I had an extension FastStream installed on all my FF and forks on my various devices (this install is on Windows 10 if it matters). But the extension got de-listed because it no longer passes whatever requirements Mozilla has for getting signed. The dev is working on getting it through, but offers it through their github via zip file. I normally use Zen, so I didn't have issues loading it and just turned off the auto update stuff that would remove it.
The old previously listed version was on my desktop that has the stable release of FF. So I removed it so I could update, but was blocked. No big deal, I went into about:config and set "xpinstall.signatures.required" to "false" per instructions. Restarted FF and now still blocked because it isn't signed.
Some searching says that stable is a no go, while other results still say to just flip that signatures.required to false. The AI assistant on DDG says that the "xpinstall.signatures.required" option isn't available on stable (even though it is and able to be flipped between "true" and "false" (I saw some people say that they see the option, but is grayed out and not able to be changed at all).
Kind of annoying that FF has been so much easier to load extensions not on the add-ons site. I have had issues trying to side-load on Chromium browsers I use, and FF never gave me this problem. I imagine it will eventually be an issue for the Bypass Paywalls Clean extension (not sure if extensions not listed on the site can get signed).
Is there any simple way to force it on stable? If not, can I simply "upgrade" my stable to beta or dev, keep my profile, and remove stable without losing anything? Would like to avoid ESR since I do like to know when features/UI changes happen so I can help people (I work on consumer PCs) that use stable on their devices.
Thanks in advance for any guidance!
Nice to know it shouldn't need compiling. Still might be fun to eventually try doing that just to say I could follow instructions.
I hope the user agent does contribute something. We need as many statistics as possible to chip away at the Chromium engine monopoly (just like the old IE Trident). Really hate all the fake "please update you browser or try Chromium" messages for random sites that are basically hard coded.
Certainly don't want to spoof the Chrome agent and give reinforcing stats that Chromium is the only thing that should be coded for. I imagine in a lot of cases the issue is more about them using DRM which FF and forks don't add out of principle. Even when DRM is supported, they still nerf FF for basically no reason (Netflix being the longest well known example). Really wish there was a way to fully switch Android's Chromium Web-view to Gecko instead of all apps defaulting to Chromium inside them while I'm ranting about it. lol
I used to try "doing my part" by installing FF on PCs I was setting up for people as a second option (left Edge as default to not completely be an asshole) and just mention it could be helpful for seeing if a site was just not working or if there was an issue with Edge/Chrome. But out of all the stuff people just somehow not "notice" just installing out of nowhere (so many will just accept those scammy drive-by Chromium browsers like Swift or Web-Discover showing up). Saying they just though it was from Microsoft updates like they did with the screen filling IE toolbars. They really noticed Firefox and be like "is this malware?" or otherwise be weirded out. So I stopped though I still add uBlock Origin and the Lite version on all browsers, and show how to white list sites when needed. So I still get to "do my part" on that front.