Non-ESR Firefox Profile

[Termy]

Since Debian insists on using ESR releases of Firefox, for some reason unbeknownst to me, a user would presumably (and according to guides) have to install Firefox via the pre-compiled archive. When I tried this, I was told that my profile couldn't be used, even though it's for a non-ESR Firefox! Is there a way? Why even is this? It seems bizarre. I have a Firefox profile, I want to use Firefox profile in Firefox, but they tell me nope; I don't get it. They're both even the same version: 86

Basically, I'm thinking of switching to Debian -- for all intense and purposes, let's just say LMDE -- but I very much wish to keep the same profile I've had for years, with all of my saved sessions and configurations that I really don't want to sort all over again.

BTW, I figured this would be a common issue, but from searching the board, I couldn't find anything relevant.

[Moonstone Man]

Since Debian insists on using ESR releases of Firefox, for some reason unbeknownst to me, a user would presumably (and according to guides) have to install Firefox via the pre-compiled archive. When I tried this, I was told that my profile couldn't be used, even though it's for a non-ESR Firefox! Is there a way? Why even is this? It seems bizarre. I have a Firefox profile, I want to use Firefox profile in Firefox, but they tell me nope; I don't get it. They're both even the same version: 86

While they may have the same version number, an ESR firefox is not a non-ESR firefox, consequently the profiles are incompatible. The only real solution is to sign up for the FF sync and sync your profiles that way. It's a pain, and the FF devs regularly cause newer versions of non-ESR FF to not work with other, earlier non-ESR versions of FF. It's happened at least twice in the last 12 months.

[Termy]

Thanks for replying. I know ESR is not the same as non-ESR -- guessing I misworded something. The Firefox version I'm currently using on the same profile is 86, and isn't ESR, but that same profile fails to work on non-ESR Firefox 86 in Debian. I doubt it has anything to do with Debian specifically, but I posted about it here, because I figured it was something Debian and LMDE users come across a lot.

I've had the warning before when I've tried my non-ESR profile on an ESR version of Firefox, but in this case, I'm actually using non-ESR on both versions, but the profile still won't work. The difference in this case, is that one version is from the tarball straight from Mozilla's website. Tomorrow, if I remember, I'll grab a screenshot or something, so y'all can see the error.

[t42]

Several random thoughts on the subject.

- Profiles are not backward compatible. When such new Firefox version is installed which changes profile structure, profile is converted automatically. So profile will be corrupted regarding previous Firefox version and you can't go back without backup.

- To use various profiles or/and browsers versions simultaneously, format of all launchers should be like this firefox --no-remote -p Quantum for some specific browser or firefox --no-remote -p for profile choice. The last variant prevents the default browser automatic opening with random profile with possibility of corruption or potential privacy implications.

- You can replace profile directory content with a reference one after Firefox decides to creates a new profile and, if necessary, modify profiles.ini entry accordingly. Sometimes Firefox tends to create [Install] entries and certain user persistence required .

Here is a sample of ~/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini from my Debian Bullseye system:

Code: Select all

[General]
StartWithLastProfile=0
Version=2

[Profile0]
Name=ESR
IsRelative=1
Path=ESR

[Profile1]
Name=ESR-68
IsRelative=1
Path=ESR-68

[Profile2]
Name=Quantum
IsRelative=1
Path=Quantum

[Profile3]
Name=night
IsRelative=1
Path=night

[Profile4]
Name=temp
IsRelative=1
Path=temp

[Profile5]
Name=profile-private
IsRelative=1
Path=profile-private

[Termy]

Profiles are not backward compatible

That's good to know, but in both cases, I'm using Firefox 86, unless there's a minor or revised release not showing on the about window.

I'll give what you suggested in your third point a go.