New: about:profiles

Discussion about official Mozilla Firefox builds
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therube
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by therube »

(And how will we know, until they're done ;-). But you've got to assume ? that they'll maintain those options/switches.)
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BruceAWittmeier
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by BruceAWittmeier »

I think we can only guess what may be available when "done".

I agree that the only way to run two sessions is using -no-remote but thought too if they remove the profile manager will the -no-remote go too? Thats why I tested to see if I could run two completely separate sessions without the profile manager or -no-remote - but it will not work with the current implementation. I did a full installation of a different version on a different partition of my drive. I wanted to see if you could run two sessions as using 2 sessions of Notepad.exe - which you can do.

There may be a need for major changes to Fx core if the profile manager goes.
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the-edmeister
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by the-edmeister »

Foxinabox wrote:
the-edmeister wrote:I really enjoy reading comments like this in Bug reports - https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.c ... 179129#c18

bsmedberg - the Profile code owner has been "threatening" to remove Profiles from Firefox for over ten years now and every 5 years or so another Profiles related project gets started. Last time it was the Profile Manager XUL Runner application and now it is about:profiles and now he is talking about about:profiles as an extension rather than "in-tree".

Back in April I quit doing any testing of builds - new PC and I decided not to install anything except for release versions - but this about:profiles does interest me or at least make me curious about it.
I don't really understand bsmedberg's comment there. It sounds like he wants to get rid of the profile manager and about:profiles. But all I read is that one comment out of context, so I'm probably not seeing the big picture.

I find profiles essential for testing and debugging extensions. Is there another way to test them in a virgin environment?
I have accumulated these Bugzilla links over the years in a Clippings file.
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=262022#c4
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=270705#c6
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=270705#c12
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=214675
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therube
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by therube »

(I always knew I was simple? [Is he allowed to say that? Mozilla spending $15,000 to remove the term “simple”] And I always thought that my opinion didn't matter, just glad he cleared that up for me. [Yeah, yeah, out of context & whatnot.])
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the-edmeister
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by the-edmeister »

BruceAWittmeier wrote: 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.
Firefox uses AppData on the OS partition for Profiles and the profiles.ini file. If you install Firefox on a different hard drive, logical drive, or partition it will look for the profiles.ini file in AppData and then launch the Profile the is listed as the Default=1. And if you haven't relocated that Profile it will be on the OS drive.
There are a number of ways to get around that "limitation", most of which involve command line arguments in the desktop shortcut.

I have a few Firefox programs installed on my D:/ drive and created the corresponding Profile inside the "program files" folder. This is for one of them.
"D:\0-Firefox\Fx-Program-Files\Fx-38-0_test\firefox.exe -no-remote -Profile "D:\0-Firefox\Fx-Program-Files\Fx-38-0_test\Profile\38-0_1"
I use that for Firefox installations that I will probably want to delete by just deleting the top level folder.

And here's a variation where I have the Profile on the D:/ drive with the Firefox program on the C:/ drive.
"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -Profile D:\0-Firefox\RemoteProfiles\R-General-05-11-15-N
BTW: I date code my Profiles and ID the newly created Profiles with the N. A Profile that I copied to make a "clone" would have a C. Helped me keep track of the "origin" of my Profiles on my old WinXP box which had in excess of 100 Profiles when I retired it in May. And Firefox doesn't "need" the slt hash to work, any alpha/numeric combination works in the Profile name ad there are few different "marks" like hyphen and underscore that work, too.

By using that type of command line I am able to create a new Profile the first time I launch Firefox using that shortcut and continue to use it - Firefox doesn't care whether -p or -Profile used used to launch a Profile (and there's other variations that users have PM'd me about working for them over the years) - but -Profile was necessary for me to get it to work to create the Profile on my old WinXP box and I just carried that over to my current Win7 box. But the folder for that Profile has to be created in advance. The downside is that the "cache" files will end up in the Profile folder if you don't provide for an alternate location ahead of creating that Profile. So I create a user.js file that I put in the created, but yet unused "Profile" folder.

Code: Select all

// Move the browser cache:
user_pref("browser.cache.disk.parent_directory", "E:\\FirefoxCache\\ESR 1");
E:\FirefoxCache\ESR 1 folder needs to be created ahead of launching Firefox, too.
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avada
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by avada »

TheVisitor wrote:This could be the end of the 'old' Profile Manager - or maybe not...

New 'about' command as noted in the Subject about:profiles in latest hourly, should be in tomorrow's Nightly.

info about change(s): https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1179129 <--Would be nice to have about:profiles

This patch met with some resistance - so who knows where this is really going, and for how long.

EDIT: This may have already replaced the old 'Profile Manager'
Entering the firefox.exe -p from the windows Search box now opens the about:profiles page rather the old dialog box...
I guess further testing will be needed to make sure we don't lose a valuable troubleshooting aid, in creating 'test/new/throw-away' Profiles
The horror!

Naturally it's a huge usability regression, as we've gotten used to by now. So no surprises there. Hopefully it won't stick...
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Foxinabox
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by Foxinabox »

the-edmeister wrote:had in excess of 100 Profiles when I retired it...
Wow! Why so many?
the-edmeister wrote:... But the folder for that Profile has to be created in advance. ...
I find that in Windows 7 SP1, the Profile folder need not be created in advance.
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therube
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by therube »

I find that in Windows 7 SP1, the Profile folder need not be created in advance.
Right.

My little batch file, which normally would have opened a Profile in the current directory, ".", I modified to open in a subdirectory named "X" of the current directory.
(I run the batch file from a command prompt.):

Code: Select all

:: MOZpHERE (aka MOZ_HERE) open Mozilla with arbitrary PROFILE, HERE (in current directory)

@echo off
echo "Open MOZILLA starting with a (new or otherwise) PROFILE in: "
PWD
pause

set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1
if exist "C:\FF43\firefox.exe" start "" "C:\FF43\firefox.exe" -profile .\X -no-remote
set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=0
If .\X does not exist, it is created, & all works as expected.
Fire 750, bring back 250.
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WildcatRay
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by WildcatRay »

FYI: When the stand-alone Profile Manager creates a new profile, it creates the folder with the hash prefix followed by the dot and whatever name you have chosen to call it. It also adds, IIRC, the file "times.json" in the profile folder and the entry information in the file "profiles.ini" which is what the Profile Manager and the browser uses to ID which profile to use.
Ray

OS'es: 4 computers with Win10 Pro 64-bit; Current Firefox, Beta, Nightly, Chrome, Vivaldi
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BruceAWittmeier
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by BruceAWittmeier »

firefox -CreateProfile somename <<< this works

firefox -CreateProfile "somename somedir" <<< this fails
I have deleted the profile and files and verified the name has been removed from the .ini file in the profiles dir.

firefox -CreateProfile "somename .\somedir" <<< this fails
I have deleted the profile and files and verified the name has been removed from the .ini file in the profiles dir.

firefox -CreateProfile "somename d:\somedir" <<< this works

The working syntax does produce the times.json file and an empty prefs.js file in the named directory.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/doc ... ofile_name

Any errors in my syntax?
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therube
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by therube »

(So the other day I had a look at a FF nightly, & I must say this "about:profiles" & -ProfileManager in particular, are an ugly beast. Horrendous UI/UX, IMHO.)


So far, I've only been able to get things created in %APPDATA%\Roaming.
All attempts have ended up in %APPDATA%\Roaming.

Code: Select all

firefox -createprofile 46dumyhuthuthike .\profile
firefox -createprofile 46dumyhuthuthike2 c:/wlib/firefox/ff46a1/x/profile
firefox -createprofile 46dumyhuthuthike3 c:\wlib\firefox\ff46a1\x\profile
None of the directories have any files at all, zero byte or otherwise.
As far a ./profile is concerned, I manually created that directory before my first attempt.

And I'll note that all Profile names have the GUID part, not simply my specified name.


But then with the change, there's no telling what may or may not be allowed or the syntax used, much less if MDN has been updated to reflect any changes. (Guess you could dig through the source ;-).)


Version 46.0a1
Build ID 20160110030214


The new Profile Manger, on a 'Create a New Profile', loads the old Create Profile Wizard.
And they're both styled entirely differently.
But heh, it is a work in progress.
LOL.


Create Profile Wizard worked, but that is GUI not command-line.


Also note that you can only blindly copy from withing Profile Manager.

None of the directories have any files at all, zero byte or otherwise.
Oops.
Actually .\profile did end up with a times.json file, though .\profile (in any format) is not any of my Profiles (not as the case is) shown by Profile Manager.
Fire 750, bring back 250.
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avada
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by avada »

So they removed the horrendous profile manager based on about:profiles.
Now we can only hope that the next time they land it it won't suck so much.
( https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1240022 )
scorpianfrog
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Re: New: about:profiles

Post by scorpianfrog »

Hello, I have the following scenario, I cannot resolve:

1. Deploy Firefox silently - success
2. Create profile before launch of firefox - success
3. I need to run certutil to import a user based cert for Firefox, the problem is I need to have the userprofile folders created by before I import the cert file, and the cert import required elevation per user. - no success

Deployment is via SCCM and is machine targeted, any suggestions ?
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