1Password in Firefox 10 Extended Support Release (ESR)

Chris1234

Hi,



A couple of days ago, I updated to latest Firefox 10.0.6 ESR, and autofill has now stopped working.

Yet 1Password had been working like a dream in previous Firefox 10.0.5 ESR under Snow Leopard 10.6.8.



As usual, I click on the 1P logo, and type the name of the site I want to log into. It still opens the login window in a new tab as usual, but does NOT fill in the username and password. It used to complete it fine in previous 10.0.5 ESR. Even when I then click on the 1P logo and go Fill and Submit Login, it still leaves it blank. See attached png.



Anyone else with this issue?



Cris

khad

At this time only current stable builds of Firefox are supported (version 14 at the time of this writing). We're looking at options for ESR support, but I don't have a time frame for anything specific.



Firefox 14 has been released and for 1Password to support it, we've released the 1Password extension 3.9.5 update. This update drops support for older incompatible Firefox versions such as anything before Firefox 13, including the Extended Support Release (ESR) of Firefox 10. We ask that if all possible, you update to Firefox 14 to get the latest support from 1Password.



All that said, there is a workaround to use an older version of the 1Password extension in Firefox 10 if you are unable to update to Firefox 14 for some reason:



[url="https://mikhailt.clarify-it.com/d/firefox_esr"]https://mikhailt.cla...m/d/firefox_esr[/url]



I hope that helps. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with. <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':)' />

Chris1234

Thanks Khad but no, it doesn't help at all! I've rarely seen a more unsatisfactory answer!



It seems as though 1Password fail to understand what Firefox ESR (Extended Support Releases) are. They are guaranteed stable builds of Firefox!!! And they ARE entirely current, they're upgraded every six weeks!



ESR releases are designed to ensure Firefox is stable for a year, and avoids the many problems Firefox had a while ago in rushing out new releases every six weeks while pretending each one was a major ugrade. This upset all addon suppliers, I recall it lead to Firefox and therefore 1P insisting that a release three months old was now obsolete!



Each ESR release is only contains the latest improvements in stability and security which guarantees it to be the most stable current Firefox build!! So anyone and everyone keenly interested in the most stable and secure Firefox builds available will use ESR! That's exactly why I use Firefox ESR.



Clearly 1P is NOT supporting all the "current stable builds of Firefox" as you say, because 1P is not supporting the MOST "current stable build", why try and pretend otherwise?



ESR 10.0.6 only contains minor changes over 10.0.5, yet 1P seem to have decided not to support the latest current stable firefox build? I trust that 1P is urgently going to get back on track and start supporting the latest "current stable build" of Firefox...



I look forward to your response.

Warm regards,



Cris

Monday, 2012/07/23

khad

I completely understand your frustration. The reality is that Firefox has changed some of the requirements in version 14, and we needed to upgrade the version of the extension SDK we were using to stay current. Sadly, this means that the extension no longer works in versions of Firefox prior to 13. This includes version 10 even though Mozilla refers to it as ESR. ESR refers to security updates not any guaranteed compatibility with extension, plugins, or add-ons of any kind. From [url="http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/organizations/faq/"]Mozilla's Extended Support Release FAQ[/url]:



“Maintenance of each ESR, through point releases, is [b]limited to high-risk/high-impact security vulnerabilities[/b] and in rare cases may also include off-schedule releases that address live [b]security vulnerabilities[/b]. Backports of any [i][b]functional enhancements and/or stability fixes are not in scope[/b][/i].”



Version 10.0.6 is not the [i]current stable build[/i] of Firefox. It is the current [i]ESR[/i] build of Firefox. There are many different build channels including stable, beta, alpha (or Aurora), nightly, and ESR. ESR is not the same as the stable channel. That doesn't mean that "it's not stable", but here stable is a technical term referring to the specific build channel.



Again, from Mozilla's ESR FAQ:



“Users who want to get the [b]latest[/b] features, performance enhancements and [b]technologies[/b] in their browsing experience should download Firefox for personal use, as these improvements will only be available to ESR users several development cycles after being made available in Firefox for desktop. If you’re using Firefox for personal use, you can download Firefox from [url="http://mozilla.org/firefox"]mozilla.org/firefox[/url].”



None of that is to say that we will never support ESR build, but presently only the current build in the stable channel is supported. I can never make promises about future plans since there are so many factors which could change things at any moment, and we prefer to let the product speak for itself rather than stringing people along with a bunch of empty promises/vaporware.



Just in case you didn't click the link I provided above, here again are the steps to get 1Password working in Firefox ESR right now — [i]today[/i]:



1. First, remove all traces of 1Password in Firefox: select [b]Tools > Add-ons[/b] from the menu bar.



[img]http://media.screensteps.me/mikhailt/firefox_esr/1-first-remove-all-traces-of-1password-in-firefox.png?1342824653[/img]



2. Press the [b]Remove[/b] button next to 1Password



[img]http://media.screensteps.me/mikhailt/firefox_esr/2-press-the-remove-button-next-to-1password.png?1342824655[/img]



3. Type `[b]about:config[/b]` in the address bar in Firefox and press the button to continue



[img]http://media.screensteps.me/mikhailt/firefox_esr/3-type-aboutconfig-in-the-address-bar-in-firefox-and-press-the-button-to-continue.png?1342824656[/img]



4. Search the list for `[b]extensions.update`[/b] and turn off the automatic updates for extensions



[img]http://media.screensteps.me/mikhailt/firefox_esr/4-searchfilter-the-list-for-extensionsupdate-and-turn-off-the-automatic-updates-for-extensions.png?1342824657[/img]





5. [url="https://d13itkw33a7sus.cloudfront.net/dist/1P/ext/1Password-3.9.4.xpi"]Download 1Password extension 3.9.4 for Firefox 10 ESR[/url].



[img]http://media.screensteps.me/mikhailt/firefox_esr/5-enter-the-following-link-to-download-1password-extension-394-for-firefox-10-esr.png?1342824659[/img]



6. Allow the install



[img]http://media.screensteps.me/mikhailt/firefox_esr/6-allow-the-install.png?1342824659[/img]



7. Restart Firefox and 1Password is all ready for you! <img src='http://forum.agilebits.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />



[img]http://media.screensteps.me/mikhailt/firefox_esr/7-restart-firefox-and-1password-is-all-ready-for-you.png?1342824660[/img]



Please let me know if you still have more questions or concerns. I'd be glad to answer them.



Cheers,

Chris1234

Thanks Khad, this has worked and 1P now again does Go and Fill.



Yet there are now a couple of important queries:[list=1]

[*]Following your instructions, automatic update is turned off. Does this mean Firefox will no longer check for updates to my addons and to Firefox ESR itself?

[*]If so, I need to get Firefox to continue to check for updated versions, but allow me the option of whether to install them or not. This has been happening up until now, and needs to continue. So what do I change to reinstate this happening, and which 1P updates do I need to decline until 1P have reinstated support for ESR versions?

[/list]

You say that Firefox has made changes in version 14. Of course, that's usual for new versions. The problem is that 1P therefore decided to stop supporting Firefox ESR 10.0.6 which is indeed the latest (and most stable) build since it was only released just a week or so ago. So why imply it's out of date when it clearly is not!



Stable is an English word. It may have been used by Firefox as the name for one of their update channels, but that does not mean it no longer means stable!



You seem to misunderstand the reason big business persuaded Firefox to create ESR builds. ESR builds only make changes to security rather than to bells and whistles, which helps it be the most stable of all the current builds of Firefox, just as designed. And although improvements to stability may be "not in scope", I remember an ESR build appearing a few days after the previous one which I believe resolved a stability issue. If something doesn't work properly, then Firefox does resolve such ESR stability issues. You can easily confirm this by comparing the number of releases.



You say "Version 10.0.6 is not the current stable build of Firefox"! But to the contrary, it is the MOST current stable build of Firefox, exactly as I said. You miss out the word MOST, then write stable build instead of capitalizing the channel name as Stable Build, and this prevarication enables you to pretend there's no attempt to mislead!



When I say ESR is the MOST current stable build, I'm using stable as an English word rather than the name of the channel. When you say, "stable is a technical term", that still means stable! But when it's used as a channel name, that does not guarantee the channel is stable, it just means Firefox hope it is.



This shows up a problem you're attempting to ignore. The world's big businesses - such as IBM - agree that the words MOST current stable build as a description for Firefox ESR 10.0.6 are completely and entirely accurate! That's exactly what ESR builds are.



Please revert 1P to supporting the most current stable build of Firefox by reinstating the support for brand-new ESR 10.0.6 which 1P supported until very recently.



warm regards,

Cris

khad

[quote]Does this mean Firefox will no longer check for updates to my addons and to Firefox ESR itself?[/quote]

The above instructions only disable extension updates not browser updates.



[quote]…which 1P updates do I need to decline…?[/quote]

All of them. There is no update to the 1Password extension that you want to install in Firefox 10.



[quote]You say that Firefox has made changes in version 14. Of course, that's usual for new versions. The problem is that 1P therefore decided to stop supporting Firefox ESR 10.0.6…[/quote]

I'm not sure how else to say this. AgileBits didn't intentionally "stop supporting" Firefox 10. 1Password was updated to work in Firefox 14 and the changes that Mozilla made meant breaking compatibility with versions of Firefox older than 13. The options available were:[list=1]

[*][b]Fork the code[/b] — create a completely separate Firefox 10 extension to maintain

[*][b]Do nothing[/b] — not update the extension so ESR users would have compatibility at the expense of the vast majority of Firefox users who are in the stable channel on version 14 rather than ESR on 10

[*][b]Update the extension[/b] — and provide an older version of the extension to users in the ESR channel

[/list]

Having neither the developer resources to do (1) nor the shortsightedness to do (2) we went with (3).



If another option becomes available which allows 1Password to support both the current stable release and the current ESR release we will certainly explore the possibility.



Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with.



Cheers,