"override max version" for Firefox extensions?

After using Firefox for a couple of years now, I am finally getting around to discovering the usefulness of extensions. Some of the extensions I'd like to try, though, are not compatible with FF1.5. I've read a couple of different suggestions as to how to get around this.
For SpoofStick, a couple of users suggested the following:
Rename the file extension from xpi to zip, then extract the files. Edit the install.rdf file in notepad; where is says 'maxversion' change it from 1.0 to 1.6a2. Save this change, zip the file again, change the extension back to xpi, then drag and drop the file into Firefox>Tools>Extension window to install it.
It was suggested that this method should work for any extension, but I've only gotten it to work for me with SpoofStick.
I was just looking under User Comments for another extension (https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?application=firefox&numpg=10&id=58), and someone else said he got around the FF1.5 incompatibility by using "the override max version" option. Can anyone here tell me how to implement that? A search for those terms at FireFox Add-ons site doesn't yield anything.

 

Rebeca, I use Nightly Tester Tools to get around this annoying problem ..................
* Allows you to install incompatible extensions (experimental).
* Allows you to force the application to believe an extension is compatible with the current version and enable it. (Only works on recent builds of Firefox and Thunderbird, branch and trunk since 20/08/2005). ................

You can access the option from extension panel (provides global computability) or when the extension "Install" popup is displayed (tick phrase on bottom of display to force compatibility during the install. Their is some risk forcing compatibility. My own experience, problems may occur working with nightly and / or Alpha's. Once browser version has moved to Beta, rarely a problem. If an extension is incompatible, simply remove the extension.

 

Lol, yet another extension! Thank you, Dennis - I'll try it out later on this evening.

 

Rebecca ...

The MR Tech Local Install extension acts as an extension manager, and has Nightly Tester Tools built in. Install it first, and it will handle the installation of all your other extensions, including those which seem to be incompatible with FF 1.5. See this post for the settings I think are important.

Edit: I should have added that Local Install also works with Thunderbird.

 

Neither one of those extension (Nightly Tester Tools or MR Tech) worked for me insofar as subsequently enabling me to install the extensions I was hoping to.
The error message I get in both cases is:

Incompatible Extension
Resize Search Box 0.0.2 could not be installed because it is not compatible with Firefox 1.5. (Resize Search Box 0.0.2 will only work with Firefox versions from 0.9 to 1.0)
[Just using this one extension as an example, but it happens with any extension I've tried that isn't known to be outright compatible with FF1.5]

When I try editing the install.rdf file (the way I did, successfully, with SpoofStick), the message I keep getting now is:

Error
Firefox could not install the file at
file:///C: Documents%20and%20Settings/Rebecca/Desktop/resize_search_box0.0.2.xpi
because: Install script not found

Interestingly, I got that same message when I tried editing SpoofStick's install.rdf file on a friend's computer today - even though I did the exact same editing as I had done on my own computer, and the ensuing installation had worked fine for me.

I read something about a "make all compatible" option at the Mozillazine Forums, but once again, the user didn't say how to access that option.

I suppose I should just bide my time and wait until (hopefully) the extensions are updated for compatibility with FF1.5. But I'm still curious why the SpoofStick editing route worked on my computer and not on my friend's, and why I'm getting that exact same error message when I edit install.rdf files on my own computer now as well, when the fix was supposed to be pretty much universal (according to the user who posted the instructions).

 

Unfortunately rebecca, this will always be an issue with extensions. The author must devote time re-tweaking / upgrading as Firefox evolves. But your in luck, Resize Search Box 0.0.2 has been upgrade to Resize Search Box 0.0.7 - this provides compatibility from .9 to 1.5

 

I've been making it a point to check for new extensions daily, but you either beat me to that one, or I just missed it. Thanks for the heads up - I've got my search bar nicely resized, thank you very much! Once again, it obviously pays to be patient. Most people talk about becoming more patient with age; the opposite seems to be happening to me!

 

Rebecca ...

I have the feeling that you're not using MR Tech Local Install properly. Do the following:

1. After installing Local Install, right-click anywhere in the menubar or toolbar (not in the address or search windows), select "Customize ", and drag the new Extensions icon to the toolbar.

2. Assuming that you've downloaded all of your extensions (*.xpi files) to your hard drive, and that you have all of them in the same folder, click on the Extensions icon to open the Extensions window.

3. Click on the "Install" button. In the window that opens, navigate to the folder where your extension files are stored. This can be permanently set in Local Install's options on the General > Install Paths page so that the window opens at that location all the time.

4. Select all of the extension files you wish to install and click the "Open" button.

5. In the "Software Installation" window that opens be sure to check the "Override 'maxVersion' compatibility checking" box, then click the "Install Now" button. A "Nightly Tester Tools" alert should open with the message "All of the extensions were added successfully. You must restart Firefox to complete the installation." Click the "OK" button, close the Extensions window (you can do this with the "Esc" key), close FF and restart it.​

I have yet to find an extension that this procedure won't install (that doesn't mean that there aren't any ).

BTW, upgrades to your installed extensions will be noted in the Extensions window.

 

You're right, Jim, I was not using the MR Tech Local Install extension correctly. I followed your suggestions in the other thread, but I never got to steps 3-5 above - just assumed (!) that the extensions would miraculously be added when I installed them the usual way, once MR Tech Local Install was in place.
I've saved your info for future reference, and I'm sure I'll get around to putting it into practice sooner rather than later. Right now, though, I've got 12 functioning extensions loaded, which is 11 more than I had two days ago. I'm going to try to contain my extension enthusiasm a bit while I familiarize myself with what I've already got. These things are soooo cool!!
Thanks for your super clear instructions - I always do best with those (nothing left to the imagination!)!
PS - wind chill of -20F this morning

 

MR Tech Local Install makes it really easy to handle your extensions, which is why I referred to it, in post #4, above, as an "extension manager ".

One little feature I didn't mention is that it allows you to put a "My Config" icon on your toolbar. The window that it opens will tell you everything you might want to know about your FF installation. One of its nicest features is that it provides links to all of your extension pages so that you can easily download the *.xpi files when extensions are upgraded.

 

Okay, I'm sold! No big difference between 12 and 13 extensions, I suppose, and this will give me a headstart on familiarizing myself with an extension I was likely to be installing at some point anyway.
Thanks, Jim!

Edit: Yikes, according to "My Config" this makes FIFteen extensions, not thirteen!
Anyway, when I scroll down further on that screen, there's another section called "Installed Plugins ".
"Java(TM) 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 Update 6" is listed seven times
"Microsoft(R) DRM" is listed twice
"QuickTime Plug-in 6.5.1" is listed seven times
Is that normal???

 

I've seen multiple QuickTime entries in my own "My Config" window before, but don't see them now. Seems to me that it was when I was using the nightly zipped aviary builds, but now I'm using the installer version of FF 1.5. I've had multiple Java entries, too, but they disappeared when I cleaned my registry of all references to Java before installing Update 6.

From Microsoft's website: "Windows Media digital rights management (DRM) is a proven platform to protect and securely deliver content for playback on a computer, portable device, or network device." Although I have Windows Media Player 10 installed, I don't show that plugin, and never have. Maybe I've just never had occasion to need it.

So far as I know, FF installs only one plugin, npnul32.dll, by default, and all the rest have to be added. I've made that simple for myself by maintaining a Plugins folder, which I copy to the FF program folder whenever I've unzipped, or installed, a new build or version.

As long as FF seems to be running OK, I wouldn't worry too much about what "My Config" shows for plugins.

FYI, about 5" of snow here last night, with the temp hovering just above freezing. I guess summer is finally over!

 

So not worth experimentally deleting all the duplicate entries, you don't think?
Please tell me more about your plug-ins folder - is that like the folder I've created in which I save all my downloaded xpi files? Does one download plug-in files the same way as extension (xpi) files, eg., "save link as "?
5 inches of snow?!!! That's impressive! We rarely get that much in a single snowfall, although the snowbanks along our town roads are already up to my armpits in some places by now!

 

Hi Rebecca,

No, you don't download plugins quite the same way you do extensions. It's been awhile since I've needed to get one, but my memory is this: usually, when you try to access something that requires a plugin with FF, you get a message telling you to download it, and you may or may not be directed to the site where you can do so.

For example, in the case of Flash, you go to what was the Macromedia site (it's now Adobe, which completed the acquisition of Macromedia last Saturday, 3 Dec.). It used to be easy to find the Flash Player page, but the site has been redesigned, and now you have to hunt for it unless you have it bookmarked. After downloading the Flash Player executable, when you install it you're asked which browsers (IE, Netscape, Mozilla, etc.) you wish to use Flash with (and, if you have your program and profile folders in non-default locations, as I do, where the plugins folder is located).

The plugin is then installed in FF's plugins folder. I've made an archive copy of that folder (minus npnul32.dll, which FF installs by default), and keep it in the E:\MOZILLA folder where my FF and Tbird program and profile folders are located. Then, if I need to reinstall FF for any reason, rather than run the Flash Player executable again, it's only necessary to copy the archive plugins folder to the new FF program folder (saves the additional steps of opening the archive and FF folders, highlighting the files to be copied, and dragging them to the FF plugins folder).

My archive plugins folder contains the following files:

np32dsw.dll
npqtplugin.dll
NPSWF32.dll
nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt
QuickTimePlugin.class
ShockwavePlugin.class​

Local Install's "My Config" window lists the following plugins:

Java(TM) 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 Update 6
Mozilla Default Plug-in
QuickTime Plug-in 6.5.1
Shockwave Flash
Shockwave for Director

NOTE: "Mozilla Default Plug-in" refers to npnul32.dll, installed with FF.​

This may seem overly complicated, but it's a lot easier to do than it is to tell about.

BTW, regarding the height of your snowbanks, how far off the ground are your armpits?

 

Rebecca ...

I just installed the Crescendo 5.1 plugin to play online MIDI files, so my archive plugins folder now contains the following files in addition to the ones listed above:

CresObserver.class
CresPlayer.class
crestest.htm
crestest.mid
NPMIDI32.DLL
NPMP332.DLL​

Local Install's "My Config" window now lists the following plugin in addition to those listed above:

LiveUpdate Crescendo version 5.1​