/.mozilla/firefox/PROFILE/extensions/ and renaming it to its addonid (e.g. {ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}.xpi) and then renaming it to be all caps (e.g. {EC8030F7-C20A-464F-9B0E-13A3A9E97384}.xpi) did not work. When Firefox is restarted, it is deleted.

How I renamed it:

\rename  'y/a-z/A-Z/' \{*\}.xpi
\rename  's/.XPI/.xpi/' *.XPI

[IMPOSSIBLE] about:config disable compatibility checking for a particular addon ∞

As of 2014-05-25, there is no way to force an individual addon to bypass compatibility checking.

• bug 961999 - Make extensions.checkCompatibility only apply to specific add-ons

Imagining that it were possible, the process would look something like this.

1) Visit the addon page. e.g. [ 3 ]

2) Download the addon. Right-click on its greyed-out "Add to Firefox" button. Save as.

3) Unpack the .xpi file.

file=scrapbook_plus-1.9.23.40-fx.xpi
\mkdir  "$file"_
\cd     "$file"_
\unzip  ../"$file"

4) View install.rdf.

5) Find the addon id.

e.g. for ScrapBook Plus it is:

<em:id>{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}</em:id>

Note that while about:support will show extension IDs, this does not help if you can't install the extension in the first place!

6) Delete the extracted directory.

7) Add an about:config exception for that addon.

• extensions.checkCompatibility.<GUID>

• extensions.checkCompatibility.ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384

I disagree with bug 961999's notion of restricting this to a particular addon version and application version.

Don't update a specific addon ∞

https://kb.mozillazine.org/Updating_add-ons

The default addon UI allows you to easily enable/disable the automatic update per-addon.

Last updated 2024-10-12 at 13:26:37

Footnotes