345082 - Ability to Modify/Manage Profiles using a Mac instead other platforms

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Toolkit :: Add-ons Manager, enhancement)

Description

[Michael (maddog) Murdock]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4 Mnenhy/0.7.4.666
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.8.0.4) Gecko/20060508 Firefox/1.5.0.4 Mnenhy/0.7.4.666

In searching I found this related to Bugzilla Bugs: 22689, 66259, 7067.  Rather
than drag this request through that morass, I thought I would start over fresh
with this issue.  It is true that on Windows platforms you can add the '-CreateProfile' switch to the command line for execution.  On a Mac using 
Mac OS X 10.x+, I have not found a way to add such a flag.  This can make a real
problem when managing multiple versions of Firefox 
(ie. FF 1.5x, FF 2.0x [Bon Echo], FF 3.0x [Minefield]).
I learned this hardway when trying to rebuild my 1.5 profile after 3.0x had its
hand on it... @#$%&^

This also begs a bigger concern which is what I thought the other comments were
addressing regarding moving profiles on upgrades of Windows.  If you mean for
Mozilla to be only for "geeks" (I include myself) who know there way around the
innards of their computer, you limit your market.  For those that don't, it 
would be nice to have this control inside the browser (ALL Platforms).

As a suggestion (which I did see that Netscape 8 has tackled) is to have a
dynamic Profile Manager added to Firefox. As you are now about to freeze for 
release FF 2.0 (Bon Echo), this could be tackled afterwards.  Here is my 
suggestion of how to make this work.

Add a command on the File Menu "Profile Manager" which would then bring up
a Dialog Window interface to manage profiles with commands like
{Create, Copy, Move, Delete, Rename}.  I would also suggest two more such as
{Edit, Repair} for the following reasons: to manipulate internals or fix
broken profiles.  Best for first release to Keep It Simple... so maybe nothing
too fancy.  Alternately, you could do this as "Import/Export" as mentioned in
previous versions of this request.  I recommend a separate Component/Manager as
this compartmentalizes this task and allows any other individual(s) not already
engrossed on the current/futures releases of Firefox.  I understand you may not
have this person available.  As I have been teaching myself the internals the
last few months, I don't I'm just ready as yet.  If I find myself with more
time, I will start looking into how to add such a feature (Extension, etc).

As it stands no Mac Firefox users are slighted by either only using one version
of Firefox, or being some expert that can create multiple profiles by building them.  This is not fair to entice more users to enjoy what Mozilla Technology
has to offer in using Firefox 1.5 or above.

Bugzilla requested I give a component and I chose Extension/Theme Manager.  The
truth is this request is for a NEW Component "Profile Manager".  Though if you
do not do this, it touch on areas reqarding Installation.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Use a profile in 1.5 adding in a few extension/themes not usable beyond 1.6.
2. Download Bon Echo (2.0x) or Minefield (3.0x) launch this version a few times.
3. Launch your original FF 1.5.0x (I used 4).


Actual Results:  
The application locks up on a Mac (running Mac OS X 10.4.7) with either the
menu bar only or menu bar only as far as "Firefox" and no further.  Now window (Browser) displays.  No functionality.  You must Force Quit to exit on a Mac.

I have found this to be this way on a PC as well (Win XP Prof SP2) using FF 1.5.0.4 and using same profile.  When this happened, this was how I learned
about the '-CreateProfile' switch.

Expected Results:  
A nice failsafe mode would have been when Bon Echo or Minefield executed, they detected the profile was a previous version and requested how to proceed, giving
the option to either create a new profile, use the old one (warning damage could esult), use a copy of old one keeping only what can work in the new environment.

This can be done on all platforms and is the next graceful solution to not having a full on Profile Manager.

Alternately, you might make use of some kind of downgrade support, so if by mistake a FF 1.5x were to attempt loading a 2.x+ Profile, the same effect could
be created: request choice, create new profile, use old (warning), use copy disable what won't in current version.

This would limit the number of cross version bugs you probably get.

The apparent extension that caused me the problem was upgrading Talkback extension
which got upgraded without my choice in the matter and then couldn't go back with that profile.  Luckily, I had a backup or I wouldn't be writing this request now.

Comment 1

[Benjamin Smedberg]

It is possible and supported to use a single profile with multiple versions of Firefox (not running at the same time, of course). We have made a conscious decision that users shouldn't ever have to create or manage profiles: their browser should "just work".

For advanced users, it is possible to launch firefox with other profiles by running /Applications/Firefox/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -P.