Damn! New Firefox Limitations

I did not request to "upgrade" to Firefox 57.0, it was done for me without my permission.

Quote :

Important !

Starting with Firefox 57, add-ons using the former technology (Add-on SDK) are no longer supported, in favor of a Chrome-like interface called WebExtensions.

This implied an almost complete rewrite of Video DownloadHelper, and the code base of this add-on being very large and complex and despite an enormous development effort, not all of the former features could make it to this release.

However, the main features (mostly downloading, converting/aggregating) are present and you should expect in the next few weeks add-on updates bringing back most of the goodies that were present in Video DownloadHelper 6.

Unfortunately, the new WebExtensions interface offers less capabilities than the former Add-on SDK. In fact, over the past 10 years, all the Mozilla numerous changes in add-on interfacing have reduced the freedom of extensions to interact with the browser environment.

So we (add-ons developers) have to deal with this and find solutions. This is why Video DownloadHelper 7 requires in some situations the intallation of an external application that communicates transparently with the add-on to provide missing capabilities. Downloading HLS-streamed videos needs this application installed, while in version 6, the add-on could do the job on its own.

The good news here is that the way WebExtensions deals with external applications is much safer than what it used to be, and there is no risk of another add-on taking advantage of this application to perform undesired tasks.

We understand that installing an external application can be annoying and raise concerns about security. To ensure full transparency, the required VDH Companion App has been released in open-source.

You can install the VDH Companion App right now from here, or do so from the add-on.

You can change the update settings to prevent automatic updates.

Quote :

Where's NoScript for Firefox 57 "Quantum"?

2017-11-14: We're working hard to make NoScript for Quantum available to you as soon as possible, even later today if we're lucky enough, and definitely by the end of this week.

Please be patient: if you feel naked while you're waiting for the "brand new" NoScript, you can still use the "regular" 5.x on Firefox ESR. See you soon!

Seems like some kind of major fuckup to launch a new version of the browser -- and push it out unbidden to all users -- without all of the extensions and add-ons being ready.  What, did this rewrite come out of a secret development project???

Quote :

Update 2017-11-15

As you probably noticed, yesterday's today has gone away in most time zones and we're not ready yet (Murphy law and all)
But we're definitely on track for the end of this week, and in the meanwhile your awesome patience deserves a couple of preview screenshots...

This morning I downloaded the new Mac OS High Sierra (10.13.1) and some of its security upgrades are long overdue.

Safari now blocks autorun on videos. Safari now blocks autoexecute on hot links. Safari now blocks cross-site tracking data. Also:

• High Sierra now supports APFS file system
  
• increase in graphic speed due to Metal 2 technology
  
• native support for virtual reality
  
• improved photo editing tools (more Photoshop) and the ability to make GIF-like loops
  

Other stuff as I discover it.

Quote :

Siri has a more natural voice, with more changes in expression, intonation, and emphasis based on what it’s saying. In other words, your personal assistant sounds more like a person — whether it’s telling you the weather or helping you find that presentation from last week.

Scary. Maybe.

NoCoPilot wrote:

-- and push it out unbidden to all users --

Not this user. You really should disable automatic updates on Firefox. Every time they come out with a new version, I wait and watch Google for issues before deciding whether to update.
You can Go back to version 56, but it's a pain in the ass.

Just a week or so ago we got a new version of Firefox, 125.0.1, and it seemed to work fine.

So I was surprised to see yet another new one yesterday, 125.0.2 so soon.

Quote :

Fixed: Reverted the changes recently shipped in Firefox 125 that more proactively blocked downloads from potentially untrustworthy URLs. The changes caused unexpected problems with downloading files in some situations. We plan to fix and re-enable these protections in a future release. (Bug 1892069)
Unresolved: When attempting to launch Firefox while it is already running, an extra blank tab with an address of https://0.0.0.1 may sometimes appear. The cause of this has been identified and will be resolved in an upcoming release.

Dunno if I've ever seen an "unresolved" before. Seems like a weird issue anyway.