Author Topic: Mozilla shoots itself in foot (Read 16791 times)

xtabber · « **on:** May 04, 2019, 07:43 AM »

Firefox survives in today's Chromium dominated browser world mainly because of the wealth of useful extensions available for it, many of which have no Chrome/Chromium equivalent.

So today, many Firefox users woke up to find that all of their extensions had been disabled and could neither be used nor re-installed. This turns out to be the result of a certificate checking bug at Mozillla.

ghacks has a good description of the problem here.

As I write this, nearly 12 hours later, Mozilla still has only a temporary fix involving enabling Studies in the Privacy & Security Options.

Nod5 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 05, 2019, 03:22 AM »

Big mess this!

Ghacks is a good site, but a bunch of people in the comments section there tend to be weirdly, toxically negative against all things Mozilla/Firefox.

Two more direct sources to monitor for news until a more permanent fix is out:
https://blog.mozilla...-add-ons-in-firefox/
https://twitter.com/mozamo

https://twitter.com/.../1124882998984204288

We are really, really sorry for the continued disruption of features that you love and trust. We know this has been frustrating, and we're committed to fixing this as fast as we possibly can.

https://twitter.com/.../1124879521750978560

Hi folks, our team has been working around the clock for the last 24 hours to get your extensions back up and running. Unfortunately, we don't have a permanent fix ready to be released.

We're going to hold off on trying to push a permanent fix tonight (Pacific time) and give our engineers a chance to breathe while our QA team runs a more complete battery of tests on the updated builds.

Deozaan · « **Reply #2 on:** May 05, 2019, 12:12 PM »

I read this post yesterday and breathed a sigh of relief because my Firefox wasn't affected.

Then sometime later in the day I had to reboot and Firefox updated itself and lost my extensions.

dantheman · « **Reply #3 on:** May 05, 2019, 01:53 PM »

I've been a user and proponent of Firefox since day one back in... 2002 with Phoenix!
Like many, i was tempted in commenting on Ghacks but did not.
While their "Quantum" leap was a huge deception (especially because of Legacy extensions taking the boot),
this latest bump in the road might very well be the last one for me.
Have been testing quite a few different browsers since then (mostly Chrome clones) and Slimjet seems to have found a niche in my heart for reliability and features.
Waterfox? Just doesn't do it like Firefox.
Palemoon? Just feels and looks like an old clunker (even with themes).

So, no, i'm not going to post anywhere else about this.
It's just sad to see a once great browser take the ditch (maybe once and for all).

Nod5 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 05, 2019, 02:28 PM »

https://blog.mozilla...-add-ons-in-firefox/

A Firefox release has been pushed — version 66.0.4 on Desktop and Android, and version 60.6.2 for ESR. This release repairs the certificate chain to re-enable web extensions, themes, search engines, and language packs that had been disabled (Bug 1549061). There are remaining issues that we are actively working to resolve, but we wanted to get this fix out before Monday to lessen the impact of disabled add-ons before the start of the week. More information about the remaining issues can be found by clicking on the links to the release notes above. (May 5, 13:22 EDT)

Seems like a reasonable approach. They've now had more time to test the update. The release allegedly patches (most of) the issues which should go some ways to mitigate negative impact on users who rely on Firefox on work/school weekdays.

wraith808 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 05, 2019, 05:05 PM »

Ghacks is a good site, but a bunch of people in the comments section there tend to be weirdly, toxically negative against all things Mozilla/Firefox.
-Nod5 (May 05, 2019, 03:22 AM)

Stay out of the comments. Always stay out of the comments. The reporting itself seems to be spot on, though, so I wouldn't hold it against ghacks.

Deozaan · « **Reply #6 on:** May 05, 2019, 06:47 PM »

The latest update appears to have resolved the issue for me.

Tuxman · « **Reply #7 on:** May 05, 2019, 07:08 PM »

Did you know that K-Meleon still exists?
https://en.wikipedia...List_of_web_browsers

Anyway, that was it for me. I have repeatedly said (or rather, written) that Netscape/Mozilla was one of the products which are just less horrible than their competitors.

I silently suffered when they started increasing the version number to match Chrome, then they took my statusbar (later, "add-on bar"), the RSS support, application theming and XUL add-ons, in Germany they even started distributing adware in cooperation with a yellow press publisher. Some time in between they forced me to distribute my add-ons over their shady portal because of mandatory "signing". That "signing" broke my privacy and security over the weekend - and my patience is limited, it always was, it always will be.

When I saw the news, I was on my way to visit friends, so my Friday was rather calm: no Firefox was involved.
The first thing I did when I came back home was:

I booted my Windows computer.
I uninstalled Firefox.
I set up my already installed Vivaldi so that it mostly matches my previous Firefox installation.

On my other "desktop" I already had Pale Moon, so I was fine.

Farewell, Mozilla. This was one middle finger too much for me.

nickodemos · « **Reply #8 on:** May 05, 2019, 07:33 PM »

All you whiners. Just do it and keep it to yourself. No one really cares.

For instance no one cares that I am sticking with FF.

Tuxman · « **Reply #9 on:** May 05, 2019, 07:34 PM »

Indeed, we don't care.

IainB · « **Reply #10 on:** May 05, 2019, 10:57 PM »

...Farewell, Mozilla. This was one middle finger too much for me.
-Tuxman (May 05, 2019, 07:08 PM)

That echoes my sentiments too, except my patience with Mozilla wore out quite a long time back.
Judging by its results, they seem to have a bunch of monkeys running that outfit now.

wraith808 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 05, 2019, 11:53 PM »

All you whiners. Just do it and keep it to yourself. No one really cares.

For instance no one cares that I am sticking with FF.
-nickodemos (May 05, 2019, 07:33 PM)

Isn't that the purpose of a forum?

$:-\$

Shades · « **Reply #12 on:** May 06, 2019, 01:09 AM »

As the loss of RSS was the final straw for me, I only used FF as a secondary browser, in case Opera would fail on me. Chrome doesn't suit me, so not much else left than Opera. That was the plan at least.

While I do like the feature set from Opera, FF fits my workflow just better, even if it is nowadays crippled.

Anyway, the loss of RSS did made me look at alternatives for this and I ended up using RSSOwl, a stand-alone application (portable). This handles RSS better and more conveniently than FireFox ever did (or should), so now I am kinda back with FireFox again.

Same here, also a user since the browser was named Phoenix (v0.5). Maybe that is why it is hard for me to let go. Perhaps all of this trouble is meant to point out that people use browsers for way too many tasks as it is. Stand-alone applications are not dead yet...

anandcoral · « **Reply #13 on:** May 06, 2019, 07:13 AM »

All fixed now.
FF 66.0.4 (32-bit)

Mozilla did worked on their fault and fixed it, but the last two days were dark, just like Fani blew all our extensions !!
I was never so happy as I felt today in getting all my extensions back active.

Regards,

Anand

dantheman · « **Reply #14 on:** May 06, 2019, 07:59 AM »

@Shades - we are creatures of habit.
Firefox has always been a love/hate relationship for me.
Nightmares of extension incompatibilities, slow to boot and surf...
Still, no matter how often i've gotten upset with it, for some reason, i just come back to it.
The others just don't match it.

@anandcoral - good for you!

Had beta installed and with "Firefox Data Collection and Use" re-checked, all came back to normal the next day after the hick.

Wonder if it's not a Mozilla tactic to get users to leave these options on?
Conspiracy? oh! oh!

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #15 on:** May 06, 2019, 08:17 AM »

Only FF extension I use is ABP, and v66.0.4 has it working again...so I'm good with it.

But then again I still like IE..

anandcoral · « **Reply #16 on:** May 06, 2019, 11:41 AM »

Had beta installed and with "Firefox Data Collection and Use" re-checked, all came back to normal the next day after the hick.

Wonder if it's not a Mozilla tactic to get users to leave these options on?
Conspiracy? oh! oh!
-dantheman (May 06, 2019, 07:59 AM)

I don't think so. That was a stop gap solution.
I followed Martin's advice of GHack and waited for the new FF version. Today I got it and "alls well that ends well"

Regards,

Anand

Tuxman · « **Reply #17 on:** May 07, 2019, 04:04 AM »

"alls well that ends well"
-anandcoral (May 06, 2019, 11:41 AM)

Just wait for their next fuckup.

anandcoral · « **Reply #18 on:** May 07, 2019, 05:14 AM »

"alls well that ends well"
-anandcoral (May 06, 2019, 11:41 AM)

Just wait for their next fuckup.
-Tuxman (May 07, 2019, 04:04 AM)

I think MS has already trained us hard on 'updates going **up'

Regards,

Anand

Akertyna · « **Reply #19 on:** May 08, 2019, 11:13 PM »

My FB2Mate's extension is gone

( I'm so f*** sad

Curt · « **Reply #20 on:** May 09, 2019, 02:02 AM »

My FB2Mate's extension is gone
-Akertyna (May 08, 2019, 11:13 PM)

https://fb2mate.com/ scroll to bottom, right margin (Platform > Extension for Chrome / Extension for Firefox)

Tuxman · « **Reply #21 on:** May 09, 2019, 10:48 AM »

By the way, here are SeaMonkey nightly builds, even based on the "new" Firefox engine:
http://www.wg9s.com/comm-257/

tomos · « **Reply #22 on:** May 09, 2019, 02:34 PM »

By the way, here are SeaMonkey nightly builds, even based on the "new" Firefox engine:
http://www.wg9s.com/comm-257/
-Tuxman (May 09, 2019, 10:48 AM)

is that a recommendation, or (just) a suggestion for 'works with FF extensions' ?
Veering off-topic:
I'm still mainly using Pale Moon, but was finding problems with some sites in the last while (e.g. not allowed to log into PayPal -- this may be now fixed, I dont go there that often; there were other examples but cant remember them now)

Tuxman · « **Reply #23 on:** May 09, 2019, 02:36 PM »

Yup, SeaMonkey is widely compatible with Firefox extensions - the old ones.

anandcoral · « **Reply #24 on:** May 10, 2019, 06:09 AM »

And finally,

Mozilla apologizes for recent add-on disabling issue and provides details
https://www.ghacks.n...nd-provides-details/

Regards,

Anand