Firefox 2.0 alpha set for release

Cnet ^ | 03/21/2006 | Dawn Kawamoto

[Panerai]

A developers' version of Firefox 2.0 targeted for release Tuesday evening aims to test the back-end infrastructure supporting the browser's new bookmarks, or Places, functionality.

Firefox 2.0 Bon Echo Alpha 1, designed to serve as a developer's and tester's preview, focuses on improving access and ease of use for Web site history and bookmarks, according to the Mozilla wiki.

The Places functionality aims to consolidate user data formats, as well as improve the capabilities of Live Bookmarks.

"The BonEcho Alpha 1 milestone is the first of many developer milestones on the path to Firefox 2," Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering for Mozilla, said in a statement. "We do not recommend that anyone other than developers and testers download Alpha 1, as it is intended for testing purposes only."

The final release of Firefox 2.0 is expected in the third quarter of this year. Its debut would come roughly two years after Firefox 1.0 was released in November 2004 amid much fanfare.

[FoxInSocks]

Firefox is really great. I've been using the very well done Noia 2.0 (eXtreme) theme for a while.

Panerai, you might be interested in the Panerai screensaver: it's a screen-filling Panerai watch face tied in to the computer's clock. There's a link right on Panerai.com. Pretty nifty.

[ChadGore]

Builds are available for testing at:
http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/bonecho/alpha1/

Release notes:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/bonecho/releases/2.0a1.html

[ChadGore]

Direct link to the windows build: http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/bonecho/alpha1/win32/en-US/Bon%20Echo%20Setup%20Alpha%201.exe

[ChadGore]

I use the Noia theme too. Thanks for the post. I love firefox.

[ChadGore]

There are some really amazing changes.

When I highlight some text here on FR and right click, one of the menu choices is "search google for . . . . (the text I highlighted)"

Way kewl!

Also, the DOM source view when useing View Slection Source is much cleaner.

[ChadGore]

One of the bummers is that all of the themes, accept for the default theme, have been disabled.

[Panerai]

What makes you think I don't already have one of those :)

[FoxInSocks]

Ummm . . . because I just found out about it and thought I might be the first one? :)

[ChadGore]

The loss of extentions in this release is really a bummer.

I have a weather extention that I really like, and is not working at all.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I have a weather extention that I really like, and is not working at all.

I may have a way for you to get it working again if you're interested in doing a little file editing and zipping.

[ChadGore]

Yes please . .do tell!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Yes please . .do tell!

Ok....first, I am assuming that when you try to reinstall your extensions, you get a message saying that this extension is not compatible with youre current version (2.0) of Firefox?

If so, I have the quick fix for that.

1. Download...do not install...a copy of the extension you want from the Mozilla site. Don't click on the 'install now' link but right click and 'save as' someplace convenient.
   
2. Go to this convenient location and find the <extension_name>.xpi file. This is nothing more than a type of .zip file.
3. Rename this file with the .zip extension to replace the .xpi extension.
4. Next, unzip the new .zip file to the same location you are at and look for the .rdf file in the 2 or 3 files that now appear.
5. Open the .rdf file with a text editor like MS Notepad. Scroll down and look for the line that says <em:maxVersion> 1.5.0.*</em:maxVersion>
6. Change the version number there to read 2.0
7. Save the file and then zip up the files you just unzipped (There should be a .jar, .js and a .rdf file at least).
8. Rename the file so it has the .xpi extension instead of the .zip extension.
9. Open Firefox, click on File>>Open and open the new .xpi file you just created. The extension will now install properly.

[zeugma]

Great writeup on fixing the extensions, but I'd like to point out to all that this is not only an alpha release, but it is a major version revision. The Mozilla folks don't guarantee any kind of backwards compatability on extensions. There is a good chance, the plugin will work just fine when you modify them in this way, but there is also a possibility that it will blow up your entire firefox installation in unpretty ways.

So, if you're going to muck with your plugins and this alpha release, be sure to back up your user data (bookmarks, certificates, etc.)

[evilC]

Warning: This is an alpha release. That means it could be vary unstable. It is probably best suited to developers or the technicaly profecient. Most users would be better off waiting for at least a beta version.
</lecture mode>
That said I will download it myself :)

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Good caveat that I should have included.

This workaround is just that. It fools the program to use the extension regardless of compatibilty.

I have never had one blow up my Firefox but then...I have never tried this on Firefox 2.0. Only Firefox 1.5.

[FLAMING DEATH]

"There is a good chance, the plugin will work just fine when you modify them in this way, but there is also a possibility that it will blow up your entire firefox installation in unpretty ways."

C'mon...what's the worst that could happen?

[zeugma]

C'mon...what's the worst that could happen?

Electronic shrapnel flying through the room as the software explodes in a huge flash of electrons!

Seriesly,

If you're running windows, you could bork your installation to the point where it would have to be uninstalled and reinstalled from scratch. For Unix users, most likely the worst you could do would be to screw up your personal configuration files to the point that you'd have to hand-edit your prefs.js file, or others. 

A couple of years ago, I had an early beta of firefox (before it was called firefox actually) that corrupted my config and toasted my booksmarks.html file. Fortunately, I regularly back up important things like that, so it didn't hurt too bad, but for those who don't, I'd imagine that losing your bookmarks would be a major bummer. My bookmark file goes back to netscape 1.x days, so if I lost it completely, I'd be really bummed.

 

[FLAMING DEATH]

"Electronic shrapnel flying through the room as the software explodes in a huge flash of electrons!"

Now, see, I'm just the type who would try it for this reason.