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Developing Firefox Extensions with GNU/Linux

Posted by Zonk on from the extend-the-browser-extend-the-fun dept.

QT writes "Ars Technica has a lengthy but useful introduction to developing Firefox extensions with GNU/Linux. This guide comes hot on the heels of the RC for Beta 1 of Firefox. The article is a little more thorough than necessary, but I can't complain about anything that spurs Firefox development." From the article: "What can you do with a Firefox Extension? Firefox extensions can modify the Firefox user interface. This includes adding buttons to tool bars and menus; changing fonts, colors, and icons; capturing events in the client interface like page loads and clicks; and modifying web pages after the browser loads them and before the user sees them. All of this functionality comes with the aspect-oriented facility of overlays. Extensions also have as much access to the file system as the user running Firefox. Extensions can add protocol handlers, hooking actions to URLs like icq://, aim://, or stantz://. Extensions have UniversalXPConnect privileges, allowing them to harness any XPCOM component. Firefox comes with a rich library of XPCOM components that permit your extension to drive very low-level functionality like sockets from Javascript. You can also augment the XPCOM library with Firefox extensions by adding Javascript, linkable libraries, or XPIDL."

2 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Re:this reminds me... by ultranova · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Because Firefox has no security vulnerabilities that would allow extensions to be installed without the user's explicit consent.

    Are there open IE bugs that allow this? Both products are susceptible to any worm/trojan dropping a malicious extension into the user's profile and/or whitelisting other sites.

    Um, if you already got a trojan into a system, why would you bother to have it whitelist anything, instead of just doing whatever nastiness the extension was supposed to do ?

    Doesn't make much sense to have one trojan let another one in, instead of just opening the gates for the Greek army by itself...

    --

    Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. Re:this reminds me... by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Yeh. Find me someone that was nailed by the accidental vulnerability. Hell, find me someone that didn't upgrade. Maybe you're just one of the naysayers, but it always strikes me how firefox issues always end up being theoretical. Proof of concept.

    Yeh, I like to make numbers up, but I forgot to label it sarcastic. Fuck you, loser.

    I look forward to your next post, where you accuse Google of being run by the devil simply because they might do something lowlife in the future...