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README.md
README.md
 
 
addon.csv
addon.csv
 
 
attic.csv
attic.csv
 
 
bookmarks.html
bookmarks.html
 
 
optional.csv
optional.csv
 
 

README.md

The addon.csv is generated with the firefox-addons.py utility.

Examples

Generate the list of installed addons:

$ ./firefox-addons.py -o addons.csv

Open all addon pages in a Firefox window (e.g. for bulk installation):

$ cut -f1 -d, addon.csv | tail -n +2 | xargs firefox

Pretty print the table:

$ cut -f1,4- -d, addon.csv| column -t -s,

Firefox on Android

The CSV file also contains a column that indicates the Android on Firefox compatibility for each addon. This information comes from the Mozilla addon web-service, i.e. is what the addon developer maintains. I can confirm that the positively marked addons work fine with Firefox on Android. But perhaps is this information too conservative and some other addons can be forced to work on Android, as well.

Those addons can be semi-automatically installed via using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB), e.g. after Firefox is configured as default browser:

$ awk -F, '$5 == "true" {print $1}' addon.csv \
    | xargs -r -l adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -d

This opens all addons in Firefox Android, one then has to cycle through the open tabs and touch the install-addon button.

Alternatives

A good alternative to uBlock Origin is AdBlockPlus. But uBlock Origin has the following advantages:

  • better defaults - ABP enables some ADs by default - the so called 'acceptable ads' - can be easily disabled, though (except with Firefox on Android)
  • better Firefox on Android support (all configuration options are available)
  • some additional useful configuration options
  • it seems to use less resources (RAM/CPU)
  • Better defaults, works against more anti-ad-blocker blockers, out of the box

For rewriting Google search result links, the Search Link Fix addon isn't that bad. But it doesn't work with Firefox on Android. Instead, it explicitly supports the Yandex search machine. In comparison to this, the Don't track me Google addon works fine with Firefox on Android and additionally supports rewriting the HTTP referrer when following a search result link (can be disabled in the preferences).

Theme

Firefox comes with 3 default themes (Dark, Default and Light) where the Dark one looks decent enough.

Bookmarked Keyword Searches

The file bookmarks.html contains some useful keyword searches. It can be imported from the bookmark editor (Ctrl+Shift+O, 'Import and Backup' and then 'Import Bookmarks from HTML ...'). A keyword search can be invoked by entering something like the following in the location bar:

g firefox
msgid 12595@star.cs.vu.nl

The Google keyword search (g) has two features:

  • the search isn't redirected to a language specific Google page
  • the results page contains up to 100 results

See also these blog comments for a discussion of Google search settings.

Historic Extensions

With Firefox 57, Mozilla introduced a new API (i.e. the WebExtensions API) for addons which resulted in some good addons being pronounced end-of-life. The following contains an overview of the upgrade paths for a fine addon selection:

  • uBlock Origin - is ready
  • Self-Destructing Cookies - not compatible and is discontinued. A new alternative is Cookie AutoDelete - it even supports Android.
  • User Agent Overrider - not compatible. The author recommends the alternative User Agent Switcher addon.
  • Tree Style Tab - is ready. Due to webextentsion limitations the new version isn't able yet to modify the UI much, e.g. it can't remove the horizontal tab bar. One can create a userChrome.css with the necessary customizations, though, which I can't recommend enough.
  • Resurrect Pages - is ready. Due to limitations in the new extensions API the resurrect links in the page-not-found page are not available, though. Available are the links in the context and navigation menus.
  • Vimperator - is discontinued (the new addon API currently misses some functionality) and is even kind of broken for the last few Firefox versions before 57. New alternatives are Vim Vixen and Tridactyl. Unfortunately, currently, I can't give a strong recommendation because Vim Vixen included this security issue and Tridactyl doesn't come with good default key bindings for search. Both aren't at the level Vimperator was in its best times - in part because the new addon API is too restrictive and because these are relatively young projects. Both project are actively maintained and are continuously improved. AFAICS, Tridactyl is maintained by a group of developers while Vim Vixen is a one man show.