We just dispatched emails to the developers of those add-ons as follows:

• 105 add-ons that we think are compatible. These add-ons had more than 80% of reports saying the add-on worked fine. For these add-ons, we suggest that the developer test the add-on out themselves and then bump compatibility to Firefox 3.6.*.
• 24 add-ons with compatibility issues. These add-ons had more than 80% of reports saying that the add-on was not functioning properly. We ask the developers of these add-ons to review the submitted reports and look into the issues mentioned before bumping compatibility.
• 321 add-ons with mixed reports. These add-ons have received a number of reports, but we couldn’t make a guess as to the status. We encourage these developers to view the submitted reports and then test their add-ons before bumping compatibility.
• 830 add-ons with at least one report, but not enough to determine anything. We’ve asked these developers to test their add-ons with Firefox 3.6 and bump compatibility if everything checks out.

The response to the Compatibility Reporter has been amazing, with almost 20,000 active users helping us out. Your reports will make a big difference in being able to ship Firefox 3.6 without add-on compatibility issues, so keep it up!

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As an experiment in ways to get users and developers involved with this process sooner, we’ve created the Add-on Compatibility Reporter, an add-on for Firefox and Thunderbird that allows testers to report compatibility information to Mozilla.

After installing the add-on, users will be able to use any incompatible add-ons they have installed and report back to us on whether the add-ons still work like they did in previous versions or are having some issues.

Add-on developers can then browse the reports submitted for their add-ons, even if the add-on isn’t hosted on Mozilla Add-ons. We’ll also be monitoring the report submissions and emailing developers when we have information as to whether their add-on might be compatible or incompatible with an upcoming Firefox release.

So, if you’re an alpha or beta tester of Firefox or Thunderbird and want to help make sure your add-ons are compatible for the final release, grab the Add-on Compatibility Reporter now!

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Thanks!

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Right now, Firefox 3.1b4pre is available as a maxVersion on AMO, and can be used by any add-ons that support current Shiretoko builds. On Tuesday, March 17, these builds will be renamed to 3.5b4pre, and the maxVersion on AMO will be renamed accordingly. This means that as an add-on developer, if you mark your add-on as compatible with 3.1b4pre before Tuesday, it will automatically change to support 3.5b4pre when necessary. After Tuesday, developers can simply start using 3.5b4pre as their maxVersion.

Similarly, Firefox 3.2a1pre will be renamed to 3.6a1pre on Tuesday. Any add-ons currently compatible with 3.2a1pre will automatically be 3.6a1pre compatible on Tuesday.

Followers of the add-on compatibility dashboard may notice that it will no longer be accurate after the renames on Tuesday. The AMO team is planning to support version grouping of Firefox 3.1 and 3.5 with its 5.0.4 release to be deployed on April 9.

Additional compatibility updates will be posted here on the Mozilla Add-ons Blog.

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What we’re changing:

Based on a report on the dev-platform mailing list there are some interfaces that were changed between Gecko 1.8.0 and Gecko 1.9.0 without changing the IID for that interface.  Gecko 1.9.1, which inherited the code from Gecko 1.9.0, currently contains this error as well.  [Note that most of the discussion of the reported issue appears to be missing from Google Groups.  We are not sure why this is, but we assure you there was a long discussion of the issues.]

There are apparently some extensions for Thunderbird which need to be able to detect which version of an interface is being used based on the IID.  (Thunderbird 2 and Firefox 2 were both based on Gecko 1.8.0 and Thunderbird 3 and Firefox 3.1 will be based on Gecko 1.9.1.)  In order to make detecting that difference possible we need to make the change in the 1.9.1 branch before we release Firefox 3.1, as that will also serve as the baseline for Thunderbird 3.

These are the affected interfaces listed in the post and have been changed ahead of the release of Firefox 3.1 Beta 3:

475897 imgIContainer
475898 jsdIDebuggerService
475900 nsIAbDirectoryQueryArguments
475901 nsIAccessibleValue
475912 nsITokenDialogs
475913 nsIXULWindow
475915 nsPIWindowWatcher

These interfaces will be changed by the mailnews team before the release of Thunderbird 3:

475909 nsIMailtoUrl
475903 nsIFolderListener
475904 nsIImapMailFolderSink
475906 nsIImportMail nsIImportMailboxDescriptor
475907 nsINNTPNewsgroupList

Am I affected?

Very few people are likely affected by this change.  You might be affected if:

1. Your extension includes binary components written in C++ and uses the affected interfaces.
2. Your extension is loading an affected component using the IID instead of by name.

JavaScript-only extensions that refer to components by name instead of by IID will not be affected by this change.  This is almost all extensions.

What do I have to do if I’m affected?

If you’ve got an affected C++ component all you will have to do is rebuild your component with the new header files and re-release it.  We’re not changing interfaces, just the IID associated with them.

If you’ve got a component in JavaScript and you’re using interfaces by IID instead of name you will have to change the IID in your extension and re-release.

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The most cumbersome part of this whole process is having to do a new build of your add-on just to change the maxVerison in install.rdf so you can test it out. Well, that’s not necessarily the case and while more experienced developers may know this, I want to ensure that contributors that are new to the Mozilla platform are aware that you can test your add-on in Fx 3.1b2 without having to physically update it.

All builds of Firefox allow you to turn off the add-on compatibility check which prevents unsupported add-ons from running in newer versions of the browser. By disabling this check, you’ll be able to install your add-on and run it through its paces. The process is painless and described below:

1. In your address bar, type the following: about:config

2. You may see a message that says, “This might void your warranty!”. Click on the “I’ll be careful…” button

3. Right click on any entry to display the context menu and select New > Boolean

4. Set the preference name to extensions.checkCompatibility and the value to false

5. You should now see the new entry listed

6. Finally, restart Firefox and install your add-on

Once you’ve tested your add-on, you can then decide how to best handle the maxVersion update. In many cases, if your add-on works perfectly and does not require any Fx 3.1-specific code changes, you can simply update the maxVersion via the developer tools on AMO.

If you find that your add-on isn’t working correctly, then that’s when you’ll need to correct any issues and upload a new version for review. The following page lists common issues that may cause your add-on to break:

https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Updating_extensions_for_Firefox_3.1

As Nick mentioned earlier, as of Fx 3.1b2, no changes are planned which should affect add-on compatibility so now is a great time to ensure you’re compliant and that your users will be able to continue to take advantage of your excellent work.

NOTE: Please be sure to set extensions.checkCompatibility back to “true” once you’re done testing. Otherwise, you’ll bypass checks during your normal browsing that could dramatically affect your experience. It should ONLY be set for testing your add-on and is not recommended for normal browser usage.

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3.1 is coming!  We know that many add-on developers have held off on testing for 3.1 compatibility because they’re waiting for a near-final release to test against.  I’m happy to report that as of 3.1b2, no changes are planned which should affect add-on compatibility.  For those of you who migrate to 3.1b2, chances are extremely high that no further compatibility changes will be required for subsequent beta releases up to and including the final release.

Don’t hesitate!  With each subsequent beta, more people make the switch and having 3.1 compatibility will ensure a seamless upgrade experience for your users.

In many cases, your add-ons will work on 3.1 without any changes, so if you test and find this to be the case, simply update your add-on compatibility to 3.1b2 and it will automatically be recognized by Firefox during the startup version check.  If you do find that you’ll need to make code changes, we will prioritize 3.1 compatible extensions in the review queue to make sure that they are approved in a timely manner.

Finally, compatibility will be a requirement for any additions to our Featured and Category Recommended lists- so if you want to be considered for these lists, please make sure your add-ons work on 3.1.

Here are some useful links:

Download Firefox 3.1 Beta 2

Updating Extensions for Firefox 3.1

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If you have tested and you are sure that your extension works with Firefox 3.1 beta 2 and doesn’t need any code update, just update the compatibilty version (3.1b2) on the AMO dashboard. This is enough.

If you know that you must update some code, do so and update the install.rdf file (increase the version of your extension and update maxVersion to 3.1b2), then upload your xpi file.

If you feel unsure about how to update your add-on, here are step by step instructions on how to update it. The following may sound very easy. That’s probably because it is easy.

1. First, download Firefox 3.1 beta 2 here:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-beta.html

2. Next, test your add-on:

Edit your install.rdf: if needed, update maxVersion to 3.1b2, and increase the version of your add-on.

Create a new Firefox profile:
firefox --createProfile testBeta2
Launch firefox with the new profile:
firefox -P testBeta2

Install your add-on.

Test your add-on thoroughly. Ensure that there’s no weird behavior or javascript errors.
We encourage you to set these preferences:
user_pref("javascript.options.strict", true);
user_pref("javascript.options.showInConsole", true);
in order to be notified about any javascript exception or warning.

If you run into issues, please check these common issues that may cause your add-on to break:
https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Updating_extensions_for_Firefox_3.1
Even if you think you won’t run into any problems, we still strongly recommend you read this page. You never know.

Then, make sure that your add-on works on your current profile (with all data already set by the last version).

3. Update your add-on on AMO:

If your add-on does not need any code update, just update the compatibilty version on the AMO dashboard.
if your add-on does need code update, then upload the new version to AMO.

That’s all!

Update your add-ons. It should be easy. If you run into issues during the migration or if you need some support, see our last post.

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Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 will likely be released the first week of December. With Beta 2 we’re making the promise that we won’t be changing interfaces that break add-ons so now is the time to start updating. We have added a Beta 3 to our schedule. With Beta 3 we will start aggressively pushing Firefox out into users’ hands, so it’s important that in between Beta 2 and Beta 3 that your add-ons are updated, otherwise we will have problems getting users to update.

What to update?

If you’re worried about how much work this will be, don’t. Most add-ons won’t require changes in order to support Firefox 3.1. Based on feedback from people that have already updated we have started the process of documenting those changes at the Mozilla Developer Center:

• Updating extensions for Firefox 3.1 on MDC

You can also see the overall changes for developers on the developer’s
page for 3.1:

• Firefox 3.1 for developers on MDC

Need help, want to give us some feedback?

If you need help updating your add-ons or if you want to provide us feedback about your updating experience, feel free to use these channels:

• The Mozillazine forum: dedicated thread
• IRC: server: irc.mozilla.org , channel: #extdev
• You can send a twitter message to the @mozamo account
• You can add comments about issues you run into or about things you believe should be documented, to:
  • The last AMO blog post about identifying migration issues
  • the MDC Talk page

How to stay tuned ?

The best way to keep up to date about what’s going on with add-ons is to subscribe to the very high-signal about:addons newsletter. It’s easy, it’s friendly and it’s delivered to your mailbox on a regular basis.

• Subscribe to about:addons newsletter

Obviously, this blog will be updated regularly and broadcast to you any useful information.

If you’re a Twitter addict, you can follow our account : mozamo

In a nutshell

Beta 2 is the start of our push to get people updated. If you have any question to ask or feedback to give, do it through the channels listed above. The newsletter and the weblog will be updated as we move to the next beta.

So thanks, and happy updating!

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In order to help add-on authors migrate to Firefox 3.1, the Mozilla evangelism team is working on documenting changes between Firefox 3.0 and Firefox 3.1 which could affect extensions.

Some of you have already updated your extensions to Firefox 3.1 beta, or are in the process of doing so, and we’re asking for your help by providing some useful feedback about the migration.

We are interested in any issues you’ve encountered including interface changes, unanticipated behaviour or any API updates. You can provide feedback as a comment to this post and any information will help, even something as simple as:

“I ran into problems with interface XYZ”

Your assistance will be invaluable in helping us identify migration issues and ensuring that Firefox 3.1 has high rate of add-on compatibility upon release.

Thanks a lot.

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