Extension Manager Changes
I've been making a large number of changes to Firefox's Extension Manager over the past week or so, basically rewriting the way Extensions are installed. These changes when complete will offer a lot of improvements for Extension developers.
- You will be able to install extensions by simply dropping their XPIs into containment relationship Install Locations (e.g. drop foo.xpi into profile\extensions and have it be installed automatically on next start) - this should be a boon for quick setup.
- You will be able to install and uninstall Extensions by simply adding and removing their GUID folders from the Install Locations - if you add/remove an entry, the Extension system will notice the discrepancy on the next start and configure/remove the item.
- You will be able to "point" to extensions which you are hosting elsewhere using a cross platform text format which is basically a text file with a GUID name in the extensions directory with a path to the directory where the Extension actually lives (e.g. elsewhere on a NFS home dir)
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2 Comments
When the extension manager notices a new .XPI and is about to install it, can it still prompt the user to allow/deny that, the same as if a user had downloaded the file?
Comment by Andy Burns at March 29, 2005 05:13 PM | Permalink
In my opinion a no-go... Doing this makes it easier for viruses / adware to install without notice of the user.
An evil user could easily install an extension by "simply dropping their XPIs into containment relationship Install Locations"
Comment by Tim at March 29, 2005 12:13 PM | Permalink