Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog

Are your add-on updates in the review queue? Check again!

7 responses

A few bugs have been filed recently surrounding the add-on upload process, and they all turned out to be a single problem: if the upload process fails for some reason, the file may end up in an incorrect state.

What does this mean to add-on authors? Sometimes they’ve ended up with multiple files for a version, other have had to attempt the upload multiple times until it works. But the sneakiest of problems is when the upload finishes well, but the uploaded file isn’t nominated for the public. This means that the new version of a public add-on will start with an “In Sandbox” state, and it will never appear in the add-on review queue. Authors rarely notices this error, and they become increasingly annoyed with the add-on not being reviewed.

Only 2 add-ons are currently waiting for more than 7 days. If your update has been waiting for longer than that, you’ve probably been bitten by this bug.

So, in order to be safe, please check the status of your add-on updates. In order to verify that your update is in the review queue, follow these steps:

  1. Go to your Add-ons Page.
  2. For the add-on you updated, check the status of the latest version, under Versions and Files. If the status is “In Sandbox” instead of “In Sandbox; Pending Review”, then your file is not in the review queue.
  3. If you need to change the status of your add-on, please email amo-editors AT mozilla dot org and we’ll be happy to help you.

The bug is already fixed, so please let us know if you continue experiencing any upload problems.

Update: this post refers to updates of add-ons that are already public. If you’re nominating your add-on for the first time, it’s normal for the status of your latest file to be ‘In Sandbox’.

7 comments on “Are your add-on updates in the review queue? Check again!”

  1. tito wrote on

    I’m seeing something.. just informing
    The add-on (in sandbox, never public) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6231 in the page https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/addons shows “Extension currently Active and In Sandbox; Public Nomination”
    But in the page https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/versions/6231 is just showing “1 In Sandbox file”

    The other similar add-on (not in sandbox, public) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5372/ in the page https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/addons shows “Extension currently Active and Public”
    But in the page https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/developers/versions/5372 is just showing “1 In Sandbox; Pending Review file”

    Looks strange to my eyes, both are pending review but one says pending in the the page that the other is not saying pending. 😀

  2. urlnotfound wrote on

    How does one go about getting spamvertisement stuff like this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/47023

    Reported and removed? It is being passed around as a meme on Facebook via “http://tinyurl.com/dislikebtn” and only injects an advertisement into facebook.

    This is an “experimental” add-on, therefore does not go through a review process, but that is not at all obvious to the inattentive user. You need to change it so that people have to jump through 5 hoops and pinky-swear that they know what they are doing and that they may be installing a virus or worse on their machine. This meme has spread to over 750,000 users on Facebook in 5 days. The developers appear to be posting fake reviews sprinkled into the legit ones to keep the star average high and the landing page clear of bad reviews.

    I know this has nothing to do with your blog post, but I hope you take it under advisement and take it to your superiors that there is no easy way to report malicious experimental add-ons, and that the “experimental and unapproved and possibly dangerous” part of the experimental add-on pages need to be more obvious.

  3. Murat Çorlu wrote on

    What is normal waiting period of first nomination of an addon? I’m waiting for 2 weeks for nomination of my addon. It’s a very long timeö isn’t it?

    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/58195

  4. jmozmoz wrote on

    Might be a stupid question: I have put a beta version of the CompactHeader add-on on AMO. Does this version get reviewed or do I have to upload it again as a non-beta version?

  5. Jorge wrote on

    @urlnotfound: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=472399

    @Murat: nominations can take several weeks, depending on the add-on. You can stay up to date with the state of the queues in the forum: https://forums.addons.mozilla.org/viewforum.php?f=21

    @jmozmoz: beta versions don’t get reviewed. If your beta version turns out to become your final release, then you need to upload again as a non-beta.

  6. Fábio wrote on

    I got bitten by this bug last week. The last update to my add-on shows “no test results” and “in sandbox” status.

    What should I do, delete and upload it again or just wait?

    1. Fábio wrote on

      Never mind, I resubmited it and it’s been aproved already.