xpinstall.enabled missing in about:config - Restore Defaults

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Cheesedude2006
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xpinstall.enabled missing in about:config - Restore Defaults

Post by Cheesedude2006 »

Hi. I downloaded Firefox 4 today and installed it. It is much faster than 3.6.x on this old computer. I made some configuration changes in about:config with my old installation of Firefox to help speed things up. I wanted to reset everything to Firefox defaults with this new version 4 so I started Firefox in safe mode by typing "firefox -safe-mode" in the Run box and selected the option to restore default settings. Then I selected the option to close and restart or something.

The problem is that some of the settings I used to have are now gone, nowhere to be found in about:config. Some of the memory settings are gone as is xpinstall.enabled. I always set xpinstall.enabled to false as an additional measure of protection against inadvertently installing something I don't want installed. When I went into about:config after restoring default settings on Firefox 4, xpinstall.enabled is not among the options.

Filtering for xpinstall, the following config options are returned and as you can see, something is missing:

xpinstall.whitelist.required
xpinstall.whitelist.add.36
xpinstall.whitelist.add
services.sync.prefs.sync.xpinstall.whitelist.required

But there is no xpinstall.enabled.

What has gone wrong? As I mentioned, some of the memory settings that existed before I restored default settings are gone, too.

Advice will be appreciated. Thank you! :)
User avatar
Gingerbread Man
Posts: 7735
Joined: January 30th, 2007, 10:55 am

Re: xpinstall.enabled missing in about:config - Restore Defa

Post by Gingerbread Man »

Hello,

Some preferences do not exist by default and must be created manually.
Some preferences are obsolete in Firefox 4 and have no effect.

For details, see kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries. Also perform a search in the knowledgebase, as some preferences have dedicated articles.
Cheesedude2006
Guest

Re: xpinstall.enabled missing in about:config - Restore Defa

Post by Cheesedude2006 »

Gingerbread Man wrote:Hello,

Some preferences do not exist by default and must be created manually.
Some preferences are obsolete in Firefox 4 and have no effect.

For details, see kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries. Also perform a search in the knowledgebase, as some preferences have dedicated articles.


Thanks for your reply. The configuration entry for xpinstall.enabled did exist on my Firefox 4 installation prior to me starting Firefox in safe mode to restore default settings. It disappeared after that. I helped my parents install Firefox 4 last night (on Windows Vista 64-bit) and the setting for xpinstall.enabled exists on their system. If xpinstall.enabled existed on mine before restoring default settings and exists on my parents system, then I have to assume that it is used by Firefox 4. I don't know why Firefox 4 would keep obsolete configuration entries after upgrading.

I did a little searching here and found no documentation pertaining to Firefox 4. There is no version-specific documentation anywhere that I could see. But I did find instructions on how to add configuration entries manually by right-clicking in the about:config window. So I added it manually.

Thanks.
User avatar
Gingerbread Man
Posts: 7735
Joined: January 30th, 2007, 10:55 am

Re: xpinstall.enabled missing in about:config - Restore Defa

Post by Gingerbread Man »

Cheesedude2006 wrote:I helped my parents install Firefox 4 last night (on Windows Vista 64-bit) and the setting for xpinstall.enabled exists on their system. If xpinstall.enabled existed on mine before restoring default settings and exists on my parents system, then I have to assume that it is used by Firefox 4.

Firefox does not delete obsolete preferences on its own. So the presence of a preference from a previous installation doesn't mean anything. On a fresh install, xpinstall.enabled does not exist.
The simplest way to test if setting xpinstall.enabled set to false has any effect is to attempt to install an extension.

You're welcome.
Tim Dearborn
Guest

Re: xpinstall.enabled missing in about:config - Restore Defa

Post by Tim Dearborn »

I also am having the same issue on Firefox 4. I have xpinstall.enabled set to false, but extensions happily install without issue on Firefox 4. Any ideas on how to disable extension installing?
cheesedude
Posts: 7
Joined: October 8th, 2007, 4:13 pm

Re: xpinstall.enabled missing in about:config - Restore Defa

Post by cheesedude »

Tim Dearborn wrote:I also am having the same issue on Firefox 4. I have xpinstall.enabled set to false, but extensions happily install without issue on Firefox 4. Any ideas on how to disable extension installing?


Sounds like a bug to me. And if it is possible for extensions to install without user knowledge, then we've got some real security problems.
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