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uBlock Origin Released as a Pure WebExtension for Firefox

posted by Fnord666 on Friday September 01 2017, @02:06AM   
from the vigilant-developers-are-a-blessing dept.

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Martin Brinkmann at gHacks reports

A new WebExtension version of the popular content blocker uBlock Origin was [uploaded on August 31] to Mozilla's official add-ons repository for Firefox.

The new version is compatible with Firefox's new WebExtensions standard for extensions, and will as such continue to work when Firefox 57 gets released.

This first official release of the WebExtensions version of uBlock Origin works for the most part just like the legacy add-on version.

Users may experience issues however when they upgrade from the legacy version of the add-on to the new version.

Raymond Hill, the developer of uBlock Origin suggests that 32-bit users of Firefox stay on version 1.13.8 of the add-on until these issues are resolved.

[Workarounds for storage limit bug for extra filter lists and custom settings described]

[...] Additional information [is] available on uBlock Origin's Mozilla AMO page, and the GitHub project site.

---

Original Submission

• FF52(ESR) is screwed by this update FF52(ESR) is screwed by this update (Score: 3, Informative) by DarkMorph on Saturday September 02 2017, @04:10AM (1 child)

  by DarkMorph (674) on Saturday September 02 2017, @04:10AM (#562845)

  I don't know what the fuck "pure webextension" is supposed to mean, but what I do know is that this update happened automatically and the extension disabled itself because it's not compatible with my FF. Yes, that's right. It automatically upgraded to a version that doesn't even target the version of FF I'm using. This is well documented when you're browsing on addons.mozilla.org, you would think the auto-updater would be exposed to the same information and avoid migrating to a version it can't even fucking use! Don't forget why I'm still on FF52 (ESR) -- ALSA.
  
  Really not sure how many more Mozilla blunders I can stand. Unless there's a utopian fork of the damn thing to switch to, I'm gonna have to stop being lazy and build chromium with the "ungoogled" patches. If only the ublock/noscript/ghostery armada were more portable for browsers like Midori. It's likely I'll dump FF before the day finally comes they support the remainder of HTML5's new input tag types like date and email.
  
  To break away from the dribble and whining and to add some more useful substance: for those of you like me using the FF ESR and had ublock break itself with that mindless update: you can return to the previous version that was last compatible with FF52 then in the add-ons menu, disable the auto-update for that add-on alone. ublock is great and written in vanilla JS for speed; I did not delve into what is new in that project that broke compatibility with FF52ESR but I'm sure it was something necessary to function on the latest FF, forcing them to break support for a version that "old".

  Starting Score:	1		point
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• ''don't know WTF "pure webextension" is'' (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @07:41PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 02 2017, @07:41PM (#562994)

  A year ago, Mozilla announced that they were moving to a new API for extensions, once again abandoning their previous method.
  (In the process, making the old stuff obsolete.)

  Mozilla Explains Why the Firefox WebExtensions API Is Good for You [softpedia.com]

  While people loved the XUL/XPCOM add-ons platform for its powerful and wide-ranging features, because these older types of add-ons worked directly with browser internals, whenever the Mozilla would update Firefox, many of its add-ons would also take a nose-dive and required developers to make updates to their code.

  For this reason, Mozilla has created the new WebExtensions API, which is a clone of the extensions system employed by Chromium-based browsers like Chrome, Opera, and Vivaldi.

  Note that the new thing is typically written as a plural: WebExtensions.

  What extension developers don't like in particular about the new thing is that there aren't as many hooks into the browser and some things that could be done the old way can't be done at all now.

  Hopes are that the new API will mature and be expanded to encompass more capabilities.

  this update happened automatically and the extension disabled itself because it's not compatible with my FF

  Sucks to be you.
  Earlier this month, we noted how Google's Chrome browser can do similar shit.

  In that discussion, an AC asked

  What kind of a stupid-ass browser (or any software, for that matter) updates itself or its extensions automatically with no user intervention?

  unauthorized (3776) responded

  It's an optional feature in Firefox; you can turn it off.

  Apparently, you missed that thread.
  CopyFish Extension for Chrome Pwned; Uninstall Now [soylentnews.org]

  -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  Parent