With the recent release of Firefox 3.0.1, some users are finding that their add-ons that had been working prior suddenly stopped working due to incompatibility. This is an actually a problem that is being caused by the add-on developers. While they have specified their compatibility range as Firefox 2.0-3.0.*, the have incorrectly declared the add-ons’ maxVersion as “3.0” (works up to Firefox 3.0 only) instead of “3.0.*” (works with any Firefox 3.0 build).
While most of the add-ons hosted via AMO are correctly configured, this may not be the case for add-ons hosted else where. Should you run into a case where an add-on has been disabled in Firefox 3.0.1 due to being incompatible, you will need to contact the add-on developer so they can correct their error.
News Source: Basil’s Bodacious Blog
This was frustrating me because I really do want the security update but don’t want to lose Tab Mix Plus! 🙂 Thanks for the heads up. I thought it was something I could work around, but definitely not!
I guessed as much. The strange bit is that this is missing in Google gears! Surely, Googler would have been aware of this 😉
It’s a pretty easy thing to miss, but Google Gears 0.3.24.3 seems to have resolved this.
If you wish to update Firefox whilst keeping all of your add-ons intact, there is a fairly easy fix.
Note: This will disable add-on compatibility checking.
Go to about:config via your location bar, accept the warning and right-click anywhere in the window selecting New->Boolean, set the name to extensions.checkCompatibility and click OK then set the value to false, click OK and restart your browser.
You may now update Firefox without risking any of your add-ons becoming disabled. An information bar will appear in your add-ons window, notifying you that “Add-on compatibility checking is disabled”. You may click ‘Enable’ here at any time to undo these changes.
You will now be able to install add-ons designed for any version of Firefox, the Mozilla add-ons website will still restrict you to Firefox 3.*.* add-ons however. I can almost guarantee you that any add-ons working within Firefox 3.0 will work flawlessly with Firefox 3.0.1 since it is mainly a security update, and on the add-on side of things it’s basically just a version number which the developers need to update. However, use Firefox 2 add-ons at your own risk!