1444769 - request: add built-in support to firefox quantum for locally importing/exporting passwords

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 249801

(Toolkit :: Password Manager, enhancement)

Description

[R. Zilligen]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:58.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/58.0
Build ID: 20180209193630

Steps to reproduce:

I upgraded to Firefox Quantum and have not been able to export passwords as there is no built-in functionality and the legacy add-on Password Exporter[1] is no longer compatible.

To reproduce, visit about:preferences#privacy and click on Saved Logins. Note that there are options for Remove, Remove All, and Show Passwords. However, there are no options for Importing/Exporting passwords from a local file.

I have extensively searched for a Web Extension alternative to the old Password Exporter[1] add-on but was unable to find one. From what I have read online, it sounds like it is unlikely that Firefox will expose APIs to Web Extensions that allow them to lookup passwords. I even feel that this decision is probably the correct one due to potential security abuses.

Other options such as Password Manager[2] or the javascript on the same page which references the Components object have either been deprecated and/or removed. The methods which are reported to work with Firefox Quantum specifically [3] require using external tools which are only available on Windows or have additional javascript which did not work when tested under Firefox v58.0.2 (64-bit) on Linux Mint 18.3.

1. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/password-exporter/
2. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Password_Manager
3. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1202029


Actual results:

I am unable to export my passwords. I have a large list of saved passwords and it is not feasible to do this manually 1x1. I am not interested in having my passwords stored in the cloud (via Sync) or in switching to non-FOSS, cloud-based password managers like LastPass.


Expected results:

I would like to request the option to import/export passwords to a text file be added as a built-in feature for the desktop version of Firefox for the following reasons:
- The programming complexity should be relatively low while benefit to users would be relatively high (I would need to learn the code base but would be happy to help code it).
- Chrome is now offering the option to import/export passwords to a text file[4]; gotta stay competitive.
- None of the previously working methods for doing so still work. And the current workarounds are limited to Windows and require external applications.[1][2][3]

4. https://lifehacker.com/chrome-has-an-option-to-export-passwords-heres-how-to-1790816137

Comment 1

[Matthew N. [:MattN]]

Exporting is covered by bug 249801

(In reply to R. Zilligen from comment #0)
> Other options such as Password Manager[2] or the javascript on the same page
> which references the Components object have either been deprecated and/or
> removed.

That code should work with maybe small modifications in the Browser Console: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Browser_Console

Personally I think we should add the web extension APIs but progress has slowed on that.

Comment 2

[R. Zilligen]

(In reply to Matthew N. [:MattN] (PM if requests are blocking you) from comment #1)
> Exporting is covered by bug 249801
> 

I agree the EXPORTING is covered by bug 249801. But I disagree with the "Resolution: --- → DUPLICATE" as 249801 does not cover IMPORTING. I'm not sure what the convention is on Bugzilla if IMPORTING can be merged in as a requirement of 249801 or what the correct process is. I will post a comment there asking to add IMPORTING as that seems like the simplest fix.