Firefox pushes another update to fix its broken add-ons
Staff at Mozilla have issued a comprehensive fix for the Firefox browser after users endured three days without any add-ons, caused by the expiration of a signing certificate. The company has been scrambling to fix the issue since it appeared on Friday, with frustrated users turning to workarounds to try to get their adblockers, password managers and other extensions working again.
However, while the fix has restored add-on service to the majority of users, some are still having issues, including a small but vocal band who still use legacy versions of the software.
The current version of Firefox is 66, but some users intentionally stick to older versions for various reasons, often because a particular add-on stopped being updated after that version, or because they’re using older operating systems.
Those users have left Mozilla in no doubt about their feelings regarding the update, with some going so far as to suggest it was a deliberate move to force legacy users to upgrade.
No. This is not acceptable. I won’t update to 66.x, there’s a reason I’m still on 54.
Either you fix it for older versions or I’ll find another browser (i.e. Chrome). Might be willing to give it one or two more days.
— Ingrid (@Grosser_Panda) May 5, 2019
So basically, this was a ploy to expunge the users of older versions since it looks like you’re not putting out a fix for anyone not using Quantum. Cool. Congrats–you’re getting your way. But I’m not upgrading. I’m done with you.
— AD (@alisadm) May 5, 2019
you NEED To Do a release for ESR 52.9.0 for us XP users as we are affected as well we have No functionality with our addons extentions/plugins
— Mork Clare (@DrWho3000) May 5, 2019
So far, Mozilla hasn’t responded to people asking about fixes for older versions of Firefox.
While the most recent and comprehensive update seems to have fixed the vast majority of Firefox browsers — including Android, which was left out of an earlier fix — some people are still having problems. In a blog post detailing the update, Mozilla recommended users avoid workarounds as they may cause data loss or issues with official fixes.
The post states that there are “remaining issues that we are actively working to resolve, but we wanted to get this fix out before Monday to lessen the impact of disabled add-ons before the start of the week.”
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