696587 - can't use addons builder or sdk

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Add-on SDK Graveyard :: General, defect)

Description

[Joel Maher ( :jmaher ) (UTC -8)]

For the last two years I have been unable to use the addons sdk and giving it another try I run into problems again.  

Addons builder helper extension:
 - incompatible with nightly
 - won't install on firefox 7.0
 - seriously do I need to try every version of Firefox here?

SDK:
 - mozrunner compatibility issues, can't figure out how to remove the other instance and there is a link to a bug with too many comments to be useful for anybody trying to write code.

Addons Builder -> download .xpi:
 - I unzip and try to edit it, but the .xpi doesn't seem to install on a nightly or custom build of mozilla-central

Can we invest some time into making these tools usable and compatible?  I have been filing bugs for almost 2 years on these tools and I still cannot use them.

Comment 1

[Wes Kocher (:KWierso) (Not reading bugmail; email directly if needed)]

(In reply to Joel Maher (:jmaher) from comment #0)
> Addons builder helper extension:
>  - incompatible with nightly
>  - won't install on firefox 7.0
>  - seriously do I need to try every version of Firefox here?

Addon Builder Helper 0.0.20 is marked as compatible from Firefox 4 through 9: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/add-on-builder-helper/
It should be able to be installed on the current Firefox 7 release. 
You can use Addon Compatibility Reporter to force compatibility: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/add-on-compatibility-reporter/



> SDK:
>  - mozrunner compatibility issues, can't figure out how to remove the other
> instance and there is a link to a bug with too many comments to be useful
> for anybody trying to write code.
> 
> Addons Builder -> download .xpi:
>  - I unzip and try to edit it, but the .xpi doesn't seem to install on a
> nightly or custom build of mozilla-central
I just downloaded an XPI from Builder. The install.rdf file in it is set to compatibility between version 7.0 and version 8.*. Release versions of the SDK target explicit versions of Firefox that it's actually being tested on. 
That said, nothing in the current release of the SDK should be truly incompatible with the current development builds of Firefox, so you should be safe to ignore the version compatibility defined in the addon using the Addon compatibility reporter extension.



There's a bit of discussion about the reasoning for why the versions are set this way (and why it might be changed) here: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla-labs-jetpack/9HKysMj-WIc

Comment 2

[Wes Kocher (:KWierso) (Not reading bugmail; email directly if needed)]

Bug 697214 might help with this.

Comment 3

[David Mason [:dcm :dmason]]

Joel, There is a lot in this bug report. I understand you are frustrated, but we have many people using the SDK who haven't reported similar experiences. It'd be nice to dig into what you are seeing, but perhaps we can break it up into specific bugs? Also, can you point me to the specific bugs you filed before that we haven't gotten to? Its nice to know which ones are hitting people more often so we can adjust prioritization.

Also, consider joining #jetpack on irc and letting us walk through some of the issues. For the builder, in particular, you can try #flightdeck.

We definitely want to help you get going, as well as understand what we need to work on, but this report is a bit too broad to do so. Once we start filing (or revisiting) specific bugs, I'm going to close this one as incomplete, if that's OK.

Thanks for reporting though! We won't get anywhere without knowing!

Comment 4

[Joel Maher ( :jmaher ) (UTC -8)]

it seems that I am successfully able to use the addon builder tool online and that works well for me.  Not sure what I did to get it to work, but something changed in my profile or environment.

Comment 5

[Wes Kocher (:KWierso) (Not reading bugmail; email directly if needed)]

Closing this, since it seems to be working now.

Feel free to refile if you see something like this again or figure out what was going wrong.