and in /usr/lib/firefox/greprefs/all.js I put a line to reference the mozilla.cfg and set general.config.obscure_value to 0 because I just can’t be bothered with the byte shift 13 stuff.
But with openSUSE 11.1 there is no /usr/lib/firefox/greprefs directory. The greprefs directory is there in the download of Firefox 3 from mozilla.com but in Firefox 3 as provided in openSUSE 11.1 it’s not there.
I’ve found /usr/lib/firefox/defaults/preferences/ and by looking at the output of strace worked out that the contents of that directory is read in reverse alphabetical order. If I create a file in there called a.js and specify a few settings in there then some take effect, e.g. disk cache, and some are ignored, e.g. homepage.
So where am I supposed to put settings such that they take effect for all users and lock the settings that I want to prevent users changing?
Hi
Use fgrep in the preferences directory and you will see that if your
file is read before firefox-branding then it will be over ridden.
Create your file with the first character a number and it should be
read last…
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.1 x86 Kernel 2.6.27.7-9-default
up 1 day 21:24, 4 users, load average: 0.14, 0.43, 0.42
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 180.29
I know what fgrep is but I don’t understand what you mean when you say use it. What am I looking for?
The output of strace here indicates that calling the file a.js causes it to be read after all the other files in the preferences directory. For some reason all the files are being read more than once, but a.js is still the last one to be read. Changing the name to 1.js makes no difference.
Also I forget to mention that locking preferences with lockPref in a.js doesn’t work. E.g. if I specify a value for browser.cache.disk.capacity with pref then that is taken notice of but trying to lock it with lockPref it gets ignore. browser.cache.disk.capacity is the only setting I’ve tried so far that any notice is taken of at all actually.
Maybe… but that doesn’t seem wise unless one is totally certain the stuff in /usr/lib/xulrunner-1.9/ isn’t use by other xul based programs e.g. Thunderbird and I don’t see any indication that is the case.
For Firefox 2, yes. For 11.1/Firefox 3 there is no /usr/lib/firefox/local-configuration.js and Firefox makes no attempt to read it if the file is created.
I’m amazed and annoyed in equal measure by this problem. Setting and locking global preferences was so easy for Firefox 2 yet it seems impossible for Firefox 3. I’m no stranged to poking around and tweaking config files and such to change system wide defaults for various things but I can’t figure this out.
Someone, somewhere must know what’s been changed, why it’s been changed, and a method of setting global preferences for Firefox 3 but if they’ve put the information online I can’t find it despite much time trawling Google search results.
The thing is, if I do to mozilla.com, download the Linux version of Firefox and use that then I am easily able to to do what I want using the method I describe in my original post. So the problem is not with the Linux version of Firefox, it’s with the way in which it has been packaged by openSUSE. Also Ubuntu actually. Looking their latest release Firefox is done the same way as in openSUSE and I’m no more able to set/lock global preferences with that than I am on openSUSE.
> So the problem is not with the Linux version of Firefox, it’s with
> the way in which it has been packaged by openSUSE.
ok, i didn’t understand that from your original posting…when i read
the thread again (with your lastest info, above) i notice that each
time you are careful to say the problem is “Firefox 3 in openSUSE
11.1”…sorry, i just didn’t pick up on that as a limitation…
but, now that i know that then i think i’ll suggest you ‘speak’
directly to the SUSE developers/packagers…and note that this forum
is where users help other users with their problems–it is NOT a good
assumption that all (or any) of the developers read/follow here either
continuously or periodically…(if they did i think they would have
NOT put more ALPHA quality KDE4.x into the release version of 11.1)…
maybe technically there is no ‘bug’ in the software, but only in the
documentation of how to set and lock down system wide settings *
or, your apparent depth of understanding/experience leads me to
believe that perhaps you might wanna JOIN the development/packaging
team, think about it and see http://en.opensuse.org/How_to_Participate
and, once someone helps you find where ‘they’ secreted away (hidden
in some dusty crack) the files you wanna edit, you can at the very
least help them hone the SUSE version of the Firefox documentation so
that the next searcher can find the buried treasure…
just an idea (noting that i doubt any of the USERS here can help you
find what you are looking for)
