1222327 - Add-on "AMO Browsing for SeaMonkey" needs handler for [converted] add-on-updates

Status: NEW

(SeaMonkey :: General, enhancement)

Description

[Rainer Bielefeld]

Attachment: ghostery-5.4.8-smc+fx+an.xpi

Steps how to reproduce:
Steps how to reproduce with SeaMonkey German 2.39b1 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:42.0 from official download area)  Gecko/20100101  Firefox/42.0  Build 20151028234211  (Classic Theme) on German WIN7 64bit and above mentioned add-on:

0. Download “AMO Browsing for SeaMonkey” from
   <http://addonconverter.fotokraina.com/amo-browsing/> and install 
1. From file install attached ghostery-5.4.8-smc+fx+an.xpi
   (only for testing, extension will not work)
   » in add-ons-manager you will find “Ghostery 5.4.8[converted]” 
     in list of installed add-ons
2. Open add-ons-manager if necessary
3. check add-ons for updates
   » List should contain “Ghostery 5.4.9”
4. Update only Ghostery
   » After update you will find “Ghostery 5.4.9” without conversion.

We need ideas how to get converted updates.

Comment 1

[Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec]]

UA:"Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/45.0 SeaMonkey/2.42a1" ID:20151111003002 c-c:1d7535f9bc102939d4c43523e9bb6f870fcfe1d5 m-c:cc473fe5dc512c450634506f68cbacfb40a06a23 en-US

After the steps described in comment #0, Ghostery 5.4.9 (a restartless extension) is installed. It hasn't been converted by http://addonconverter.fotokraina.com/ but does it need it? The install.rdf has a <em:targetApplication> section for SeaMonkey, and AMO says that it supports "SeaMonkey 2.32 and later".

It might be useful to have a "utility" extension which would, for every add-on of Extension type whose install.rdf does not include a SeaMonkey <targetApplication>, add a [Convert] button which would (assuming that this is possible) load the Add-on Converter page in a new tab, with the appropriate values plugged in it by means of ?name1=value1[&name2=value2]… query strings. Then (I suppose) checking that the checkboxes are set as desired and clicking the submit button would deliver an installable converted extension.

This, of course, would require parsing the install.rdf with proper care for namespaces (the add-on manager namespace "http://www.mozilla.org/2004/em-rdf#" is usually em: but it could be anything else or even the default namespace, depending on xmlns attributes usually set on the <RDF> containing block).

Making the "install updates" button of the Add-ons Manager (which is Toolkit code, not forked SeaMonkey code) convert the update by means of fotokraina.com would IMHO probably be WONTFIX even if it were possible to automate it.

The reason I mention a different extension (yet to be written) is that "AMO browsing for SeaMonkey" is concerned only with changing the appearance of addons.mozilla.org pages. It has nothing to do with the add-on manager or with its extension update process, and indeed, the AMO browsing extension and the hypothetical add-on mentioned here could each function without the other.

Comment 2

[Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec]]

Adding lemon_juice to the CC, I think he might have ideas about this.

Comment 3

[Rainer Bielefeld]

(In reply to Tony Mechelynck [:tonymec] from comment #1)
I would prefer a more simple approach: all Add-ons with "[converted]" should not do a silent update, but simply go to AMO Add-On page, so that user can gain required information. Indeed necessity for conversion can change caused by SM of by addon changes.

Of course that proceeding does not work i old addon worked fine without conversion and new add-on-version after update would need conversion. That is more sophisticated, I think we should handle that in a separate report (except lemon_juice has a good idea how to pool these problems)