Changing Profile Location to Firefox in One Week

Discussion of general topics about Mozilla Firefox
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bengoodger
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Changing Profile Location to Firefox in One Week

Post by bengoodger »

UPDATE
Due to some ass problems relating to the #$#&!@# profile manager and the tinderboxes I've had to rename the profile folder back to Phoenix. I'm taking a week to re-assess the situation. The migration feature is still enabled and you can access it through File->Import...

From Thursday next week, your profile data will be stored in %APPDATA%/Firefox/ instead of %APPDATA%/Phoenix, where %APPDATA% = Documents and Settings\%USER NAME%\Application Data\ on Windows 2000, XP, etc; ~/ on Unices, and ~/Library on MacOS X.

Manual migration of things like Bookmarks etc should not be necessary - the new migration engine which I have just turned on should handle the transition from Phoenix to Firefox folders.

Extensions and other data will not be migrated

You will have to reinstall or manually migrate any extensions you have installed, as well as any settings files created by extensions as the automigration system only migrates files specific to Firefox.

For Multiple Profile Users

If you are using more than one profile Firefox will ask you which profile you want to migrate settings from the first time you start a build using the newer profile folder name. Firefox can only import from one source. To migrate across all your data you must do this manually. Alternatively you can import one profile, run Firefox with the profile manager and delete the profile (but make sure NOT to delete the files) then run Firefox again and import the other profile. Run Firefox with the profile manager and create a new profile in the same location as the deleted one and all the settings in it will be picked up.

This is one of (hopefully only) two times that you will have to reinstall and reconfigure extensions before 0.9.



Your old Phoenix folder with all its contents will not be removed so you can continue to use older builds.
Last edited by bengoodger on March 5th, 2004, 1:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ehume
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Post by ehume »

This should be fascinating. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully the Mozilla people have not added anything experimental to the Moz 1.7 branch that will bork Fx.
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BenBasson
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Post by BenBasson »

I can see major pitfalls currently with migrating certain extensions, but it was possible to migrate my 0.7 produced profile to 0.8 with no problems. Has it just been left out for this checkin, or has it been ruled out?
DIGITALgimpus
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Post by DIGITALgimpus »

Will the Phoenix folder with it's contents be deleted (or at least prompt the user it can be deleted) when 0.9 is released?

That way users don't have artifacts on their computer.
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redemption
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Post by redemption »

I think prompting the user whether he/she wants to delete the existing Phoenix folder is a good idea. Do consider it, if you haven't already, Ben.

Also, just so it is clear, there isn't going to be any migration of extensions at all, right?

Thanks!
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MrBond
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Post by MrBond »

Just to clarify, is it possible to run the import profile thing more than once? Say, if someone wants to import across multiple sources (eg IE6, Netscape 4, and Opera all into one FF profile).
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Nitin
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Re: Changing Profile Location to Firefox

Post by Nitin »

bengoodger wrote:For Multiple Profile Users

If you are using more than one profile Firefox will ask you which profile you want to migrate settings from the first time you start a build using the newer profile folder name. Firefox can only import from one source. To migrate across all your data you must do this manually.


If I've created profiles in "My Documents\Firefox\Data" and "My Documents\Firefox\test", and want to continue using them, what do I need to do? (i.e. I have no data in the %APPDATA%/Phoenix folder, and don't want to store anything in %APPDATA%/Firefox folder)
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beavis
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Post by beavis »

Can't I just rename the phoenix folder to firefox?
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peterlairo
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Re: Changing Profile Location to Firefox

Post by peterlairo »

vfwlkr wrote:If I've created profiles in "My Documents\Firefox\Data" and "My Documents\Firefox\test", and want to continue using them, what do I need to do? (i.e. I have no data in the %APPDATA%/Phoenix folder, and don't want to store anything in %APPDATA%/Firefox folder)


My situation is VERY similar: A long time ago (on it's first installation), I allowed Firebird to create the "default" profile (kind of an unused profile to have SOMETHING in the dault location). I then created an additional profile in a DIFFERENT LOCATION of MY choosing under F:\My Documents\Programs\Mozilla Firebird\Peter Lairo\####.slt\

With this new build, if i tell it to migrate my profile (NON-standard location), where will the migrated profile go? If it goes into the default location, how do I get it back into my non-default folder?

Hmmm, i just realized that i probably just shouldn't allow it to migrate my profile. Would NOT migrating leave references to "phoenix" or "fireBIRD" in my profile (e.g., in prefs.js), where allowing a migration might "update" my profile to only refer to "fireFOX" everywhere?

Will migrating / importing a Mozilla Suite profile into Firefox strip all non-browser-related files (e.g., e-mail settings)?

PS. I would have preferred if the new profile directory had been named "/Mozilla Firefox". This would have at least two advantages: (1) The brand identity would be strengthened (yeah, it's a less seen place, but every bit counts); (2) all Mozilla-related profiles would be "sorted" together in the user's application data diretory (That's why the Thunderbird profile directory should also be named "/Mozillla Thunderbird") thus simplifying finding and recognizing the profiles.

PPS. The same is true for the installation directories: "/MozillaFirefox" and "/MozilllaThunderbird"
Regards,
Peter Lairo
Ricky
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Re: Changing Profile Location to Firefox

Post by Ricky »

peterlairo wrote:PS. I would have preferred if the new profile directory had been named "/Mozilla Firefox". This would have at least two advantages: (1) The brand identity would be strengthened (yeah, it's a less seen place, but every bit counts); (2) all Mozilla-related profiles would be "sorted" together in the user's application data diretory (That's why the Thunderbird profile directory should also be named "/Mozillla Thunderbird") thus simplifying finding and recognizing the profiles.


What about Mozilla\Firefox, Mozilla\Thunderbird? 8)
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berkut
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Re: Changing Profile Location to Firefox

Post by berkut »

peterlairo wrote:PS. I would have preferred if the new profile directory had been named "/Mozilla Firefox". This would have at least two advantages: (1) The brand identity would be strengthened (yeah, it's a less seen place, but every bit counts); (2) all Mozilla-related profiles would be "sorted" together in the user's application data diretory (That's why the Thunderbird profile directory should also be named "/Mozillla Thunderbird") thus simplifying finding and recognizing the profiles.

that could cause problems because of the space in the directory name..
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peterlairo
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Re: Changing Profile Location to Firefox

Post by peterlairo »

Ricky wrote:
peterlairo wrote:PS. I would have preferred if the new profile directory had been named "/Mozilla Firefox". This would have at least two advantages: (1) The brand identity would be strengthened (yeah, it's a less seen place, but every bit counts); (2) all Mozilla-related profiles would be "sorted" together in the user's application data diretory (That's why the Thunderbird profile directory should also be named "/Mozillla Thunderbird") thus simplifying finding and recognizing the profiles.


What about Mozilla\Firefox, Mozilla\Thunderbird? 8)


That could be a solution. I would prefer not, because I can't stand looking for a program, and having to go through the program's company's name/directory. It's more work to get there; it hides the actual program folder unnecessarily; and "Mozilla Firefox" is the official name.

I know this seems (mabe it even is) trivial; but it may be relevant from a marketing and usability standpoint. I hope it is evaluated from that perspective, and not only from a technical one.
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Peter Lairo
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peterlairo
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Re: Changing Profile Location to Firefox

Post by peterlairo »

berkut1337 wrote:
peterlairo wrote:PS. I would have preferred if the new profile directory had been named "/Mozilla Firefox". This would have at least two advantages: (1) The brand identity would be strengthened (yeah, it's a less seen place, but every bit counts); (2) all Mozilla-related profiles would be "sorted" together in the user's application data diretory (That's why the Thunderbird profile directory should also be named "/Mozillla Thunderbird") thus simplifying finding and recognizing the profiles.

that could cause problems because of the space in the directory name..


Then remove the space. ;) Using "/MozillaFirefox" and "/MozilllaThunderbird" would be fine.
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Peter Lairo
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Fasse
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Re: Changing Profile Location to Firefox

Post by Fasse »

peterlairo wrote:Then remove the space. ;) Using "/MozillaFirefox" and "/MozilllaThunderbird" would be fine.

Thats a good idea, because a lot of people know Mozilla but only "some" people know Firefox.
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peterlairo
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Re: Changing Profile Location to Firefox

Post by peterlairo »

peterlairo wrote:Using "/MozillaFirefox" and "/MozilllaThunderbird" would be fine.


Also, the "F" and "T" should be capitalized: "/MozillaFirefox" and "/MozilllaThunderbird"
Regards,
Peter Lairo
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