| | Stumble It! | Add to Mixx! | | diigo it | | Slashdot |

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Disable Firefox Add-on Version Check

Whenever Firefox updates it's code, I find that some of my add-ons stop loading. This isn't because they're incompatible with the new code, but simply because the add-on developer specified that the it's only compatible with the current version.
Firefox: Woot! Check out version 3.0.4!!!
Add-on: Sweet, I'm compatible with Firefox version 3.0 to 3.0.4.
Firefox: Woot+1! Check out version 3.0.5!!!!
Add-on: teh suck!1! I'm only compatible with 3.0.4... i fail =(
In actuality, the add-on is perfectly compatible with version 3.0.5, only the number has changed, not the code that the add-on uses. This is where about:config comes in to play!

Before version 3.0.5, you could type about:config in your URL window in Firefox and play around with the inner workings of the browser. One of the options was to change extensions.checkCompatibility to false and, presto! previously incompatible add-ons worked!

After version 3.0.5, this options isn't available by default ... so you have to add it. Here's how:
  1. Type about:config in your URL bar
  2. Right-click > New > Boolean
  3. Preference Name = extensions.checkCompatibility
  4. Value = false
If you do it right you'll see an alert at the top of your Add-on manager window like this:

Enjoy!

2 comments:

ericsheng21 said...

Thanks for the tip

ksindga said...

Thanks a lot.