Firefox 56 compatibility

[SammysHP]

There are some deprecation warnings (not necessary to fix because FF56 will be the last version that is compatible with Vimperator) as well as some major bugs:

Bugs:

• NS_ERROR_ILLEGAL_VALUE: Component returned failure code: 0x80070057 (NS_ERROR_ILLEGAL_VALUE) [nsIProtocolHandler.newChannel]
  This causes FF 56: Command suggestions background is transparent #777 and Open link hotkey not showing matches #786 and the missing help. Required for adding chrome-data and help scheme.
• .textbox-search-icons renamed to .textbox-search-sign
• TypeError: this._identityPopupContentHosts is undefined
  SSL popup not shown

Warnings:

• DEPRECATION WARNING: Search service falling back to synchronous initialization. This is generally the consequence of an add-on using a deprecated search service API.
  You may find more details about this deprecation at: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/XPCOM_Interface_Reference/nsIBrowserSearchService#async_warning
• JavaScript 1.6's for-each-in loops are deprecated; consider using ES6 for-of instead
• String.localeCompare is deprecated; use String.prototype.localeCompare instead
• String.replace is deprecated; use String.prototype.replace instead
• String.toLowerCase is deprecated; use String.prototype.toLowerCase instead

[SammysHP]

I tried to fix the protocol handler bug for several hours without success. The problem is in common/components/protocol.js:

let channel = Components.classesByID["{61ba33c0-3031-11d3-8cd0-0060b0fc14a3}"]
                        .getService(Ci.nsIProtocolHandler)
                        .newChannel(ioService.newURI("chrome://liberator/content/data", null, null))
                        .QueryInterface(Ci.nsIRequest);

and fails with NS_ERROR_ILLEGAL_VALUE: Component returned failure code: 0x80070057 (NS_ERROR_ILLEGAL_VALUE) [nsIProtocolHandler.newChannel].

We need help!

[SammysHP]

Actually I'm rather happy that this broke! IMHO the chrome-data protocol handler is a big security issue because it might allow websites to gain chrome privileges. But I might be wrong.

[kyao-777]

@SammysHP what's the meaning of the FF56 will be the last version that is compatible with Vimperator. You cannot update the vimperator for firefox in the future. Sorry, my english is bad.

[SammysHP]

@kyao-777
Please read #705.

[kyao-777]

@SammysHP thanks

[JinhaoPro]

My English is not quite good, but is there anyone who can tell me how to solve #786 problem?

[SammysHP]

You have to build an XPI from the ff56-fixes branch yourself and use it with a custom built version of Firefox that does not enforce signature verification. Official update might take a few weeks.

[maoanran]

@SammysHP , from Firefox 53, new add-ons can only be WebExtensions, so we can't sign it ourselves anymore. Sad.

By the way, I know you guys are planing to rewrite web extension version. I would like to help, If there is any plan system like jira? Thanks.

[P4Cu]

I'm also highly interested in making that working again so I'm willing to spend some of my time on that but if we're going to split the work I would need an architectural description on what should I change to avoid doing the same stuff by several ppl.

For a moment whomever is interested in keeping using it just install older version like:
https://launchpadlibrarian.net/333533798/firefox_55.0.2+build1-0ubuntu0.16.04.1_amd64.deb

[SammysHP]

@maoanran
That's why I recommended to install a version of Firefox that does not require the signature verification.

@P4Cu
Please read #705.

[SammysHP]

Just some answers to recent comments:

• Vimperator is semi-maintained currently. There won't be any new features unless someone contributes to it. I try my best to keep Vimperator running, but…

• Firefox 56 is the last version that is compatible with Vimperator. Old extension won't work with FF57 and everything must be programmed again from scratch.

• It seems that nobody with access to addons.mozilla.org is active at the moment. And an updated version may require several weeks for review and might be rejected after all.

• Official versions of Firefox require addons to be signed. Otherwise we would provide a version for direct download.

• All Bugs under Firefox 58 are fixed, sadly it is not easy to distribute the fixes, see above.

[maoanran]

@SammysHP A signed version for download would be nice. :)

[SammysHP]

@maoanran
Only Mozilla can sign an extension and that might not happen anymore.

[Luftzig]

@SammysHP I'm trying to understand what can I do to help. If there are tasks that can be tackled by people not familiar with the code base I can suggest this project for the next Goodness Squad meeting in Israel and get several people to work on them for ~3 hours.

[SammysHP]

SSL popup is broken again…

[agush22]

Any updated xpi?

[SammysHP]

SSL popup is broken again…

Currently it works again… Probably some concurrency issues between Firefox and Vimperator.

[JulioJu]

@SammysHP thanks a lot to your work ! It will be very useful for Waterfox 56 (coming soon).

Some peoples actually think Vimperator is not implemented for Firefox 56 and Waterfox 56 (see https://www.reddit.com/r/waterfox/comments/7eoyfg/dont_take_away_my_vim/). Maybe, you could publish a new release on https://github.com/vimperator/vimperator-labs/releases and add a link to this Waterfox Release on the top of the README ?

[JulioJu]

up

[tecfu]

USE FIREFOX 55 AS A WORKAROUND:

For those who wish to upgrade Firefox and have Vimperator already installed (installing a new .xpi doesn't apply to you) note that Vimperator works fine with Firefox 55.

If you are a Ubuntu user like me, you can find Firefox 55 .deb packages here at the Ubuntuzilla repository on Sourceforge:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ubuntuzilla/files/mozilla/apt/pool/main/f/firefox-mozilla-build/.

[AnomalRoil]

No, this is not a solution. Firefox 55 is not a long term support release and should never be used anymore.

On the other hand, Firefox 52 is an ESR, which will be supported until August 28. You should use the ESR if you are willing to downgrade to still use Vimperator.