+Warwagon MVC Posted October 22, 2008 MVC Share Posted October 22, 2008 (edited) How to make Firefox addons compatible with the newest release. Everybody likes to try out the newest version of Firefox. At the time I was writing this Firefox 3.1 beta 1 was available. When you install it you will find some of your existing Firefox add-ons may have already been updated to work with the new version. Others won’t install at all. Don’t be surprised if some of the add-ons you modify to be compatible, bring Firefox to its knees. They don’t let you install older versions for a reason. But so far I’ve had no problems at all. Step 1 – Downloading the add-on Locate the add-on you want to install. If it’s on the official Firefox add-on page you’ll have to click “See All version” to be allowed access to the .xpi. Right click on the now clickable “Add to Firefox” button and choose save target file as. Step 2 – Extracting the add-on. Locate the add-on you just saved. You should be able to open the .xpi file with your favorite compression utility. I use Power Archiver and it seemed to work just fine. Other compression utilities compatibility may vary. Extract the add-on to the folder of your choosing. I usually recommend extracting it to its own folder on the desktop. Step 3 – Modifying install.rdf Open the folder you just extracted the xpi file to. You’ll see a file called install.rdf. By default windows will have no idea which program to use to open the file with. You can either use notepad or WordPad. Once you have the document opened do not get intimidated by the amount of text that you see. I find it’s easiest to just do an edit / find and look for the word max. That should take you directly too “<em:maxVersion>3.0</em:maxVersion>”. All you have to do is edit what is between the > <. In this case it says 3.0. Change the number to the current installed version of Firefox. In this case I have Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 installed. Which is written out as 3.1b1. So when I get done, it should say “<em:maxVersion>3.1b1</em:maxVersion>”. I guess you could also plan ahead so you don’t have to edit this for every new release. You could probably change it to 3.1b4 or something in that nature. Once you have that change made, save and exit the file. Step 4 – Recompressing the xpi file. The method of recompressing it into a file will vary by the software you use. If you use power archiver or winzip, I would recommend you open the folder containing the extracted contents of the xpi file and do a select all. Once all the files are selected, right click anyone of them and click “Add to zip”. When you’re done you should have a file ending in .zip. All that is left is to rename the zip file (in XP you’ll have to make sure you can see file extensions) to the name of the xpi file you downloaded earlier. Just make sure when you are done that the file ends in .xpi and not .zip. That’s it. Now just open Firefox and drag the xpi file you just created into Firefox and choose install. Once you reboot Firefox your add-on should now function properly (hopefully). Edited June 30, 2009 by warwagon Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speed_NYC Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Thanks, worked like a charm. :D Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590274194 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gary7 Subscriber² Posted December 16, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted December 16, 2008 Great Guide. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590274546 Share on other sites More sharing options...
betacortex Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Works perfectly, A+ write up. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590593494 Share on other sites More sharing options...
night_stalker_z Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 You can also add extensions.checkCompatibility = false in the about:config so that Firefox won't check for versions. It's also safer this way as you won't screw up the xpi file if you compress it wrong. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590593568 Share on other sites More sharing options...
justlooking Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I've always used Nightly Tester Tools and Mr Tech Toolkit to make things compatible. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590595780 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeley Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Great guide. It took me ages to work out how to do this in the past, so this will save heaps of time for people who didn't know. This could be a sticky. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590595988 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dc'1 Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 I just use Nightly Tester Tools, but for everybody else, good guide! Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590616540 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunt Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 It may make it install... but it doesn't mean it will work correctly. Chances are it will, but depends what's been changed in FF. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590713620 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popcorned1 Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 I use Nightly Tester Tools, this is a more long winded approach. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590713628 Share on other sites More sharing options...
primexx Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 Popcorned1 said: I use Nightly Tester Tools, this is a more long winded approach. yea i use mr.techs toolkit, does the same thing :) Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590721940 Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiquidSolstice Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 Not sure how safe this is. You're not making it compatible with FF3.1, you're just disabling the check for version number. I wouldn't do it. Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590874028 Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaRkMaDnEsS Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 hmm well it`s safe even if something happend you just need to remove the addon this way force the program to install the addon but doesn't mean it would 100 % some addons work and some not i gueess when 3.5 is out there would be some major work that needs to be done with addons Link to comment https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/685702-guidehow-to-make-firefox-addons-compatible-with-the-newest-release/#findComment-590874034 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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