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Services/Sync/Addon Sync: Difference between revisions
→Are Add-on Settings Synchronized?: Update to archived article for Syncing_custom_preferences
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This is a complicated issue and the decision was driven mainly by privacy and security concerns. | This is a complicated issue and the decision was driven mainly by privacy and security concerns. | ||
We understand that most users (possibly even an overwhelming majority of them) will want add-on sync to | We understand that most users (possibly even an overwhelming majority of them) will want add-on sync to ''just work'' when they upgrade to a Firefox that supports it. However, there are a number of issues with this. | ||
Most of the issues center around unexpected behavior when syncing add-ons for the first time. It is possible for an existing Sync user to unknowingly launch a Firefox version that supports add-on sync (where the previous version didn't). This could be due to silent Firefox updates, a system upgrade performed by an IT administrator, another user on the machine upgrading Firefox, etc. The first time this device synchronizes, it could pull down add-ons from another device (again, it is possible the other device had add-on sync configured unbeknownst to the user). There are a few issues here: | Most of the issues center around unexpected behavior when syncing add-ons for the first time. It is possible for an existing Sync user to unknowingly launch a Firefox version that supports add-on sync (where the previous version didn't). This could be due to silent Firefox updates, a system upgrade performed by an IT administrator, another user on the machine upgrading Firefox, etc. The first time this device synchronizes, it could pull down add-ons from another device (again, it is possible the other device had add-on sync configured unbeknownst to the user). There are a few issues here: | ||
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For add-on authors, to sync settings using Sync, there are effectively 3 methods. | For add-on authors, to sync settings using Sync, there are effectively 3 methods. | ||
# Synchronize preferences (see https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Firefox_Sync/Syncing_custom_preferences) | # Synchronize preferences (see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Mozilla/Firefox_Sync/Syncing_custom_preferences) | ||
# Build a Sync engine (if you need to sync more than just preferences). If you need this, please drop by the #sync channel in [[IRC]] so you can chat with a Sync developer (there are some important details not currently captured formally in any docs). | # Build a Sync engine (if you need to sync more than just preferences). If you need this, please drop by the #sync channel in [[IRC]] so you can chat with a Sync developer (there are some important details not currently captured formally in any docs). | ||
# Build it yourself, not using Sync. | # Build it yourself, not using Sync. | ||
We recognize that having all add-on settings magically synchronize would be a useful feature. We are exploring options for facilitating this. Unfortunately, nothing made the first cut for add-on sync. | We recognize that having all add-on settings magically synchronize would be a useful feature. We are exploring options for facilitating this. Unfortunately, nothing made the first cut for add-on sync. | ||
===Can I have different enabled states on different machines?=== | |||
Yes. If you set the preference ''services.sync.addons.ignoreUserEnabledChanges'' to true in '''about:config''' (you may need to create this preference), Sync will not process changes to the enabled state of add-on records coming from the Sync server. However, that Sync client will still generate outgoing record changes, which means that local changes will propagate to clients not having that preference set. | |||
If this preference is set to true, all add-on installs will be installed in the enabled state. However, you can immediately disable the add-on and incoming enabled state changes won't be applied. However, uninstalls will be applied. | |||