569456 - Attempting to install anyway fails

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(addons.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Public Pages, defect)

Description

[Robert Claypool]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.3a5pre) Gecko/20100601 Minefield/3.7a5pre ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0E)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.3a5pre) Gecko/20100601 Minefield/3.7a5pre ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0E)

When I click on "Add to Firefox" for a add-in that says "Not available for Firefox 3.7a5pre" it appears to give me the option to "Install Anyway" but once I click it, I get a dialog box that says "add-in could not be installed because it is incompatible with Firefox 3.7a5pre.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Go to an add-in installation page
2. click on "Add to Firefox"
3. Click on "Install Anyway"
Actual Results:  
Dialog box instead of installing.

Expected Results:  
Add-in is installed.

Comment 1

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

This is kind of weird wording on AMO's part I think. Unless you've disabled compatibility checking in Firefox you shouldn't be able to install extensions that aren't compatible.

Comment 2

[Robert Claypool]

Just now I tried to install BarTab ( https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/67651/ ). I have extensions.checkCompatibility;false and extensions.checkCompatibility.3.7a5pre;false and it still won't let me load.

Comment 3

[Kevin Brosnan]

The pref is extensions.checkCompatibility.3.7a; false.

Comment 4

[Pratibha]

Tested on MACOSX FF 3.6.9 
tried to install an incompatible add-on:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1830/
Not available for Firefox 3.6.9

After i click on Install, installation progress bar is seen and at the end: Compatible check is done messages comes up could not be installed because it is not compatible with Firefox 3.6.9

extensions.bandwagon.allow.incompatible.install False

Comment 5

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

AMO doesn't know whether compatibility checking has been disabled or not, so we give users the option to install anyway. Until bug 570033 is fixed, we can't do anything here.

Comment 6

[andré]

Even if compatibility checking is disabled, Seamonkey will refuse to install.
(But it does go a step further before refusing, when compatibility is disabled.)

What we need is to be able to download without installing, as was possible before.
(One used to have to go to the all versions page, but it was possible from there.)
Most (if not all) Firefox addons are indeed compatible with Seamonkey, but developers tend to forget to/not put the Seamonkey versions required for compatible install.
Something easily fixed, at least for anyone with minimal programming experience.

Unfortunately, AMO has decided to block downloads without install.
However whenever available from other sites, xpi files can easily be downloaded.
But unfortunately again, few developer's sites offer direct download.
This should be fixed.

Comment 9

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

Not sure why this has been marked as wontfix, given the dependency we have on bug 570033 and the clearly failing installation for users which do not have the checkCompatibility preferences set to false.

Justin, as long as bug 570033 is not fixed, can we give an explanation why "Install Anyway" fails? We could propose to users that they have to install ACR first.

Comment 10

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

There's already an explanation for why Install Anyway fails: we say in several places that the add-on isn't compatible.

I don't want to promote disabling compatibility checking here. People will do it just to install the add-on without understanding the consequences.

When bug 570033 is fixed we can reopen or file a new bug to change the behavior; there's nothing we can currently do in this bug and we have too many actionable bugs open to keep inactionable ones around too.

Comment 11

[John J. Barton]

(In reply to comment #5)
> AMO doesn't know whether compatibility checking has been disabled or not, so we
> give users the option to install anyway. Until bug 570033 is fixed, we can't do
> anything here.

Sure you can: replace "install anyway" with a link to the amo page for the extension where addon authors can explain how to get correct versions.

Comment 12

[Pedro Bessa]

"I want to install, then have immediately and automatically disabled an addon,
because it's incompatible with my current ff version and IMPORTANT because I
want to receive its updates, so that if it becomes compatible with my current
ff version, ff'll enable it for me."

Please, change it from wontfix to something else!

Comment 13

[Pedro Bessa]

I don't know how to write links here. "(...)" - link