New: about:profiles

[joeg]

I just activated Nightly, updated to today's build, and typed about:profiles in the address bar.

This is what I saw. (I opened the "About Nightly" window just for reference.)
http://edu-net.net/images/profile.jpg

[WildcatRay]

Ummmm, why is a profile manager necessary? Why not just rename or delete the current one? As soon as you open Fx, it generates a new one.

Dating back to the old Netscape web browser, the Profile Manager is used mostly by more advanced users to create more than the default profile for various reasons.

I use it to create separate profiles for Nightly, Beta & Firefox. (I use Sync to keep each profile "identical" in content.) Others use it to test things or maintain separate profiles for everyone in there households (or whatever). Others still, use the Profile Manager to create a new profile to address a potentially corrupt existing profile.

I can see the devs thinking that for the bulk of users, the Profile Manager is no longer needed since so long as they use Sync, their browsing data is saved (and so long as they do not forget their password; subject for another discussion).

Several years ago, a stand-alone Profile Manager executable was released. Is that still available?

[WaltS48]

Available from Profile Manager | MDN

Stopped working reliably for me a long time ago.

[joeg]

Ummmm, why is a profile manager necessary? Why not just rename or delete the current one? As soon as you open Fx, it generates a new one.

Dating back to the old Netscape web browser, the Profile Manager is used mostly by more advanced users to create more than the default profile for various reasons...

Ah, the good old Netscape days. But even then the case was the same: When you renamed or deleted your "operational" profile (the one now in the "Mozilla" folder in "Roaming" or wherever you keep it), as soon as you open Fx, it generates a new one.

And, by the way ...

Bug 1179129 - Would be nice to have about:profiles
Status: RESOLVED FIXED

I guess we're now on Bug 1233431

[WildcatRay]

Ummmm, why is a profile manager necessary? Why not just rename or delete the current one? As soon as you open Fx, it generates a new one.

Dating back to the old Netscape web browser, the Profile Manager is used mostly by more advanced users to create more than the default profile for various reasons...

Yes, but as I've mentioned, "Why not just rename or delete the current one? As soon as you open Fx, it generates a new one."

And, by the way ...

Bug 1179129 - Would be nice to have about:profiles
Status: RESOLVED FIXED

I guess we're now on Bug 1233431

What you trimmed of my post provides the reason why the Profile Manager is of value, because there are users who just do not want to go the route you state.

[therube]

it generates a new one

Randomly named, & not necessarily where one would want it to be located.
Not everyone wants their profiles in %APPDATA% (or similar).

In my case, I specifically name all my Profiles, & none are stored in %APPDATA%.

[WaltS48]

I just activated Nightly, updated to today's build, and typed about:profiles in the address bar.

This is what I saw. (I opened the "About Nightly" window just for reference.
http://edu-net.net/images/profile.jpg

This is what I see. http://i.imgur.com/WKGbrJT.png

However, as stated in my other post, Troubleshooting Information > Profile Directory opens my nightly profile, which is the one I launch with the desktop launcher using -p nightly in the command.

I guess because the beta profile is set as the default in profiles.ini about:profiles thinks I'm using it.

[joeg]

it generates a new one

Randomly named, & not necessarily where one would want it to be located.
Not everyone wants their profiles in %APPDATA% (or similar).

In my case, I specifically name all my Profiles, & none are stored in %APPDATA%.

I guess the whole issue depends on whether we're addressing advanced users or newbies. For the former, I see the profile manager as superfluous and for the latter, a pistol in Russian roulette.

[streetwolf]

Guys, why don't you add any more info you might have on this problem in the bug report? Might get someone to acknowledge the problem at least.

1233016 – (about:profiles) in latest inbound x64 the 'Create a New Profile' button has no functionality and there's no 'Rename' button

[therube]

> a pistol in Russian roulette

Nothing to do with Russian roulette.

It's a feature that provides flexibility not necessarily found in other browsers.
It's a feature that differentiates Mozilla from other browsers.
It's a feature that users do use, even if it might be considered "advanced" or not for "newbies".

In the old days, that was the whole premise of Mozilla.
(Currently ? &) going forward... (Just what will the premise of Mozilla be...?)

[joeg]

> a pistol in Russian roulette

Nothing to do with Russian roulette ... even if it might be considered "advanced" or not for "newbies".

Please excuse me, but I wrote, "I guess the whole issue depends on whether we're addressing advanced users or newbies. For the former, I see the profile manager as superfluous and for the latter, a pistol in Russian roulette.

I guess you're right, though. Since the profile manager doesn't allow you to delete your "operational" profile - as I once did using Windows Explorer many moons ago - it at least has a viable safety mechanism.

[bomfog]

Available from Profile Manager | MDN

Stopped working reliably for me a long time ago. :x

I use it exclusively with no problems I've noticed (except Bug 726759 - Profile manager assumes Windows profile is locked if parent.lock exists).

Whenever I open "about:profiles" in the browser, though, it claims I'm using the default profile (I'm not). Don't know if that's related to using Profile Manager to launch the browser or not. Haven't tried it with a fresh profile or any other troubleshooting stuff.

[BruceAWittmeier]

Ummmm, why is a profile manager necessary? Why not just rename or delete the current one? As soon as you open Fx, it generates a new one.

If you only use Fx for a single user everyday browser there is limited need for a profile. It does contain customization and bookmarks stored while using that file set.

If you delete the existing profile (or file set) you will lose the customization and bookmarks previously stored.

I believe the intent was also to reduce the files needed to use Fx - core files are the same for all users(profiles).

===

I just out of curiosity installed a different version of Fx onto another drive (completely isolated) but with the present configuration you cannot isolate the programs. When I started the second installation (different drive, no profile, different start-up Icon, etc) it just opened a new tab is my daily Fx profile.

[therube]

To open a second, simultaneous instance of FF, whether with the same or different versions of FF, you need to use the -no-remote switch (for at least one of the two instances).

(And note that you cannot simultaneously open the same profile by multiple instances of FF - IOW you'll need to use separate Profiles for multiple simultaneous instances.)

[Drumbrake]

When they are done with this, will it still be possible to manually create new profiles (by simply creating an empty folder/directory, or by copying an existing profile) without using the profile manager at all, and then run the firefox executable from command line instructing it to use such profile(s) with the -profile option ?

I fear their line of reasoning, if eventually using more than one profile is for "advanced" users, who knows what they think of folks starting Firefox from a command line...