Help Mozilla track add-on compatibility with Firefox 3.1 beta

Filed under: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Mozilla, Open Source, Beta, Browsers

Help Mozilla track add-on compatibility with Firefox 3.1 beta

by Brad Linder Nov 13th 2008

One of the things that makes Firefox one of the best web browsers around is its support for thousands of add-ons that extend the functionality of the browser. But since most of these plugins are developed by third parties, and not Mozilla, every time the developers behind the web browser prepare a major new release, they run the risk of breaking compatibility with many of those add-ons.

So before releasing Firefox 3.1, one of the things Mozilla wants to do is make sure that as many add-ons as possible that work with Firefox 3.0 will function properly with the new browser. And they want your help.

Here's how it works. You download a beta version of Firefox 3.1 and see if your favorite add-ons work. If you run into a problem, you can leave a comment at the Mozilla Add-Ons blog.

As of today, about 28% of the most popular plugins are compatible with Firefox 3.1. And that's about 8% more than a few weeks ago, so things are moving in the right direction.

Tags: add-ons, firefox, firefox-3.1

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

vaelen said 3:15PM on 11-13-2008

does anyone now how to turn off version checking to make extension work for this, the normal method of "extensions.checkCompatibility" set to false does not seem to be working

Bryan Price said 8:05PM on 11-13-2008

That seems to be more for the developers than users.

kingkool68 said 10:36PM on 11-13-2008

Please don't break Firebug and I'll be happy.

Rey Bango said 11:09AM on 11-14-2008

@Bryan: It's actually good for both developers and users as it gives users a chance to ping the developers of their favorites add-ons and ensure that they're on track.

@kingkool68: That shouldn't happen since some of FB's development is done with help from Mozilla :)

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