Re:Profile Switcher addon

I participated to a thread which included talks about a Profile Switcher addon, to use multiple profiles with one version of Thunderbird (or Firefox).
I can't find the thread, but having said that I was going to try the addon, I must say that I did it, with Firefox 3.6.13 and two profiles, one of which had been used with FF 3.5.x. It works, but it is not so simple, if one is used to certain practices. For instance, I check not to ask again in the profile manager, when I select a profile, as well as modifying the Properties|Target line to point to the desired profile. If I delete the modification, I was expecting that the profile which was last used would start the next time. I cannot find such choice in the addon options. So, after switching to the other profile, after closing it, the next time Firefox will start with the original profile. There was incompatibility, only, with the IE Tab addon. Otherwise the two profiles work as they did before. Is it worthwhile? I don't think so, because switching to another profile requires a restart. I might as well use two shortcut, each one with its target modified for the respective profilename.
As for Thunderbird, although I have a profile from TB2.0.0.24, it does not seem worthwhile to use it with TB 3.1.7, as there would be a lot of incompatibility, but I may try the addon, and will report.

 

I tried the Profile Switcher with Thunderbird, and I had to do extra work because of incompatibities of a TB2.x profile using a 3.x program.
Otherwise, I found that the addon is useless, unless I wish to switch the profiles when I had already open the program. If I go into the the properties of the shortcut, and I add -p(with keyboard space in front of the -, and unless the don't ask box, then from now on, the program will open with the profile manager, where I can make my choices, making the use of two shortcuts unnecessary. Of course this is valid only if the program was not already opened. For me the addon is nothing but extra baggage, and since I have to restart the program to make the change effective, it is of little or no help. I will keep the addon, and check, periodically the other profile.
In any event, it is necessary to have the same Profile Switcher addon installed in both profiles, to have the icon show up in both. Again, extra baggage.

 

a side note: I could be wrong on this, but as I understand it, in firefox 4, there will be no profile managers anymore. I don't know if thunderbird or SeaMonkey will follow suit.

 

Firefox 4 beta 9, the latest has access to the Profile Manager. I did a quick search, and it is explained that the Profile Manager is used for advanced users and developers of addons.
It is brought out by typing - p or -ProfileManager after the path in the target line, with a keyboard space before the -.
Where did you read that Firefox 4 will not have a profile manager?

 

I read a bug report about it. Can't remember the number though so I can't tell you. There was a huge debate about getting rid of it, and as far as I could tell, it was going to land in FF 4. Then again . . . things can change at the last minute.