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TylerM – Tyler Menezes \ Blog \ Updating Addons for Firefox 3.0b5

Updating Addons for Firefox 3.0b5

April 6, 2008 at 12:34 pm

I’ve created a nice little PHP script to make addons compatible with Firefox 3.0b5 (or any other version of Firefox later than the addon was developed for). Actually, it doesn’t exactly make it compatible, it just changes the max-version attribute to 9.0, so that it will install anywhere. 90% of the addons still work perfectly, AdBlock, Download Statusbar, and Firebug to name a few. To install an addon which is usually incompatible, just copy the URL (this is only tested on addons.mozilla.org pages, but should work on other pages) and paste it into the box below.


This works on the fact that a Firefox extension (.xpi) is really a Zip file. Inside is an “install.rdf” file which controls installation. The script extracts this file, modifies the max-version, and repackages it.

5 Responses:

Comment by Anatoly

You can do the same with the “Nightly tester tools” extension. It just shut down the compatibility check..

Comment by Tyler

Thanks for the tip. This is a useful extension, and a good alternative.

Comment by Yo

WooooooooW. Yeaaaaaaah Exceleeent¡
Muchas muchas gracias

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Comment by yggdrasill

thanks man
i did this manually, hacking based on your explanation…
sorry but don’t believe in scripts ;)))

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