335967 - Preferences dialog has no way to configure plugin directories

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: Settings UI, defect)

Description

[Optional]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Konqueror/3.5; FreeBSD) KHTML/3.5.2 (like Gecko)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.8.0.2) Gecko/20060414 Firefox/1.5.0.2

Preferences dialog has no way to configure plugin directories. Plugins are typically installed to a variety of locations, and the same plugin can be installed to different locations on different operating systems, and even different distributions of the same operating system. This makes it important to be able to configure a list of directories to search for plugins.

This vital functionality is missing. In my specific case, Flash7 was installed to /usr/X11R6/lib/linux-flashplugin7/libflashplayer.so, but Firefox only searches for plugins in /usr/X11R6/lib/firefox/plugins. I have not been able to find any Firefox interface to add additional search paths.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
See details.

Actual Results:  
Cannot add or modify plugin directories.

Expected Results:  
User should be able to add or modify plugin directory locations.

As a comparison, look at the Konqueror configuration dialog. Undocumented "gconf-style" keys are unacceptable. Usability isn't about making the interface stupid, it's about making it usable. If there is no way to configure plugins, then plugins are not usable.

Comment 1

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

This bug was reported using Firefox 3.0 or older, which is no longer supported. The bug has also not been changed in over 500 days and is still in UNCO.
Reporter, please retest this bug in Firefox 3.6.10 or later using a fresh profile, http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/managing+profiles. If you still see this problem, please update the bug. If you no longer see the bug, please set the resolution to RESOLVED, WORKSFORME.

This is a mass search of unconfirmed bugs that have no activity on them, so if you feel a bug was marked in error, just remove the CLOSEME comment in the whiteboard within the next month.

Comment 2

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.12 or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). If you continue to see this issue with the newest firefox and a new profile, then please comment on this bug.