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TBH I don't care if there's a user interface; what I want is to be able to store my browser's config in git along with the rest of my config. Every other progra

TBH I don't care if there's a user interface; what I want is to be able to store my browser's config in git along with the rest of my config. Every other program I use regularly is configured through sane dotfiles; if I check them out on a fresh OS install it's all like I want, except Firefox. I have to go through this insane song and dance of hunting down all my extensions and remembering obscure about:config settings every time. In fact, it's a bit cringeworthy that this whole list is presented as a thing you're supposed to manually enter while using the about:config search.

PhantomGremlin 11y ago
a thing you're supposed to manually enter Doesn't everybody know about user.js? Keep that updated and store that in git. If that file is present in the .../Profiles/<whatever>.default then Firefox automatically uses it. And Firefox doesn't rewrite it, as opposed to prefs.js. It's still a hassle, but it's far easier than manually entering things into about:config. Here are a few of the things currently in my user.js: user_pref("accessibility.blockautorefresh", true); user_pref("browser.preferences.inContent", false); user_pref("network.dns.disablePrefetch", true); user_pref("network.prefetch-next", false); user_pref("pdfjs.disabled", true); user_pref("plugins.hide_infobar_for_blocked_plugin", true); user_pref("plugins.notifyMissingFlash", false); user_pref("social.enabled", false); user_pref("social.remote-install.enabled", false); I've got more in there but I'm too lazy to look all of them up to make sure they still apply to the current version of Firefox. The ones I pasted seemed relevant based on their name.
- Animats 11y ago
  When you have to do something like that to disable unwanted intrusive and commercial features in Firefox, you know that the Mozilla Foundation is not your friend.
- technomancy 11y ago
  Sure, but you can't check the profile directory into git, and you can't know the path of the profile directory ahead of time to make a symlink either. The way they randomize the path makes it seem like they're going out of their way to make it automation-resistant.

PhantomGremlin 11y ago

a thing you're supposed to manually enter Doesn't everybody know about user.js? Keep that updated and store that in git. If that file is present in the .../Profiles/<whatever>.default then Firefox automatically uses it. And Firefox doesn't rewrite it, as opposed to prefs.js. It's still a hassle, but it's far easier than manually entering things into about:config. Here are a few of the things currently in my user.js: user_pref("accessibility.blockautorefresh", true); user_pref("browser.preferences.inContent", false); user_pref("network.dns.disablePrefetch", true); user_pref("network.prefetch-next", false); user_pref("pdfjs.disabled", true); user_pref("plugins.hide_infobar_for_blocked_plugin", true); user_pref("plugins.notifyMissingFlash", false); user_pref("social.enabled", false); user_pref("social.remote-install.enabled", false); I've got more in there but I'm too lazy to look all of them up to make sure they still apply to the current version of Firefox. The ones I pasted seemed relevant based on their name.

Animats 11y ago
When you have to do something like that to disable unwanted intrusive and commercial features in Firefox, you know that the Mozilla Foundation is not your friend.
technomancy 11y ago
Sure, but you can't check the profile directory into git, and you can't know the path of the profile directory ahead of time to make a symlink either. The way they randomize the path makes it seem like they're going out of their way to make it automation-resistant.