Not Quite a Blog

In previous posts, I've given increasing detail on how one can upgrade FireFox in a 100% completely clean manner while keeping all the goodies you had in an older version (of course, this doesn't work for themes or extensions... just profile information (passwords, cookies, bookmarks, user preferences, etc.)).

So, how is this different? Well, this set of instructions is the one-stop all-inclusive set of directions (for Mac users) for upgrading cleanly to the latest version of FireFox. (This was originally an adaptation of this set of instructions here (it's written for PC users... I'm Mac).)

1. After downloading the latest version of FireFox, close your browser and rename your current version to something other than FireFox.app (like FireFox 1.0.0.app).

2. Install and run the new version of FireFox.

3. Then copy the following files:

   bookmarks.html // bookmarks
   user.js and prefs.js // preferences 
   cookies.txt, cookperm.txt and hostperm.1 // cookies 
   signons.txt and key3.db // passwords `
   

   from the

   ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/default.xxx/
   

   directory (or xxxxxxx.default/ directory) to a backup directory (on your Desktop, for example).

4. Also copy any searchbar plugins that you've installed from the

   /Applications/FireFox 1.0.0.app/Contents/MacOS/searchplugins
   

   directory to a temporary location.

5. Then remove the default.xxx/ (or xxxxxxx.default/) directory entirely (where "xxx" will be different for each Firefox installation). You can just move (mv) it to your desktop for backup instead of deleting it.

6. You'll also need to remove (or move) the profiles.ini file from the ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/ directory. (This is what got me for a while. If you just move the profile directory, FireFox will think that the old default profile is in use because that's exactly what profiles.ini tells it to look for.)

7. Restart Firefox. It will create a new xxxxxxx.default/ directory.

8. Quit Firefox.

9. Now, copy the files from above back to the new xxxxxxx.default/ directory. Also copy the searchbar plugins back to FireFox.app.

10. Finally, restart Firefox. This should give you your old Firefox, with all it's preferences, etc. restored. You might also want to open up Safari and in Safari's Preferences set FireFox.app as your default browser (or it will stay as the old version of FireFox.app... whatever you renamed it to).

11. You'll also have to look at your old FireFox.app and decide which of the extensions you had should be reinstalled. An easy way to do this is to go through your old install log located at

    /Applications/FireFox 1.0.0.app/Contents/MacOS/install.log
    

    You can go to https://addons.mozilla.org/ and get new extensions and themes.

    Here are some of my favorite FireFox extensions (I've confirmed that you can get the older versions of the first two listed here running by following these instructions: "Make old extensions work with new FireFox"):

    • Diggler
    • Linky
    • WebDeveloper Extension
    • Download Them All!
    • Flashblock
    • Mouse Gestures

    These don't seem to work in FireFox 1.5:

    • Greasemonkey (Googlewhacker)

12. Make sure to do things like point Launchbar back at your bookmarks, resetting the "open URLs in a new tab" option in the Advanced settings of Firefox or any other thing that you notice out of whack.

UPDATE [2005-12-03T12:08:04]: Confirmed that this works with Firefox 1.5.

I want to personally thank and scold the cracker who cracked my blog software last night.

Full story »

(In case you haven't noticed, I've been transitioning to a hybrid model of blogging: I'll post some journal-like posts and some pundit-style posts at my discretion.)

I'm excited. Even in a culturally-rich area like the Bay Area, rarely am I ever as excited about an upcoming musical performance than I am right now. To whom am I referring to? Queens of the Stone Age.

QOTSA play a vein of rock that is highly influenced by the desert rock/stoner rock strain pioneered by bands like Kyuss and Fu Manchu. I've been listening to this stuff for about ten years. Here's a snippet for you to sample ("First it Giveth" from QOTSA's Songs for the Deaf):

Due to copyright reasons, this snippet of this song is posted for educational and critical purposes and it will only remain up for a few days (it's not the whole song and it's not at as high of a bitrate as the original).

Full story »

Coolest... t-shirt... ever.

(SIMS Phd Student Paul)

UPDATE [2005-04-22 14:16:19]: Carlo points to where you can buy this t-shirt... although it only has the upper-half of the rainbow.

Ah, Berkeley... everyone's on strike today. I had to cross the lines to get work done, oh well. Here's a (crappy) mosaic of the Telegraph Ave. and Bancroft picket line (which was difficult to cross):