Override settings of signed addons globally for all users
Up to Firefox 45/46, I could unpack an XPI, modify settings, repack it, and then install it globally. Due to addons being signed now, this is not possible anymore. To do so, every user has to do the same settings themselves.
How can I modify settings for an addon for all users without starting each user's Firefox and doing it manually?
All Replies (6)
In Firefox 45, are you toggling this preference manually: xpinstall.signatures.required
What do you mean by globally? Globally on your system or globally throughout a company?
Firefox supports an "autoconfig" file to set preferences that apply to all profiles on a particular computer, and that should apply to all users on the system if they share the same program folder. You can read more about that here:
https://mike.kaply.com/2012/03/16/customizing-firefox-autoconfig-files/
See also Configuration:
Do you install this extension globally?
See also:
jscher2000 said
In Firefox 45, are you toggling this preference manually: xpinstall.signatures.required
Yes, I know about "xpinstall.signatures.required", though this is not available starting from Firefox 46, AFAIK.
What do you mean by globally? Globally on your system or globally throughout a company?
I mean globally on my system. But if there's a way globally for a company, that should work for a single system too.
Firefox supports an "autoconfig" file to set preferences that apply to all profiles on a particular computer, and that should apply to all users on the system if they share the same program folder. You can read more about that here: https://mike.kaply.com/2012/03/16/customizing-firefox-autoconfig-files/
I read a bit about the "autoconfig" file and tested it, and it works, if I stomp over an addon's defaults/preferences settings with "pref()" or "lockPref()". But I cannot use something like "defaultPref()" to override settings from an addon, which is what I wanted.
In any case, thank you for your help.
These functions can be used in the mozilla.cfg file:
defaultPref(); // set new default value pref(); // set pref, allow changes in current session lockPref(); // lock pref, disallow changes
I still see xpinstall.signatures.required in the current Firefox 46 beta release, but I'm not sure if the release version will support this as well or that a special unbranded version is needed.
cor-el said
See also Configuration:
This also just explains autoconfig, which doesn't allow defaultPref() for addon's settings.
Do you install this extension globally?
Yes, I've put this and other extensions in /usr/lib/firefox/browser/extensions, which in turn is a symbolic link to /usr/lib/firefox-addons/extensions. (Ubuntu)
xpinstall.signatures.required will be removed according to Mozilla, maybe now, maybe later. In any case, I don't see a solution currently, and I would like to stay with the default package provided by my distribution.