699241 - Unable to install Addon builder helper

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[info]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:7.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/7.0.1
Build ID: 20110928134238

Steps to reproduce:

Tried installing "Addon Builder helper". Version: 0.0.20, with FF: 7.0.1


Actual results:

Says "Addon Builder helper could not be installed because Firefox cannot modify the needed files"


Expected results:

Should have successfully installed.

Comment 1

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

I just tried this myself and it worked just fine. 

What happens if you try installing it from here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/add-on-builder-helper/ ?

Did you already have a previous version of the Helper add-on installed?

Comment 2

[info]

This error is shown:
http://postimage.org/image/5h5rppt9t/

I don't have previous version of this addon installed.

Comment 3

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

Just out of curiosity, is your username on Windows really long (or contain spaces)?

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/800777#answer-164237

Comment 4

[Daniel Buchner [:dbuc]]

(In reply to Wes Kocher (:KWierso) (Jetpack Bugmaster) from comment #3)
> Just out of curiosity, is your username on Windows really long (or contain
> spaces)?
> 
> https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/questions/800777#answer-164237

I was thinking along the same lines Wes.

@Giga - Do you possibly have Firefox installed in non-default directory where write permissions could be slightly different?

Comment 5

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

So I just tried in XP to install the add-on with a really long username (including a space), and I see the error that Gigapromoters is seeing.

It also happens when I try to install from a username "12345678901234567890".

It installed just fine with a shorter username with a space in it.

And it installed with a username of "12345".


So I'd guess it's hitting a path length limit on XP when the username is really long. (C:\Documents and Settings\SOMEREALLYLONGUSERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\extensions\jid0-t3eeRQgGANLCH9c50lPqcTDuNng@jetpack\...)

Marking a dependency on bug 638742, as that should help ease the pain with this issue.

For a more immediate workaround, you can try the suggestion from that support link I posted. (Except that the filename would be "jid0-t3eeRQgGANLCH9c50lPqcTDuNng@jetpack" and the contents of it would be whatever path to that unzipped folder you used.)

Comment 6

[info]

I have installed Firefox on default path:

"c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

Also, my username is not containing any spaces or is big enough, its 'Administrator'.

Thanks for the quick response.

Comment 7

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

(In reply to info from comment #6)
> I have installed Firefox on default path:
> 
> "c:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
> 
> Also, my username is not containing any spaces or is big enough, its
> 'Administrator'.
> 
> Thanks for the quick response.

It fails for me too when using the "Administrator" account.

Comment 8

[info]

Ok, Glad you were able to reproduce the issue. So, is there any quick workaround for the moment before this is fixed?

Comment 9

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

(In reply to info from comment #8)
> Ok, Glad you were able to reproduce the issue. So, is there any quick
> workaround for the moment before this is fixed?

Right-click this link and choose Save File as, and then download it to your hard drive: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/downloads/latest/182410/addon-182410-latest.xpi

Change the file extension from .xpi to .zip.

Unzip the file somewhere (note the full path to that unzipped folder).

Follow these directions, using the ID I mentioned at the bottom of comment 5 and the path you noted a few lines up from here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Setting_up_extension_development_environment#Firefox_extension_proxy_file

That should (in theory) cut the path length a bit when the addon is loaded, and let you use the addon.

Comment 10

[info]

Thanks for the detailed instructions. I tried them, but everytime I create that file under extensions directory and restart my Firefox, it deletes the file automatically.

Comment 11

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

I guess this is an fx bug?

Comment 12

[u597032]

Addon no longer available