www.freedownloadmanager.org

Hi Development Team

I appreciate FDM 3.9.* is now only maintained (not developed).

Please may I ask what you plans are for dealing with the fast forthcoming Mandatory Firefox Add-on Extension Signing Policy which will automatically block FDM Plugins starting from Firefox 40 Official Release (already blocked BETA FF40.0b1).

As it stands, unless a resolution that meets Mozilla requirements occurs by 11 Aug (Just over 5 weeks) No FDM user whose Release updates to FF40 then will be able to use FDM integration at all. Already the current latest FDM Plugin 1.7.5.2 is causing FF 39.0 Release to crash on Exit.

May I ask whether FDM Developers are considering ceasing support for Firefox due to Mozilla's repeated and regular changing of code and its requirements?
I ask (not to complain) because increasingly, FDM has to play catch up (and that seems to have slowed down in recent months) sometimes taking many days maybe week(s), or in the case with FF Beta changes (several/many weeks. [b]I fully appreciate FF Betas are not a primary concern and the reasons for not rushing to address FF Beta issues[/b. However, if any FDM Plugin issues exist in with later Beta builds only a week or two before moving on the official Release then these are highly likely to be in the FF Official Release (as has happened with FF39 Release). This that will adversely affect all Firefox FDM Users as soon as soon as FF auto updates.

Many Thanks, Dave

Well for starters using "betas" isn't a wise choice either. Maybe when FF40 is released and user reinstall FDM and then use FF40 then we will see what kinda changes that the FDM team needs to do. Unless they get the source code for FF40 Release which is unlikely before Mozilla releases it-how would you expect them to make the changes needed to get FDM to work? Your asking the almost impossible of the Team to do without having FF40 release to see what it will do-betas change before before being released so from what you get in betas will not be the same as the "Release" version.

StormJumper wrote:Well for starters using "betas" isn't a wise choice either. Maybe when FF40 is released and user reinstall FDM and then use FF40 then we will see what kinda changes that the FDM team needs to do. Unless they get the source code for FF40 Release which is unlikely before Mozilla releases it-how would you expect them to make the changes needed to get FDM to work? Your asking the almost impossible of the Team to do without having FF40 release to see what it will do-betas change before before being released so from what you get in betas will not be the same as the "Release" version.

Hi Stormjumper

Thank you for your comments which I regretfully and respectfully disagree with I do however really appreciate it , that you have posted your views, reasoning and and are willing to discuss. In all honesty am only seeking answers and hopefully some reassurance .

Below is my reasoning for having a differing view:

1) My understanding is that If the FDM plugin is NOT Extension Signed, it will not be allowed to work and will be automatically disabled in FF 40 Release and their it will be NO override option. To avoid that it need to be dealt with before FF 40 Release otherwise no FF user who allows their FF to auto update will be able to use FDM Plugin
(Consequently nobody will get to find out if there are any other issues). I believe the time span for a Dev. to adjust an add-on could be much faster than getting Mozilla to Extension Sign an Add-on (I happily stands to re corrected on this if I am wrong). It is therefore my belief that IF Dev. Team waits until FF 40 Release it may well be weeks before FDM works.

2) Like it or not the FDM plug=in is increasingly having issues with FF Releases and FDM I feel risks damaging the size and respect of its vast User base. That would be a tragedy

3) With Regard to Extension Signing, what I am asking about seems to be what most other Download Manager and other Add-on Developers seem to have handled in the main weeks/months ago.

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If you feel my opinion in 3) is unfair, then please consider 3 following, and I will happily withdraw my view that FDM Developers have ceased being proactive with FDM 3.9.x.

1) If using Firefox Betas is not a wise choice (I of course 100% agree that no Beta isor can be expected to be as stable as a Release) , then I think it would be more than fair to ask why FDM would offer and hope FDM Users will spend their time trying and using FDM 5 ALPHA? Perhaps they all should wait until FDM 5 is Released (or I would say is in BETA. Please note I do not use Firefox Alphas) I also know Alphas and Betas have a huge tester base, be they Software professionals or users and the Betas I use are very quickly updated as soon as any issues are found.

2) I am sure you would not wish for all the FDM users around the World who do not follow this Forum to suddenly find Firefox 40 Release (in around 25 days time) has disabled FDM Plugin, that there is nothing they can do until FDM Dev. team get the plug-in working, tested and Extension signed which may take weeks . This would be very sad IMO when Dev. team have already known the Extension Signing issue is coming for many weeks already. Additionally, we cannot even know if the Plugin will work with FF40 Release (even if Extension signed for the current FF39 Release as nobody can use it with FF 40 Beta to test it and give an early warning of potential issues, if any).

3) Why is that most (still working) unsigned Plug-ins/Add-ons have Warnings in FF40 Beta that they will be disabled upon Release if not signedb then, BUT something with the FDM Plugin is so worrisome\different, that Mozilla have automatically disabled it. (in my case it is the ONLY addon/plugin out of 30, that I cannot use with FF409 Beta because Firefox has disabled it. (That cannot be good, I feel)

4) Why is FDM one of the few Download Add-ons NOT already Extension Signed irrespective of whether a FF Release or Beta is being used?

5) Why does the FDM Plugin keep being broken with FF changes, whilst many download addons/ plug-ins often continue to work/partially work normally. Why are FDM fixes not forthcoming as quickly as they used to be?

6) MY BIGGEST CONCERN IS: How come I am able to use FDM virtually normally using an (Extension Signed" FlashGot plugin which integrates Firefox 40 Beta with FDM , whilst I cannot use FDMs own latest Plugin ( completely disabled by Firefox)?.

I feel sure all other Developers get Mozilla rules, code, intentions to whatever as fast as FDM Developers do, consequently if this is the case I once again ask "If the latest Firefox changes did not break Flashgot and others why did they break the FDM's plug-in.
Were others better prepared, is their code more accurate to Mozilla new programming standards/requirements?
I honestly don't know the answer Stormjumper.

Kind Regards, DKO

Hi,

This is the first topic with the right title so I'm adding my related post to this—I didn't go through the long list of all the remaining topics, I assume this is the most relevant one, even though it seems to be last updated on July 15, 2015.

The push has come to shove, so cutting through the discussion of beta versions and disagreements and all: Current Firefox version is 44.0.1 (official release, no beta, and first jump to 44), and it is by default blocking all the unsigned add-ons, including the FDM 3.*.

There seems to be, however, a workaround for now, by setting a variable (xpinstall.signatures.required to false) in about:config.

Nevertheless, the signed add-ons will be a requirement with no overrides starting with version 46, which I anticipate will be coming pretty soon.

So, the question is, are there plans to make the Firefox add-on of FDM 3.* signed? If you look at the section What can I do if Firefox disables an installed add-on? in the linked Firefox page, it appears to be the developer's responsibility to get their add-on signed, with a link there for the procedure.

Awaiting your (a developer's) response, with much appreciation for the tool as always.

A.

It is signed already. It looks like there is some problem on your side.
Try to uninstall FDM, restart Firefox, and then install the latest FDM3.