1463625 - Loading a WebExtension from a ZIP file from about:debugging no longer works

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1462500

(Toolkit :: Add-ons Manager, defect)

Description

[Marco Castelluccio [:marco]]

STR:
1) Open about:debugging;
2) Click "load a temporary addon";
3) Select a zip file containing a WebExtension.

Expected result:
The extension should be properly loaded and should work. Or the extension should not be loaded at all and Firefox should suggest you to load a manifest instead.

Actual result:
The extension is loaded in a broken state.

Comment 1

[Kris Maglione [:kmag]]

Allowing about:debugging to load add-ons with .zip extensions as .xpis is a misfeature I was never happy about, and hope to eventually remove support for, so I suggest you update your developer flow. But we're going to continue supporting it for now.

Comment 2

[Marco Castelluccio [:marco]]

(In reply to Kris Maglione [:kmag] (long backlog; ping on IRC if you're blocked) from comment #1)
> Allowing about:debugging to load add-ons with .zip extensions as .xpis is a
> misfeature I was never happy about, and hope to eventually remove support
> for, so I suggest you update your developer flow. But we're going to
> continue supporting it for now.

I used to load the manifest file at first but it stopped working at some point and so I started using the ZIP as a workaround. Now that using the manifest works, I'm happy with using it.
I've filed the bug just because there are people who might be confused by this regression.

Comment 3

[Kris Maglione [:kmag]]

You can continue loading from zip files, but the extension should be .xpi, not .zip.

Comment 4

[Marco Castelluccio [:marco]]

Sorry for the noise, I've no idea why it was marked as FIXED...