Yahoo Email Useragent Issue

[ron_1]

The updates happen in the background and don't have a visible result in the browser (unless you inspect headers in devtools). I believe I already mentioned this before.

You mean even after it gets updated the value will still read: Mozilla/5.0 (%OS_SLICE% rv:99.9) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/99.9 (Pale Moon) ?

[Pallid Planetoid]

ron_1 - OK, I see your point. I had modified my pref previously -- but to test for the new "default" setting I did a reset and surprisingly it changed back to the former pref that includes the "(Pale Moon)" at the end of the string value as opposed to remaining the same setting I had (which is what I expected).

So apparently -- in my case the update to the pref default hasn't occurred either.

Or am I misunderstanding and the pref in about:config will not reflect the new default at this time?

I wouldn't think so based on what has been reported by AVATARVENUS (on the previous page) - which is that the pref was found to have been changed (automatically) to the new default (w/out the "(Pale Moon").

So I too have the same question you posed at the end of the previous page in this topic.

[Moonchild]

Your Yahoo Useragent Override pref (in about:config) should reflect the change however.

No, it won't, not with dynamic updates

You mean even after it gets updated the value will still read: Mozilla/5.0 (%OS_SLICE% rv:99.9) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/99.9 (Pale Moon) ?

That's correct. The pref will still show the browser's default even if it in practice gets overridden when a request is made by the dynamic entry on domain match.


I looked into why it wouldn't update and it seems there's some aggressive caching going on at CloudFlare of the .json files involved.
I've manually purged it from the cloud edge now and will be looking into why it's persistently caching it since I don't have a rule stating it should do that.

EDIT: I've added a specific rule at CF's end to control the caching of the .json now so it should be all good for future updates.

[Pallid Planetoid]

Just curious - based on the explanation above - more precisely:

Your Yahoo Useragent Override pref (in about:config) should reflect the change however.

No, it won't, not with dynamic updates

Then how does the most recent comments above comport with what was discussed on the previous page (in which AVATARVENUS mentioned the pref change had occurred without any explicit change made to the local pref setting in about:config):

A strange thing happened when I logged into Yahoo mail in the morning. It had been restored without any action on my part.

That is the "magic" of dynamic user-agent updates at work that was instated for things that need quick action. Your browser has received a dynamic update (from a specific update server we operate) which "magically fixed" Yahoo mail overnight. Basically it allows to make site-specific overrides without having to release a new version of the browser. It will still be entered into the next version as a normal override, but in the interim web compatibility issues due to user-agents can be quickly addressed with no action needed from the user.

If I'm being a bother asking - no worries just skip it.

[Moonchild]

AVATARVENUS mentioned the pref change had occurred

No, they just mentioned that Yahoo worked again. I don't think they checked the preferences.

[Pallid Planetoid]

Ah - got it - the "when I logged into Yahoo mail... " is the giveaway. Very astute -- thanks for the feedback as always.

[AVATARVENUS]

Just to clarify - Avatar Venus is female.

[moonbat]

Doesn't work for me
Was the dynamic UA update for yahoo.com or mail.yahoo.com? I haven't got an entry for the latter yet.

[Pallid Planetoid]

Doesn't work for me
Was the dynamic UA update for yahoo.com or mail.yahoo.com? I haven't got an entry for the latter yet.

If you are able to login to Yahoo email successfully w/out the prompt that the browser is not supported then the dynamic UA update has been completed (as I understand it). To answer your question the UA Override involves Yahoo.com but the new pref will not be reflected in about:config until the next Pale Moon update (however the Yahoo Email login will work as of now as a result of the dynamic UA Update). Have I confused you yet?

To clarify - the "Doesn't work for me" means what? (it shouldn't mean you cannot login to Yahoo email presumably).

I think I'll do a reset on the pref and see if I'm able to login (which should be the case).....

[moonbat]

Already logged in but it says to switch to a supported browser instead of showing me my inbox.
I see a UA override for yahoo.com and calendar.yahoo.com but not for mail.yahoo.com, and creating one manually with the same UA as yahoo.com doesn't work either.

[Pallid Planetoid]

If your getting the "supported browser" dialog then I guess the Dynamic UA Update is not working for you.

Do you have this pref setting (in about:config): "general.useragent.override.yahoo.com" set to "Mozilla/5.0 (%OS_SLICE% rv:99.9) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/99.9 (Pale Moon)" -- if so then remove the part that references " (Pale Moon)" at the end of the string value for this pref and see if you can then login.

[moonbat]

Thanks, that worked

[Robin]

I hope Pale Moon will create a fix for this new horror from yahoo - as I hate the classic and now have to use another browser to check my yahoo email which is a complete drag.

[Pallid Planetoid]

^ You mean the "Basic" Yahoo (that doesn't have this browser requirement problem). As to your comments regarding the browser requirement issue -- there will be a permanent "fix" very soon if it hasn't yet been done in your case. In any case, there is a current "fix" that has been discussed in this topic - for example, take a look at my post just two posts above yours for a way to do this (among others) or THIS POST on the former page (which discusses the procedure in more detail) if your not that familiar with what is discussed just above.... Oh and btw, in many ways I actually like the "Basic" Yahoo interface myself.

[Goodydino]

Does that dynamic update imply that the site is using javascript to poke into the navigator information for the user-agent? If one used User-Agent Switcher and filled in the blanks for the navigator information for the user-agent it would still fool them, right?

[adesh]

Does that dynamic update imply that the site is using javascript to poke into the navigator information for the user-agent? If one used User-Agent Switcher and filled in the blanks for the navigator information for the user-agent it would still fool them, right?

1. Pale Moon has built in user agent overrides for some problematic and widely used websites. You probably already know this.

2. Any addition or change to these overrides used to be delayed until the new release of the browser because these were hard-coded in the browser code.

3. Recently, a "dynamic" system was designed using which these changes could be delivered separately without requiring a new release. Browser checks for these updates every 24 hours. This is what people were taking about above.


I hope this is clear now.

[Goodydino]

The user-agent override affects only the string sent in the browser's request header. I tested that a while back. User-agent Switcher can change all the navigator information if you fill in the blanks with the proper information for the combination of operating system and browser. This is much more likely to fool a system using javascript to dig out the navigator information to check the truthfulness of the user-agent string sent by the browser.

YouTube works for me, but it is slower than it used to be. The default override in about:config seems to be working.