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0 pointskibwen5y ago0 comments

> you have to side load through Developer Options

I'm not sure what screen "Developer Options" is referring to, but you can load add-ons directly from your hard drive with no fuss from the Add-ons page (though you must be running the Nightly or Developer version of Firefox). Click the gear icon right above your list of installed add-ons (this is also the menu that lets you disable auto-updates).

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8 comments · 2 top-level

jannes5y ago· 4 in thread

So you have to use an experimental version of Firefox. These nightly versions are less tested and can be a serious downgrade from any stable browser.

That's hardly what "Use Firefox" implied.

kibwenOP5y ago

I can see why you'd think that but in practice I assure you that your concern is unwarranted. I've been using Nightly Firefox exclusively for almost ten years and I honestly can't remember it ever crashing (excluding the times when I was manually futzing with experimental about:config flags back in the electrolysis days).

As for the developer edition, it's literally the version that they expect web developers to use; it's not half-baked software by any means.

kchr5y ago

"Stable" doesn't necessary medan that it is secure, from an end-user perspective.

1 more reply

bovine3dom5y ago

You can use unbranded builds which are pretty much identical to the stable releases but let you use unsigned extensions.

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing#Unbranded...

Semaphor5y ago

The Developer Edition is not a nightly build, it’s a beta build, so there has been some testing (Before I switched to stable, I only once had an issue). Your point stands though.

driverdan5y ago· 2 in thread

Installing extensions from a file is supported in the latest mainline FF (84.0.2), nightly or dev are not required. I currently have one installed. It just shows a confirmation dialog and then installs it.

bovine3dom5y ago

This is true but misleading: the extension you install from file has to be signed by Mozilla in exactly the same way that extensions on the store are signed.

Arnavion5y ago

You can remove the signature requirement on stable by setting `xpinstall.signatures.required` to `false` in your user.js / about:config

(I wrote most the extensions I installed for my own bespoke use, built locally as zip files and installed via "Install Add-on From File...", and I don't have a problem trusting myself.)

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8 comments · 2 top-level

jannes5y ago· 4 in thread

So you have to use an experimental version of Firefox. These nightly versions are less tested and can be a serious downgrade from any stable browser.

That's hardly what "Use Firefox" implied.

kibwenOP5y ago

As for the developer edition, it's literally the version that they expect web developers to use; it's not half-baked software by any means.

kchr5y ago

"Stable" doesn't necessary medan that it is secure, from an end-user perspective.

1 more reply

bovine3dom5y ago

You can use unbranded builds which are pretty much identical to the stable releases but let you use unsigned extensions.

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing#Unbranded...

Semaphor5y ago

The Developer Edition is not a nightly build, it’s a beta build, so there has been some testing (Before I switched to stable, I only once had an issue). Your point stands though.

driverdan5y ago· 2 in thread

bovine3dom5y ago

This is true but misleading: the extension you install from file has to be signed by Mozilla in exactly the same way that extensions on the store are signed.

Arnavion5y ago

You can remove the signature requirement on stable by setting `xpinstall.signatures.required` to `false` in your user.js / about:config

(I wrote most the extensions I installed for my own bespoke use, built locally as zip files and installed via "Install Add-on From File...", and I don't have a problem trusting myself.)

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse