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3.4 Apply & Update & Maintain

Thorin-Oakenpants edited this page Nov 29, 2023 · 19 revisions

🟩 Previous: Overrides [To RFP or Not]


πŸŸͺ APPLY

If you are not using a new profile, we recommend running our cleanup script, the instructions are in the file.

  • πŸ”Ή Put all the relevant files into the root folder of your profile [1]
    • prefsCleaner
    • updater
    • user.js [NOTE: Do not edit this file directly]
    • user-overrides.js [NOTE: this is the file you created, you edit this file with your changes]
  • πŸ”½ CONTINUE with the UPDATE part below

1 To find your profile, open about:support and look for Profile Folder under Application Basics.

πŸŸͺ ESR USERS

  • πŸ”Ή While it is recommended that users use the arkenfox release that matches their Firefox version, it isn't mandatory
  • πŸ”Έ option one (recommended)
    • Stick with the matching arkenfox version, and not use the updater. You would then need to;
      • Update the user.js manually once each ESR major release to match, as arkenfox will already be past that version
      • Append and update your overrides manually to the end of the user.js (and keep a copy)
  • πŸ”Έ option two
    • Use the updater (with the -esr command, and this will append your user-overrides.js, and of course run prefsCleaner
    • This may cause compatibility or protection issues, as arkenfox is designed per release. The onus is on you.

πŸŸͺ UPDATE

  • πŸ”Ή Run the updater
    • so the contents of your user-overrides.js is appended to the user.js
  • πŸ”Ή ALWAYS run prefsCleaner
    • make sure Firefox is closed
    • this will reset prefs that aren't needed or can cause issues, as well as keep things clean and tidy
    • you can read more about prefsCleaner next

πŸŸ₯ UPDATE ERROR

  • πŸ”Ή If you get an Update failed. Make sure Powershell is allowed internet access error
    • run as administrator
    • if you still get the error, then run Get-ChildItem env:\__PSLockDownPolicy
      • if you have a PSLockDownPolicy, change it to Full Language Mode (value 8)

πŸŸͺ MAINTAIN

Each release 1, or whenever you modify your user-overrides.js

  • πŸ”Ή Check for the latest changelog
  • πŸ”Ή Run the updater
    • so the contents of your user-overrides.js is appended to the NEW user.js
  • πŸ”Ή Run prefsCleaner

πŸŸͺ RSS FEEDS

  • πŸ”Ή releases 1 - https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/releases.atom
  • πŸ”Ή commits - https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js/commits/master.atom

1 Arkenfox changes to the live master user.js happen once per release: all changes are done in a separate branch and only merged when finished. There is no guarantee when it is done - hopefully within a week of the Firefox release. Nothing of consequence (in the user.js) changes these days that will affect you in that time delay. Do not wait on arkenfox to update Firefox.


🟩 Next: prefsCleaner