hack firefox extensions

[rednec0]

It is possible to hack firefox extensions and themes so that they can work with any version of firefox. What I will teach you may seem a bit difficult but it will work.

First we need an extension. Anything will do but as a treat we’ll be using this extension. Now when you go to click it you right-click the “install now” button and select “save link as…”. This will save it onto your computer. Okay, before you do anything else, make a backup copy of the original file just in case you end-up screwing yourself over by not listening to the instructions I give you. To open the file you should use a program such as WinRAR so you can safely open it. To open the file (assuming that you are a windows user) you right-click and select “open with” to select the program to use. Again I suggest using the afore mentioned program to open it. Once its opened and NOT unzipped select the “install.rdf” file and open it with notepad. When in notepad you should see something like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<RDF xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-synta x-ns#" xmlns:em="http://www.mozilla.org/2004/em-rdf# ">

<Description about="urn:mozilla:install-manifest">

<em:id>{54DEBF3B-10F9-481e-ABDE-FFA36186FC24} </em:id>
<em:name>NewgroundsNavigate</em:name>
<em:version>0.7</em:version>
<em:description>Navigate Newgrounds.com &amp; Forum through FireFox.</em:description>
<em:creator>L.Jorgensen, GeorgeTopouria</em:creator>
<em:homepageURL>http://newgrounds.com</em:hom epageURL>
<em:iconURL>chrome://ng/skin/Main2.png</em:ic onURL>
<em:aboutURL>chrome://ng/content/about.xul</e m:aboutURL>
<em:type>2</em:type>
<!-- Firefox -->
<em:targetApplication>
<Description>
<em:id>{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384} </em:id>
<em:minVersion>0.8</em:minVersion>
<em:maxVersion>1.6</em:maxVersion>
</Description>
</em:targetApplication>

<em:file>
<Description about="urn:mozilla:extension:file:ng.jar">
<em:package>content/</em:package>
<em:skin>skin/</em:skin>
</Description>
</em:file>
</Description>

</RDF>

Notice the underlined code in there? That’s the stuff that we will hack. The numbers that are in there determine the versions of firefox that it will work with where “0.8” is the minimum version and “1.6” is the maximum. Now replace “0.8” with “1.5” exactly and “1.6” with “2.0.0.*”. DO NOT USE ANYTHING ELSE OTHERWISE IT WILL NOT WORK. Close “install.rdf” and don’t forget to save and update the archive otherwise it will not work. Now that that’s done drag and drop the edited extension onto firefox and it will install it. Now if you notice a menu after “Help” called “Newgrounds.com” it worked. Congratulations, you’ve hacked a firefox extension. I wonder how many other extensions need to be hacked? ;)

[1337er-than-you]

that's cool dude

[JeremysFilms]

But that could lead to bugs, the whole reason extensions are set to specific versions is because different versions of firefox have altered source code. Something might not be compatible with the new source code and could lead to bugs, they have versions extensions are for as a security feature so that nothing bad will happen to your fox. So that it won't be all buggy.

But you already knew that.

[smulse]

At 12/10/06 11:46 AM, JeremysFilms wrote: But that could lead to bugs, the whole reason extensions are set to specific versions is because different versions of firefox have altered source code. Something might not be compatible with the new source code and could lead to bugs, they have versions extensions are for as a security feature so that nothing bad will happen to your fox. So that it won't be all buggy.

But you already knew that.

Seconded. It's nice to be able to do, but some extensions it's probably not a good idea to do that with, and you could just download the latest version of Firefox and the extensions you want, then you wouldn't need to change anything.

[Craige]

At 12/10/06 11:34 AM, rednec0 wrote: Now replace “0.8” with “1.5” exactly and “1.6” with “2.0.0.*”. DO NOT USE ANYTHING ELSE OTHERWISE IT WILL NOT WORK.

Why is it you need to change the minimum version number?

[rednec0]

At 12/10/06 12:07 PM, Craige wrote: Why is it you need to change the minimum version number?

meh, guess i was being redundant there.

i appreciate your concerns on how changing old version extensions could screw-up firefox. trust the fact that some of our favorite extensions (like the above hacked) may never be updated. that's kind of why i posted this. btw i'm not having any problems yet.

[RageOfOrder]

It really depends on the addon. Most, like "DownloadEmbedded" are small scripts that really don't use any core parts of the browser, so they run fine on any version.

Something like TabMixPlus, which integrates pretty heavily with firefox, doesn't work so well on different versions ( like 3.0a1 ).

However, I currently run a good 90% of the extensions with 3.0 that I did on 1.5 (never used 2.0) including themes and all. Everything works fine, just bump the max version to something like 4.0 :)