458638 - Unable to re-install search engines after update; Firefox says files already exist

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: Search, defect)

Description

[nidaisfree]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008092417 Firefox/3.0.3
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0.3) Gecko/2008092417 Firefox/3.0.3

After updating Firefox 3.0 to 3.03, Some search engines (Flickr, Live.com, Technorati) were missing. Then I went to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:4/cat:all?sort=name and I tried to reinstal them, but couldn't complete the operation because I got the following message (Live.com example):

"Firefox could not install the search plugin from "http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/downloads/file/25767/live.com.xml" because an engine with the same name already exists." 

Despite these messages stating that the engines already exist, the missing search engines don't appear in the "Manage Search Engines List". I was unable to re-install the missing search engines.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install Firefox 3.0/3.01 and add some search engines from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:4/cat:all?sort=name
2. Update to Firefox 3.03 (notice the missing search engines).
3. Go back to the aforementioned page and try to re-install the missing search engines.
4. Notice the error messages. Notice that the search engines are not listed in the "Manage Search Engines List".
Actual Results:  
User is unable to re-install missing search engines after updating Firefox. 

Expected Results:  
User should be able to re-install missing search engines after updating Firefox.

Verified on several Windows XP/Vista computers when updating from 3.0/3.01 to 3.03.

Comment 1

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

There are really two bugs described here:

1) The fact that your engines disappeared after upgrading. If you're still in that state, there are a couple of things you could do to try and pinpoint the problem:

Setting javascript.options.showInConsole to true using about:config, and restarting. After restarting, check the Error Console and see whether there are any Errors.

If that doesn't give any output, then you could try setting browser.search.log to true and again restarting Firefox. Once you've done this, you should be able to retrieve debug output in the Error Console's "Messages" tab (and stdout in case that's easier to capture).

2) The fact that you can't re-install them from the web after they've disappeared. This is bug 353056. You should be able to restore them using the engine manager's ("Manage Search Engines..." in the search bar dropdown) "Restore Defaults" button, but it would be helpful if you went through the debugging process for bug 1 first.

Comment 2

[nidaisfree]

1) javascript.options.showInConsole - Checked the error console debug messages.
1 - Error: redeclaration of const LOAD_IN_SIDEBAR_ANNO
Source File: chrome://browser/content/places/utils.js
Line: 57
2 - Same as above.
3 - Error: redeclaration of const imgICache
Source File: chrome://global/content/contentAreaUtils.js
Line: 79
4 - Error: redeclaration of const nsIWebNavigation
Source File: chrome://browser/content/browser.js
Line: 7

Warnings:
Warning: Error in parsing value for property 'padding'.  Declaration dropped.
Source File: chrome://ybookmarks/skin/overlay.css
Line: 656, 657, 663, 664, 670, 671

Warning: Found unclosed string '"inactive] {	'.  Expected identifier or string for value in attribute selector but found '"inactive] {	'.  Ruleset ignored due to bad selector.
Source File: chrome://ybookmarks/skin/overlay.css
Line: 702

Plus several other warnings, all from chrome://ybookmarks/skin/overlay.css. 
Warning: Unknown property 'cell-padding'.  Declaration dropped.
Source File: chrome://ybookmarks/skin/overlayStatus.css
Line: 7

I think all the warnings are related to the del.icio.us extension, which, is working fine despite those warning messages.

2) I took a look at bug 353056 and 335102. I think they are related to this one, but I'm not sure 353056 is the same. My problem is not about renaming search engines. It's about engines missing and being unable to re-install them.

I just updated Firefox and, after updating, all the default search engines were still there. The engines I had added (Live.com, Ask...) disappeared. I looked in the "Manage Search Engines" dialog, as stated in step 4 of this report, but the engines were nowhere to be found. It was then that I thought 'Not a big deal --I can re-install them in 2 minutes". I tried to re-install them from the web and got the error messages.

Now I'm stuck since the engines are gone from the engine manager and I can't re-install them either. :S

Comment 3

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

[e-mail], have you managed to solve your search engine problems? It's been a while since the last comment, just want to check what the current state is and resolve this bug if everything's OK.

Comment 4

[nidaisfree]

Hi there. 

My search engine problems still exist. I checked on another machine with the same result:
1 Fresh install of Firefox 3.04 (default profile).
2 Add some search engines.
3 Update to FF 3.05.
4 New search engines are missing from the engine manager.
5 However, when trying to reinstall these engines, FF says "Firefox could not install the search plugin from [URL]because an engine with the same name already exists".

The only solution I found is to uninstall FF, delete all folders related to FF and do a fresh install of FF 3.05. Only then I can add search engines normally. :(

Comment 5

[nidaisfree]

Hi again.

I had the same issue after upgrading from Fx 3.0.11 to Fx 3.5 RC2. However, this time I've found a workaround.

After some searching, I found my missing search engines' files at:
C:\Documents and Settings\XXX\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\YYYYY.default\searchPlugins

Then looked at C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins and noticed that only the default search engines' files were in this folder. So I copied the files from C:\Documents and Settings\XXX\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\YYYYY.default\searchPlugins to C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins and voilà! Problem solved.

It seems to me that Fx overwrites the C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\searchplugins folder upon update/upgrade while keeping the \Profiles\YYYYY.default\searchPlugins folder intact and that causes the missing search engines in the engine manager plus the "Firefox could not install the search plugin X because an engine with the same name already exists."

Comment 6

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

No, you should not have to copy all your profile related search plugins into the application folder. They still resist inside the profile. The ones in the application folder are global and will apply to all users.

Can you give detailed steps, that includes which search engines you have intalled, so someone of us is able to reproduce? It would be great if you could do this in a fresh profile. So you can compress all the files and attach it to the bug. Please make sure to backup the profile before you perform an upgrade so we will have the same initial state. Thanks!

Comment 7

[nidaisfree]

(In reply to comment #6)
> No, you should not have to copy all your profile related search plugins into
> the application folder. 
Exactly, I shouldn't have to, but doing it solved the problem. It's klutzy, but it works for me.

>They still resist inside the profile. 
If  'resist' means 'physical presence of their .xml files in the profile folder' then yes, they resist there. But they don't show in the Search engine manager nor can be used or reinstalled.

>The ones in the application folder are global and will apply to all users.
That's fine with me, since I only use one profile.

> Can you give detailed steps, that includes which search engines you have
> intalled, so someone of us is able to reproduce?

See bellow, although I don't know how much more detailed it can get. It's pretty simple: Install a build of Firefox 3.0; add some search plug-ins; update/upgrade to a higher version/build; the engines are gone from the search/search manager and you can't reinstall them either.

Engines I have installed:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4596
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10434
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12253
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4599
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9227
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4609
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12113
http://mycroft.mozdev.org/jsreq.html
http://mycroft.mozdev.org/jsreq.html

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Fresh install of Firefox 3.0.x, one user only, nothing fancy or weird, just double click the installer and click 'Yes' until installation is finished. Totally default installation.

2. Start Firefox and add some additional search plug-ins from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:4/cat:all?sort=name and http://mycroft.mozdev.org/search-engines.html?category=62.

3. Check that the new search plug-ins work and that you can manage them through the Search Engine Manager.

4. Update/upgrade to Firefox 3.0.x+1 / 3.5. It doesn't matter if you use Tools > Check for updates or if you use a full installer.

4. Once the new version/build of Firefox is installed go to "Manage search engines".

5. Notice that the additional search plug-ins you've just installed are not shown in the manager list.

6. Go back to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browse/type:4/cat:all?sort=name and http://mycroft.mozdev.org/search-engines.html?category=62, and try to re-install the missing search
plug-ins.

7. Notice that you can't re-install the search plug-ins. You'll get the error message: "Firefox could not install the search plugin from
[URL] because an engine with the same name already exists." i.e. Firefox is telling you that the search plug-ins you've installed 5 minutes ago in a previous version/build are nowhere to be found in the Search Engine Manager of your current version/build but you cannot reinstall them either because plug-ins with the same name already exist (!?). 

So, you can't see them, you can't use them and you can't reinstall them.

You can test this by doing a fresh install of any version of Firefox 3 and updating/upgrading to a higher version. e.g. Fresh install of Firefox 3.0.2 > 3.0.3; Fresh install of 3.0.4 > 3.0.8; Fresh install of 3.0.8 > 3.0.10; Fresh install of 3.0.11 > 3.5RC2. I'd say it even works if you try updating from Firefox 2.x to Firefox 3, but I haven't tried.

Comment 8

[nidaisfree]

Attachment: Search plug-in files in my default (and only) profile

Search plug-in files in my default (and only) profile.

Comment 9

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

Can you set javascript.options.showInConsole and browser.search.log to true using about:config, and then post a screenshot of the "messages" tab of the error console after the "upgrade" step in your steps to reproduce? It should have some diagnostic output from the search service loading code that would be useful.

Comment 10

[nidaisfree]

(In reply to comment #9)
> Can you set javascript.options.showInConsole and browser.search.log to true
> using about:config, and then post a screenshot of the "messages" tab of the
> error console after the "upgrade" step in your steps to reproduce? It should
> have some diagnostic output from the search service loading code that would be
> useful.

Maybe when 3.5 goes final. Sorry, but I have many things to do other than testing Fx.

Comment 11

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

(In reply to comment #10)
> Maybe when 3.5 goes final. Sorry, but I have many things to do other than
> testing Fx.

Firefox 3.5 has been released this week. So it would be nice if you could run a test with the above comments addressed. I tried to reproduce your steps but I wasn't able to see this problem. If you can still see it in Firefox 3.5 please give us the feedback so we can identify the issue. Thanks.