Firefox extension incompatibility problem

E-Blog readers have been extremely helpful in the past when it comes to technical difficulties around here so I thought I’d try to get some advice in a related realm once again.

For months I’ve had trouble installing some Firefox extensions. As soon as the xpi file downloads, I’m told that “[xyz extension] could not be installed, because it is incompatible with Firefox 1.5.0.6”. This is then usually followed by the following additional note: “[xyz extension] will only work with Firefox versions from 1.5 to 1.5.0.*”.

Firefox extension incompatibility problem

What I don’t get here is that 1.5.0.6 IS a 1.5.0.* version so why don’t these extensions work? Any ideas?  I would really like to try some of these extensions, but I can’t right now. Thanks!

2 Responses to “Firefox extension incompatibility problem”

  1. Michael Froomkin Says:

    For reasons that actually make sense, extensions are not supposed to be installed until the makers confirm they work with every new release even a maintenance one. So if it’s been tested on say 1.5.0.1, that doesn’t inevitably mean it works right on 1.5.0.2, and the default is not to let you install it.

    In reality, of course, it’s the very rare minor fix that will break your extension. And extension developers are not always on the ball, so the don’t always change the digit in their code that says it’s ok to install for the latest newest thing.

    So if you want to live ever so slightly dangerously, get the MR Tech Local Install extension, which will give you the power to manually over-ride this protection and install an extension even when the makers haven’t formally OK’d it. (It’s a nice extension with other useful features too).

  2. eszter Says:

    Thanks, Michael. I installed the suggested extension, unfortunately, I’m still getting this error: