SeaMonkey, FlashBlock, and Mnenhy (oh my!)

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » April 21st, 2007, 1:24 am

Sigh. The previous four times I saw a new FlashBlock release for SM, I went through the [bizarre] routine of installing the "Mnenhy" package (if I didn't have it already), and using its "Chrome Manager" to remove the old FlashBlock installation. Sigh.

It always worked - until now. This time, the Chrome Manager removal of FlashBlock did not seem to complete properly - the hourglass never went away. Eventually I shut down SM. At this point, I had neither FlashBlock nor a working Mnenhy, as both sets of entries had disappeared from the Preferences dialog.

I finally completed the "manual" uninstall of Mnenhy (which seems to consist of removing all of their jar files from the profile chrome directory)... but trying to install either FlashBlock or Mnenhy now gives a "-239 chrome registration error" (or something very close to that).

Help! I don't really care about Mnenhy, as it was always gratuitous for me and just there to uninstall FlashBlock... but I really need FlashBlock. On a side note, I would like to have some pointers on restoring my profile to some sort of proper state (so that, e.g., random future installations of extensions don't fail), like "edit file xxx.js and remove all references to yyy". Thanks.

BenoitRen · Post by **BenoitRen** » April 21st, 2007, 4:25 am

It takes more than just deleting the JARs.
http://users.skynet.be/fa258499/faq.htm ... extensions

Philip Chee · Post by **Philip Chee** » April 21st, 2007, 9:29 am

If you don't care about any other extensions installed, you can delete everything in the profile/chrome/ directory (while SeaMonkey is completely shutdown) with the possible exception of the userChrome.css and userContent.css files if you have any. Then reinstall the latest Flashblock and whatever other extensions you need.

Phil

therube · Post by **therube** » April 21st, 2007, 10:54 am

-239's sometimes go away after retrying a second or third time.
Otherwise, you could try manually deleting the associated .jar files from your /chrome/ directory.
mnenhy.jar or flashblock.jar or whatever they might be called.

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » April 21st, 2007, 12:49 pm

Thanks for all of the tips... but nothing will make this -239 error go away!

I took Phil's tip and deleted almost everything from my profile (leaving an empty userContent.css and a userChrome.css with only this (to remove the labeling from the email window search-and-display bar):

#viewPickerBox > label,
#searchCriteria {
display: none !important;
}

Still getting "-239" errors when I try to install ANYTHING (FlashBlock or even themes!).

So I killed the profile chrome again AND uninstalled SM, then reinstalled the 2007041808 trunk build... with the same results: I cannot install anything without getting the now-infamous "Chrome registration" error(s). Sigh.

So with killing the app directory by uninstalling, then emptying the profile chrome directory before reinstalling, WHERE is SM stashing this "memory" of a bad chrome setup? I looked in "localstore.rdf" and found nothing incriminating...

So my Web experience is now a stark one: no FlashBlock and only builtin themes. Shudder. I really hope there is something else besides killing my entire profile at this point.

therube · Post by **therube** » April 21st, 2007, 1:15 pm

Try XUL.mfl ?
C:\Documents and Settings\therube\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\therube\XUL.mfl

I see there's also an XPC.mfl, same place.

You can delete them both, they'll be recreated upon SeaMonkey restart.

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » April 21st, 2007, 2:10 pm

Thanks, but still no change... BTW, I only found "XUL.mfl" in that location.

Maybe it's time to check out SuiteRunner? Just kidding - I would have to hack a new profile back together that way too, but with even less understanding of how to go about such low-level surgery...

BenoitRen · Post by **BenoitRen** » April 21st, 2007, 5:37 pm

After you get this Chrome Registartion error, what does the Error Console have to say about it? It usually gives a more detailed error log.

Philip Chee · Post by **Philip Chee** » April 21st, 2007, 5:43 pm

You sure you are looking at the right profile? Do you have more than one profile? The main reason for "-239" errors are old .jar files lying around. Zapping the /profile/chrome/ directory should also zap all remaining extension .jar files including flashblock.jar. Make sure you have hidden files shown and do a search of your whole hard disk for "flashblock.jar" and/or "mnenhy.jar"

Phil

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » April 21st, 2007, 6:20 pm

BR - the EC showed *nothing* during or after the -239.

PC - I have *one* profile. And just to be cooperative, I actually did a full search of all 500 GB of disk space (well, just the parts that actually have partitions created) for "flashblock".

Examining the evidence, something has been done to my profile that blocks any further [profile] xpi-installs (like flashblock or themes)... this "something" is able to live on over removals of the profile chrome directory or the entire app itself (or XUL.mfl, whatever it is). Does this behavior or capability suggest anything else to look at or edit or remove?

Since it just occurred to me that I may soon be asked to create a new profile and try doing xpi-installs in *it*, I will go and do that now.

OK, I did - and as expected, flashblock xpi-installs proceed normally with the new profile. One thing I notice is that my old [denuded] chrome directory only has userChrome.css, userContent.css, a tiny (<2kb) chrome.rdf, and an overlayinfo folder which leads ultimately to an overlays.rdf file with ONLY <RDF> in it.

OTOH, the new profile has overlays.rdf in the chrome folder, as well as a stylesheets.rdf... and a much larger chrome.rdf (26kb). But perhaps these last three are just side effects of successful flashblock install?

So again, where could this magical poisoning of my profile be hiding itself?

Philip Chee · Post by **Philip Chee** » April 21st, 2007, 9:14 pm

Hmm. Does the userContent.css in the old profile/chrome directory have any references to "chrome://flashblock/content/flashblock.xml..etc." in it? On the other hand you said this affects all extensions not just Flashblock. I was going to suggest that the profile/chrome/ directory had become READONLY but since you successfully deleted most of the files in there, this obviously isn't the case.

OK do this try to install a random extension in the old profile (e.g. Flashblock). The go to the where you installed SeaMonkey (e.g. c:\ProgramFiles\SeaMonkey\) there should be a file called install.log in it. The last few lines should be the install log for your latest attempt. Please cut and paste those lines here e.g.

Code: Select all

     flashblock (version 1.3.6a)
     ----------

     [1/29]   Replacing: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\......\chrome\flashblock.jar
     [2/29]   Replacing: C:\Program Files\....\flashblock.js
     [3/29]   Register Content: jar:file:///C:/DOCUMENTS....
     [4/29]   Register Skin: jar:file:///C:/DOCUMENTS....
...etc....

Phil

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » April 22nd, 2007, 12:55 am

All right, here are the log entries from the program directory:

FlashBlock:
<code>
flashblock (version 1.3.6)
----------

[1/29] Installing: C:\Documents and Settings\...\chrome\flashblock.jar
[2/29] Installing: E:\usr\local\SeaMonkey\defaults\pref\flashblock.js
[3/29] Register Content: jar:file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/.../chrome/flashblock.jar!/content/flashblock/
** InstallPackage() failed. - nsresult code: 0x80520012
** Failed to register chrome. - nsresult code: 0x80520012

Install **FAILED** with error -239 -- 2007-04-21 18:04:51
</code>

FlashBlock (again):
<code>
flashblock (version 1.3.6)
----------

[1/29] Replacing: C:\Documents and Settings\...\chrome\flashblock.jar
[2/29] Installing: E:\usr\local\SeaMonkey\defaults\pref\flashblock.js
[3/29] Register Content: jar:file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/.../chrome/flashblock.jar!/content/flashblock/
** InstallPackage() failed. - nsresult code: 0x80520012
** Failed to register chrome. - nsresult code: 0x80520012

Install **FAILED** with error -239 -- 2007-04-21 18:04:59
</code>

"ToyFactory" theme:
<code>
Toy Factory (version 1.9)
-----------

** initInstall: 0
** fChrome: E:\usr\local\SeaMonkey\chrome\
** attempting to install locally
[1/2] Installing: C:\Documents and Settings\...\chrome\toyfactory19.jar
[2/2] Register Skin: jar:file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/.../chrome/toyfactory19.jar!/
** InstallSkin() failed. - nsresult code: 0x80520012
** InstallLocale() failed. - nsresult code: 0x80520012
** InstallPackage() failed. - nsresult code: 0x80520012
** Failed to register chrome. - nsresult code: 0x80520012
** performInstall() returned: -239

Install **FAILED** with error -239 -- 2007-04-21 18:13:20
</code>

Does this give us something to work with (I'm guessing yes)?

OR, what are all these "nsresult" codes of 0x80520012?

Philip Chee · Post by **Philip Chee** » April 22nd, 2007, 4:52 am

RDaneel wrote:Does this give us something to work with (I'm guessing yes)?

Do any .jar files (flashblock.jar, toyfactory.jar appear in the appropriate profile/chrome/ directory? If not then it looks like you have access right problems on that directory.

RDaneel wrote:OR, what are all these "nsresult" codes of 0x80520012?

MXR is your friend: http://mxr.mozilla.org/seamonkey/search ... 0x80520012

Code: Select all

const NS_ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND = 0x80520012;

Phil

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » April 22nd, 2007, 11:44 am

Mr Phil, of course I have rights to write into the profile chrome dir... and yes, the jar files do show up.

Note that, IME, the log entries from the 2nd FlashBlock install confirm this ("Replacing" etc)... OTOH, it seems more random as to whether or not you see a "Replacing" log entry for the "...\defaults\pref\flashblock.js" over in the app tree?

Thanks for the tip on the code search tool.

Random thoughts: the differing representations of the paths in the log entries is not a worry, right? Also, I can't prove that I have been able to do any installs of extensions/themes since I last updated my ToyFactory copy on April 5... but one assumes that others using the trunk builds would have noticed something.

EDIT #1
Extra tidbit: SM is holding a handle open for the profile dir flashblock.jar after the failed install... so I guess it found it.

EDIT #2
Using the two themes at

http://users.imag.net/~crowkeep/mozilla/mozilla.html

I can actually do installs! What's up with that, I wonder... with FlashBlock and ToyFactory failing [xpi-installs] in essentially the same way (and they still are), there is presumably some interesting difference in what is being done by the different packages. Hmmm - someone that actually builds installers for SM trunk builds might be able to make something of this.

Philip Chee · Post by **Philip Chee** » April 22nd, 2007, 8:00 pm

OK how about this:

* Shutdown SeaMonkey.
* Extract the flashblock.jar file from the flashblock.xpi and copy it to your profile/chrome/ directory, overwriting any existing flashblock.jar files.
* Delete the XUL.MFL file. For trunk builds this is somewhere under the Local Settings directory. To be on the safe side delete all instances of this file in all profiles.
* Restart SeaMonkey and try installing the flashblock.xpi that corresponds to the flashblock.jar from step 2 above.

Phil