Failed extension updates (Solved)

[Joel Cairo]

Any thoughts on why these extensions fail to update in PM x86_64 in Mint? This includes from disk.
- bug489729(Disable detach and tear off tab) 2.1
- ColorfulTabs 27.3
- Encrypted Web 5.0.3
- Flashblock 1.5.18

In PM x64 in Windows they're currently at:
- bug489729(Disable detach and tear off tab) 2.1.1-signed
- ColorfulTabs 27.6
- Encrypted Web 5.0.5
- Flashblock 1.5.18.1-signed

All others updated no prob.

[Joel Cairo]

Okay. You know, over the many years I got used to profile corruption as something that happened once in a blue moon, pun(s) not intended. In fact it was so rare that, over the years, I forgot about it. I suppose if I'm going to test software, I should get used to file corruption! And stop trying to quit smoking.

I switched to the default profile - no add-ons or configuration at all - and everything installed and updated fine. I copied the modified profile over the default and everything still worked; copied it all back over the modified profile (and will now delete the modified default). I suppose I'd better remove and re-install all add-ons to see whether what was broken still is and what I just did is a kludge, or if it's been fixed until the next time. And get some nicotine.

[Joel Cairo]

New question. I've got 35 add-ons installed, 32 of which are enabled. I don't have a problem with disabling them all and re-enabling one at a time to find out which one causes this issue or that; but even with just a few it would be a problem when the issue is, say, intermittent or delayed. So if an add-on promotes profile corruption, how do I find out which one in a reasonable time-frame?

[squarefractal]

So if an add-on promotes profile corruption

I don't think there are any extensions that try to intentionally corrupt your profile.
It would be best if you can keep copying things from other profiles to a minimum, when you find that something that didn't work now works on the new profile.

As far as the question of "how do I quickly locate a problem that I'm sure is caused by an extension" is concerned, try to find out the probable causes. Some examples:

* If it's a site that doesn't work, try disabling extensions that intercept/modify network requests (e.g. ABL, Foxyproxy, Encrypted Web etc.)
* If it's a broken context menu, try disabling extensions that help customise appearances of the application.
--* Consider that you tried the above and it failed. Since we are dealing with a broken context menu, try disabling extensions that places its own menu entries in the context menu.

This approach helps to cut down on the time required to find out the culprit (assuming that they are extensions, often things are due to a pref set somewhere that now messes with things and I have often disabled and re-enabled extensions, obviously with no effect).

[Joel Cairo]

Hi squarefractal,

I appear to have found a hint of where the problem lays.

This is via (initially) deleting the contents of /opt/palemoon and of the profile in the NTFS /windows/...etc folder.

When the profile is located on the NTFS drive (not that I think being NTFS is the problem) those four extensions won't install.

When the profile is located in the default Ext3 /home/...etc folder, they do install.

Guess I'll do one or two more tests when they occur to me!

Edit: I just changed the user and group in the /windows/... folder to match those of the /home/... folder to no effect.

[Joel Cairo]

Right then! The reason I had the Linux profiles on the Windows drive was I had multiple distros installed; but now I just have the one, Mint KDE, so I've moved them into the default profiles location. And those four add-ons update now. So I guess I'll mark this solved, though the underlying issue isn't, of course. I had wondered if it might be something to do with capitalization - but the HTTPS Everywhere folder is capitalized on the Linux drive, so I guess it's not that.