{"id":1842,"date":"2010-09-23T09:55:38","date_gmt":"2010-09-23T16:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/?p=1842"},"modified":"2010-09-23T09:55:38","modified_gmt":"2010-09-23T16:55:38","slug":"changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes to how Extensions are Installed in Firefox 4"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The next beta of Firefox 4 will include a change to how Firefox installs and uses extensions. Previously the files from the extension&#8217;s XPI would be extracted into their own directory in the filesystem and read from there, now the default is to just keep the XPI and load files out of it directly.<\/p>\n<p>For many extensions this causes no problems however if your extension&#8217;s code tries to access its files directly or if your extension includes binary code, search plugins, dictionaries or window icons then you may either need to make changes to your extension to support the new method of installation or request that Firefox continue to unpack your extension&#8217;s files using the <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.mozilla.org\/en\/Install_Manifests#unpack\">&lt;em:unpack&gt;<\/a> install.rdf directive.<\/p>\n<p>You can read more about the change and ways\u00a0 you can support it in your extension at the <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.mozilla.org\/en\/Firefox_4_for_developers#XPI_unpacking\">Firefox 4 for Developers MDC page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The next beta of Firefox 4 will include a change to how Firefox installs and uses extensions. Previously the files from the extension&#8217;s XPI would be extracted into their own &hellip; <a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[388,44],"tags":[778,278877,278873,30,888],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Changes to how Extensions are Installed in Firefox 4 - Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Townsend\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/\",\"name\":\"Changes to how Extensions are Installed in Firefox 4 - Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-23T16:55:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-23T16:55:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#\/schema\/person\/9d53950fffd8370f827fd45a3f4adcd5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Changes to how Extensions are Installed in Firefox 4\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/\",\"name\":\"Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#\/schema\/person\/9d53950fffd8370f827fd45a3f4adcd5\",\"name\":\"Dave Townsend\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f56e46f0120d9477f8f320991a2196a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f56e46f0120d9477f8f320991a2196a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Townsend\"},\"description\":\"I'm a senior Firefox developer who has spent most of his working life helping to make Firefox extensible. I currently manage the SDK team of the developer tools group.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.oxymoronical.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/author\/dtownsendmozillacom\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Changes to how Extensions are Installed in Firefox 4 - Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Townsend","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/","name":"Changes to how Extensions are Installed in Firefox 4 - Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-09-23T16:55:38+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-23T16:55:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#\/schema\/person\/9d53950fffd8370f827fd45a3f4adcd5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/2010\/09\/23\/changes-to-how-extensions-are-installed-in-firefox-4\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Changes to how Extensions are Installed in Firefox 4"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/","name":"Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#\/schema\/person\/9d53950fffd8370f827fd45a3f4adcd5","name":"Dave Townsend","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/addons\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f56e46f0120d9477f8f320991a2196a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f56e46f0120d9477f8f320991a2196a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dave Townsend"},"description":"I'm a senior Firefox developer who has spent most of his working life helping to make Firefox extensible. 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