When will Selenium IDE be updated?
I don't think you realize what a huge headache it is for developers around the world who rely on Selenium IDE add-on when you release a new update and do not check this (and other popular add-ons for development) for integrity.
The latest v50 of Firefox breaks Selenium IDE add-on.
I work in a tightly-controlled security environment on a corporate LAN as a developer. Our team relies on Selenium IDE add-on.
What are we supposed to do now that your Firefox 49 (older version download page) warns my IT guys that installing it is a security risk? What can we, in the developer community do, to ensure our IT security team that Firefox 49 is not in fact a security risk, or the add-on developers, to release updates in a consistent fashion with Firefox updates?
Our front-end testing is basically dead in the water until Selenium IDE makes an update.
All Replies (3)
Nothing to do with Firefox support.
The schedule for Firefox updates is posted well in advance, so the developers of add-ons for Firefox shouldn't be surprised. https://wiki.mozilla.org/RapidRelease/Calendar Currently shows Release Dates up thru Q1 2018.
And if you will notice in the calendar, there are three separate pre-release channels listed. Central, Aurora, Beta, and Release; along with ESR. If someone in your organization would run Beta, Developer Edition, or Nightly they would have advance notice that the Selenium IDE add-on was going to be broken by a specific Release version well in advance of the corresponding version of Firefox being released.
Firefox isn't developed or updated in a vacuum, anyone can follow the development process as it is happening - for no surprises when a Release happens and "stuff" breaks. Ideally, all add-on developers would keep up with Firefox releases and have their "stuff" ready when the new version is released, but the world isn't perfect.
As far as how your IT dept handles reverting to Firefox 49 ... They can read the Release notes and learn what security fixes were made in Firefox 50.1.0 and the 3 earlier 50.0 versions, and then evaluate what security patches might be considered important to your company. If your development environment is secure and tightly controlled there is probably little risk when using a version that is only one major version in arrears, but that is something your IT dept should determine.
You can consider to use the Firefox 45.6.0 ESR version if you can't use the current release because of compatibility reasons.
Firefox 45.6.0 ESR:
I know, you're right. I recently came into this organization and kind of sold the idea of using the selenium ide (also my fault for not checking compatibility with future versions) but I'm in fact not allowed to install future versions at my organization (also not Mozilla's problem).
To make matters worse, I discovered today on the selenium IRC that the Selenium IDE add on is no longer being developed, leaving QA testers with no comparable, compatible web macro recorder.
I asked if the extension was, or was going to be, open source, but didn't get a definitive answer.
Asking QA guys to learn Selenium IDE is a pretty easy sell; getting them to be java, python or ruby programmers and start writing web driver code is a whole different beast.
I pray someone fills this gap soon, because Selenium IDE is an indispensable tool, IMO.
I know, not Firefox's problem either.
I was able to successfully use the add-on with Firefox 49.