4 ms·

Firefox already has a similar restriction on Windows, and I think MacOS, but not Linux. On the normal version of firefox for those platforms you can't permanen

Firefox already has a similar restriction on Windows, and I think MacOS, but not Linux. On the normal version of firefox for those platforms you can't permanently sideload an extension, you need to reload it on each restart. The Developer Edition still lets you sideload addons normally, however.

the_pwner224 6y ago
It's present on Linux too, and probably MacOS. Aside from Developer Edition there's an Unbranded Firefox you can get from Mozilla in English only which will allow it. Or you can compile it yourself with the MOZ_REQUIRE_SIGNING flag disabled, which is not too hard. On Arch Linux it's just download the firefox-nightly-hg AUR package and delete the MOZ_REQUIRE_SIGNING line, then makepkg -s. https://the-pwner224.neocities.org/compiling-firefox/index.html https://the-pwner224.neocities.org/compiling-firefox/index.h... This also provides a good security benefit - for extensions that aren't continually updated you can download them with the "Extension source viewer" extension and then change their ID in the manifest and manually sideload them to prevent them from auto updating and using invasive permissions - malicious buyouts by ad companies are not unheard of in both the Chrome and FF app stores. And also important, you can tweak the extension code as desired. For example the Old Reddit Redirect extension, which automatically switches reddit.com to old.reddit.com also changes new.reddit.com to the old one, so if you ever want to actually visit the new design then you have to disable the addon. There's no way to change this aside from editing the extension and then loading it unsigned.
fwn 6y ago
> On the normal version of firefox for those platforms you can't permanently sideload an extension ... Are you sure about that? I am using Firefox on Windows and I currently have no problem sideloading extensions. They stay enabled and even update automatically. Try, for example, installing this [1] bypass paywall extension via the "Download and install the latest version" link. Works flawless. ... or am I getting something wrong? [1] https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/blob/ma...
- jwitthuhn 6y ago
  It looks like this is happening because the bypass paywall extension is still signed by mozilla, but not distributed through their normal addon website, which I just now learned is possible. Still not great, but it is good to learn that it is just a little less restrictive than I thought.

the_pwner224 6y ago

It's present on Linux too, and probably MacOS. Aside from Developer Edition there's an Unbranded Firefox you can get from Mozilla in English only which will allow it. Or you can compile it yourself with the MOZ_REQUIRE_SIGNING flag disabled, which is not too hard. On Arch Linux it's just download the firefox-nightly-hg AUR package and delete the MOZ_REQUIRE_SIGNING line, then makepkg -s. https://the-pwner224.neocities.org/compiling-firefox/index.html https://the-pwner224.neocities.org/compiling-firefox/index.h... This also provides a good security benefit - for extensions that aren't continually updated you can download them with the "Extension source viewer" extension and then change their ID in the manifest and manually sideload them to prevent them from auto updating and using invasive permissions - malicious buyouts by ad companies are not unheard of in both the Chrome and FF app stores. And also important, you can tweak the extension code as desired. For example the Old Reddit Redirect extension, which automatically switches reddit.com to old.reddit.com also changes new.reddit.com to the old one, so if you ever want to actually visit the new design then you have to disable the addon. There's no way to change this aside from editing the extension and then loading it unsigned.

fwn 6y ago

> On the normal version of firefox for those platforms you can't permanently sideload an extension ... Are you sure about that? I am using Firefox on Windows and I currently have no problem sideloading extensions. They stay enabled and even update automatically. Try, for example, installing this [1] bypass paywall extension via the "Download and install the latest version" link. Works flawless. ... or am I getting something wrong? [1] https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/blob/ma...

jwitthuhn 6y ago
It looks like this is happening because the bypass paywall extension is still signed by mozilla, but not distributed through their normal addon website, which I just now learned is possible. Still not great, but it is good to learn that it is just a little less restrictive than I thought.