Solved: Firefox updates keep deleting custom search engines

[phkhgh]

At least in Linux, recent Fx updates (52, 53, 54) have deleted the few customized search engine plugins from my profile's Searchplugins folder.
"Customized" as in selecting settings on the search engine settings page (as Ixquick), then installing it as a plugin - just like any other search plugin.

All other search plugins I added, accepting the default settings, were left alone during Fx updates.

The 1st time it happened I thought it was a fluke. -Beginning Fx 45, I read that how added search plugins were stored was changed . But my problem of disappearing search engines didn't start until around Fx 52.

In fact, about:config of my current profile still shows one of the "custom" engines to be selected as default.
Perhaps Fx is able to convert all my "default settings" added engines to the new file format, but can't handle the customized ones? Still doesn't explain why I didn't see the problem until ~ Fx 52.

Code: Select all

browser.search.defaultenginename;Ixquick Custom Search
browser.search.defaultenginename.US;Ixquick Custom Search
browser.search.selectedEngine;Ixquick Custom Search

[the-edmeister]

Where are you getting those custom search engine from?

The official addons website - AMO ? https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/

Or from the Mycroft Project ? http://mycroftproject.com/

Or somewhere else ?

As far as about:config user settings or prefs goes; I don't play with those myself, I just select the search engine that I want to use when I want to use a different search engine (Stylish mods to always show the selected search engine and not always use the "default"). But I do 30 (or more) different search engines installed in number of different Profiles - haven't lost any yet. While I don't use the newest version (54) of Firefox very often and still use Firefox 38 ESR for support fora surfing, I do use Firefox 54 when I am on YouTube as it works better than Firefox 47.0.1 my most frequently used version & Profile - no problems with losing search engine plugins with either of those.

I was caught by surprise with both Firefox 34 and 38 with the "search engine storage changes" that happened in both those old versions, but once I realized what Mozilla had changed I had no further issues - I just learned to cope and compensate for the changes. I am on Windows7 and before that WinXP, so maybe your issue is related to Linux builds, which is why my experiences differ from yours as far as when they started (the version numbers).

Overall, I am so fed up with what Mozilla is doing to Firefox that I would like to be a "former Firefox user", so my solution is to use the older versions until something better comes along. And if the lack of Firefox security updates affects me, so be it - I'll deal with it and move on.

Sorry I can't provide an answer for you ....

[dickvl]

Firefox stores all search plugin data in the compressed search.json.mozlz4 file in the Firefox profile folder and no longer supports the searchplugins folder.

You can look at this extension.
Add OpenSearch XML: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addo ... earch-xml/

[phkhgh]

Thanks.
The ones I'm most concerned about "disappearing" were added from the sites Ixquick (European server / site) & Startpage (by Ixquick - in U.S.). There were a few others.
The issue isn't installing them, but keeping them.

Something I discovered: the beginning of my search.json.mozl4 file has "...omni.ja":{"lastModifiedTime" that converts to May 03 2014. It's a profile I transferred from Windows to Linux. No other issues using that profile, but there could be a glitch for this. Every search engine file location reference I see is in the old Windows partition.

Question: Starting in Fx 45, if search plugins (from any source) weren't opensearch format, would Fx just remove those from search.json.mozlz4 at any Fx version update? Without comment or notice?
However, Ixquick / Startpage xml plugins - created when Fx still used xml file SearchPlugins, they appeared to use the same opensearch format.

Reason for installing directly from various sites vs. MAO, Mycroft, etc., is sites often allow custom settings for the plugin. Even which servers.

After posting, I realized search plugins are stored in search.json.mozlz4 (compressed file). The addon "XML Search Engines Exporter/Importer" will open (export) currently installed search engines, to xml files to inspect. The "chosen solution" @ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1157315 will also decompress the mozl4 file.

Unless someone has an answer why the custom plugins keep getting deleted every update, the easiest way may be restore default search engines, then add custom engines back. That may still leave a lot of extra, even incorrect data in it. Perhaps deleting search.json.mozlz4 will create a new one, or manually replace it from the Fx package.

[phkhgh]

Thought I'd post my final findings for future readers.
When I simply copied a Fx profile from Windows OS to Linux, most things worked fine. I think I had to edit profiles.ini to add the new Linux path - that's about it.
But apparently the search.json.mozl4 file, listing the default and user added search engines, kept the old path to the search plugins that were added when the profile was used under Windows OS.

It looks like maybe search.json.mozl4 is refreshed during Fx updates? Since my custom search plugins were tied to a Windows partition path (unmounted in Linux), they no longer appeared in the search box list of engines. Though references to the custom plugins & where they were stored were still retained in search.json.mozl4. I'd add same custom plugins back, but each time Fx updated, it deleted them from the search box list.

Easiest solution to problems with custom search engines is probably delete search.json.mozl4 (1st, may want to save a copy). It'll be rebuilt when Fx restarts.
If you have lots of custom search plugins, you could export those before deleting search.json.mozl4 with addons like XML Search Engines Exporter/Importer. Then import them back into the new search.json.mozl4. That addon creates buttons on the "change search engines" page (about:preferences#search), to export / import selected engines to XML files.

You can edit those xml files (minimally) before re-importing them to search.json.mozl4. Like changing the name that appears when hovering the engine's icon in the search drop box.
There are limits & requirements for data entered in all search plugins: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add ... or_Firefox

Or you can add the non-default search plugins back from several sources. Like MAO, http://mycroftproject.com or the sites themselves (some allow customization of their plugins). Mycroftproject allows creating custom search plugins, using their fill in the blanks form.

[therube]

(What version of FF are you running? 34 or 50 or 53 or?)