FEBE 10.1: issues under PaleMoon

[sdrubble]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for posting issues happening under PaleMoon ... pls move it as needed, and sorry if it's indeed the case.

I'm currently using PM 27.5.0. Have not upgraded to 27.6.2 yet - I'm lazy, and as a former - and burned - user of FF I like to skip browser versions. I'd be happy to update my PM to its latest & greatest, if deemed required to address the issues at hand.

Up to today I was using FEBE 8.3.1. I was already having one issue with it (see #3 below for details), so when I noticed a while ago that FEBE 10.0 was available I decided to wait for FEBE's 'next' iteration, which would probably take care of eventual bugs. So today I installed FEBE 10.1.

So, regarding FEBE 10.1. , I have the following issues to report (I'm using a 'BOTH' type of backup ('Selective' + 'Full profile')):

#1. FORGET ABOUT THIS #1 - it ended up being a non-issue. See next post !!!
FEBE 10.1. does NOT back up the following add-on: uBlock Origin Updater v1.3.0. This PM-specific extension is made available for install at https://addons.palemoon.org/addon/ublock0-updater/ , and hosted at https://github.com/JustOff/ublock0-updater/ .

#2. FEBE 10.1. refuses to "Back up permissions", and forcefully disallows the corresponding checkbox under "Backup items". Under 8.3.1, up to earlier this morning, there was a 3Kb "permissions{profile_name}.json" backup file being created.

#3. Under 8.3.1 I was having an undesired backup of cache files - the issue was practically identical to the one I had described 2 years ago in viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4885 . Only minor difference was that, under 8.3.1, the option "Ignore caching and phishing DB" was NOT grayed out - I could willingly choose it (which I did), but it was being disregarded anyway.

Under that old bug report, I recall you made available some "FEBE 8.7debug" version for me to test, which indeed DID solve the issue at the time. IIRC I think that PM's FEBE 10.x is being built on top of FF's 8.3.x, so I'm inclined to believe you already have this solution ready in 8.7.x and onwards.

So, back to my current cache issue under PM: I grew used to a manual workaround - before performing a FEBE backup, I would go to PM's 'Options' and manually clear the cache. I did this same thing this morning before my first backup (under FEBE 8.3.1), so that right now my PM cache is currently not sizeable enough to allow me to easily test this again under FEBE 10.1. If desired I can perform a more meaningful test later on, after PM's cache has filled up again.

Many thx again for a great piece of software. Not sure if you'll be addressing any of these issues before the holidays, so - Merry XMas and a great New Year !!!

[sdrubble]

While doing a round-up of issues above I found some additional strange stuff - and could cross-out issue #1 above.

What I did, TL;DR, was a RESTART of PaleMoon, followed by yet another FEBE backup. While doing this actually solved issue #1 above, my findings might mean an additional headache for FEBE users (under PaleMoon at least), and for Chuck as well.

Main points being:
- FEBE 10.1 did not back up one extension that had been added to PM previously, in the SAME session as the backup; said extension was actually added to a 2nd backup, performed AFTER the browser was restarted.
- FEBE 10.1 did not assign the correct version number to the backup filename of one PM extension that had been updated previously, in the SAME session as the backup; said extension was given the correct filename in a 2nd backup, performed AFTER the browser was restarted.

In the case of the incorrect filename - BEFORE restarting the browser - I found that the backup file named "uBlockOrigin{1.13.7rc4}.xpi" contained an "install.rdf" file which contained the string "<em:version>1.14.23b1</em:version>". AFTER restarting the browser, a new FEBE backup created the same file again, now with the expected correct name of "uBlockOrigin{1.14.23b1}.xpi".

IMHO, in case this is not an issue that can be corrected within FEBE, users should be advised in big-bold letters to NOT make extension changes BEFORE doing a FEBE backup later, in the same session. (Matter of fact, this aging geek here has the ancient habit of manually performing his FEBE backups as the first thing in a given browser session. )

I also found out, upon browsing the forum, that some users have had a variety of issues regarding backing up permissions (and also restoring them) under FEBE 10.x, and that Chuck is already looking into these.

Cheers

[cbaker_admin]

When FEBE starts a backup, one of the first things it does is call an API named AddonManager.getAllAddons. This API gets information about each installed add-on including the extension's name, version number, guid, description, star rating, etc. to be used in the FEBE Results Report.

If you have an extension pending install (a restart has not been done that completes the actual install) then that API may not grab the latest information.

... users should be advised in big-bold letters to NOT make extension changes BEFORE doing a FEBE backup later ...

Sound advice.

And yes, I am currently working on the permissions issue. FEBE v10.2 should be available soon.

Thanks for the input!

[cbaker_admin]

FEBE v10.2 for Pale Moon is now available.