Flagfox prefs persistence problem running in Waterfox

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613 The Evil
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Flagfox prefs persistence problem running in Waterfox

Post by 613 The Evil » Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:55 am

Image

I read this is an issue for many people in the FAQ, but isn't there a way to stop seeing this error message everytime I open my browser? It's annoying.
The "Don't show this again" is always ticked but this message keeps coming back again and again... What can be done? I use the latest Flagfox, I used the latest Firefox until they #@*! everything and now I am on Waterfox.
Last edited by DaveG on Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: title edited to reflect topic clearly

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DaveG
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Re: Flagfox prefs persistence problem running in Waterfox

Post by DaveG » Sat Dec 09, 2017 3:10 am

Ok, for a change of pace from working through the night to get Flagfox working properly under Firefox 57, I decided to tackle this interesting report. ;)

First up, Flagfox officially supports Firefox and SeaMonkey, and partially supports the Tor Browser (the last of which I haven't actually tested in a while, though). So, my first response is that you're running in a browser I think I might've heard about once a few years ago and forgot existed.

Secondly, I decided to give it a test. Turns out Waterfox is 64-bit only, so it got confused and didn't work in my usual testing VM. They need better error messages there; just said I didn't have XP SP2, even though it was Win 7 32-bit. I downloaded and ran it normally (Linux 64-bit), however, and... it works fine. Preferences seem to save and persist fine; this specific notification showed once and the "Don't show this again" setting was saved and worked fine after browser restart. So... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't have enough information to guess what your problem is, because in spite of Waterfox not being officially supported, it seems to work fine for me. Please post more info, namely your OS and exact Waterfox and Flagfox versions (check both about dialogs; addons can be accessed via about:addons->right-click->about). Also, are you using normal Waterfox or the portable version (I tested the former)? Check if there's any Flagfox-looking error messages in the browser error console (press ctrl+shift+J), and post them here. Then I suggest testing in a clean profile to see if another addon you have installed or a custom Waterfox setting is breaking things. I could tell you how to force Flagfox 5.2 to revert to using the legacy Firefox prefs system, but seeing as the new one works fine for me here, I don't know if that'd actually help.

Also, please understand that you're at the bottom of my Flagfox work queue, only slightly ahead of the Palemoon guy (sorry), because Flagfox actually runs in Waterfox fine, seemingly. The Firefox Quantum port is unfortunately consuming 99% of my time right now.

613 The Evil
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Re: Flagfox prefs persistence problem running in Waterfox

Post by 613 The Evil » Sat Dec 09, 2017 3:22 am

As I mentioned, this happens on Firefox too, even before the major overhaul they did. I learnt about Waterfox the day this happened, it saved me from most of the problems Firefox 57 created. As the FAQ here mentions, this problem happens only to people outside the USA, because of Google's settings. That's probably the reason you can't replicate my problem. I tried setting flagfox to simply ignore Google for its flagging functionality, but I guess it did not work. This started when Flagfox updated to the latest version. I should try using a previous flagfox addon version on Waterfox, it's quite possible, I just didn't bother yet. Yes, I am on Windows 7 64-bit. I checked the error log but I see no flagfox errors, perhaps I should check again when the browser starts "fresh". I am not sure I want to spend the time to create a new profile just for that, I'll just end up removing flagfox, sadly. I am using version 5.2.3 currently, well it's the latest for now, right? I am sorry for what Mozilla did to you and us the users... I haven't really explored ways to fix this issue much yet, but I took the time to post here, perhaps this weekend I can try some more of the things you mention here, or mentioned in the FAQ about Google settings. I just can't get rid of this damn message! :D At least the first time the browser starts, when I visit google again after that, it's not there.

Edit: I reset the messages on Flagfox's settings and opened a google page, then the error logger. I got this when I filtered the errors with Flagfox:

Unchecked lastError value: Error: Could not establish connection. Receiving end does not exist. ExtensionCommon.jsm:306

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DaveG
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Re: Flagfox prefs persistence problem running in Waterfox

Post by DaveG » Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:05 am

Your initial post didn't seem to indicate to me that this happened in Firefox too; as it's written, it just says you used to use Firefox. Ok, less obscure now. ;)

As to what it says in the FAQ, non-American users will get this message for Google, yes, but this shouldn't affect whether or not the "Don't show this again" checkbox is saved and remembered. That should work the same for everyone. I can test show this by simply going to one of the international Google domains manually, and it seems to remember it fine for me (yes, Flagfox 5.2.3 is the current latest release). The error message you posted looks like it's probably unrelated to anything here (95% sure-ish).

Could you please check what Flagfox has saved to disk for me? Open a file explorer and find your Waterfox profile, which I would assume is somewhere nearby to where Firefox's profile gets stored. Then find the "browser-extension-data" folder in your profile. This is where Mozilla profiles store WebExtension storage data for addons, by addon ID. Flagfox is 10 years old, so I've got a lovely old-style GUID: "{1018e4d6-728f-4b20-ad56-37578a4de76b}" (usually the only one that starts with 101). In that you should find exactly one file: "storage.js". Open it in notepad and please paste its contents here so I can examine exactly what's getting saved to disk for Flagfox. You'll want the following in there somewhere (should be near the end; it will need to be inside the normal "{}", so I wouldn't advise mucking with it unless you know what JSON is):

Code: Select all

"warn.tld":"disabled"
If that's in there, then it's saving properly, but not reading correctly on startup, or something. If it's not in there, then it's not saving properly.

I may as well just give you the sledgehammer fix, as I don't want to take up too much of our time with this. You can revert Flagfox 5.2 to use the old Firefox pref system instead of this new-fangled WebExtension crap by going to about:config in a new tab, then right-click somewhere inside the list, and create a new boolean value named "extensions.flagfox.FORCE_OLD_PREF_SYS" and set its value to true. This'll turn on a debug feature I left in and revert Flagfox to the old system; you'll be able to type "flagfox' into the about:config search bar and all the stuff should show in there, complete with default values. If you do end up doing that, and it still doesn't remember the setting, then you've got something set that's preventing Firefox/Waterfox from properly saving settings at all, which is a far more serious problem. Do note that whilst this prefs backend reversion is reversible by just toggling that new pref back to false, if you don't do that with Flagfox 5.2.x installed then you'll lose your Flagfox settings for Flagfox 6.0, because Mozilla provides no migration for the old prefs system in Firefox 57, whatsoever (which is dumb as hell, but the least of their sins).

613 The Evil
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Re: Flagfox prefs persistence problem running in Waterfox

Post by 613 The Evil » Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:30 am

Thanks, this works. Onto other battles/minor tweaks then! :)

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DaveG
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Re: Flagfox prefs persistence problem running in Waterfox

Post by DaveG » Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:01 pm

613 The Evil wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:30 am
Thanks, this works. Onto other battles/minor tweaks then! :)
Wait, please clarify; what "this"? You mean just disabling the WebExt pref system with the force hidden option was enough to fix things for you? If that's the case... ugh, that means there some bug in Firefox/Waterfox or your addons or something that's breaking things, and there's not much I can do about that. Hopefully there aren't many others getting this.

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rleeden
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Re: Flagfox prefs persistence problem running in Waterfox

Post by rleeden » Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:41 pm

Just to let you know someboday contacted me directly a couple of weeks ago who was seeing this same problem. We didn't want to disturb you with this issue, as I don't think you were feeling at your best at the time!

Anyway, we got as far as determining that he was uisng Firefox 56.0.2 (64 bits), and that the contents of his storage.js file was:

Code: Select all

{"warn.tld":"disabled"}
So for him it seems that it was saving the preference to disk correctly?

613 The Evil
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Re: Flagfox prefs persistence problem running in Waterfox

Post by 613 The Evil » Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:29 pm

DaveG wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:01 pm
613 The Evil wrote:
Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:30 am
Thanks, this works. Onto other battles/minor tweaks then! :)
Wait, please clarify; what "this"? You mean just disabling the WebExt pref system with the force hidden option was enough to fix things for you? If that's the case... ugh, that means there some bug in Firefox/Waterfox or your addons or something that's breaking things, and there's not much I can do about that. Hopefully there aren't many others getting this.
Yes I added that little thing in about:config and the problem stopped.

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