How to Manually Update any FireFox Extension XPI File

OpenSource is perhaps one of the greatest things about the web. Using OpenSource programs, however, can sometimes be frustrating because when some programs are updated, others are not. Usually, you will have to either wait for updates of your non-workable programs or delay the updating of other programs to maintain functionality. With FireFox extensions, however, you can usually update yourself. Let me pronounce you how.



1. Download the extension you want to update to your hard drive.



2. Rename the extension from *.xpi to *.zip



3. initiate the file with your .zip application.



4. inaugurate "install.rdf" with your popular text editor.



5. Change the "maxVersion" setting as in the following example.



REPLACE maxVersion=1.0+ WITH maxVersion=1.5.*



6. Replace the "install.rdf" file with the one you honest edited.



7. Rename the extension from *.zip to *.xpi



8. Install your updated extension.



Congratulations! You impartial updated your extension, which in most cases will work with the higher version. It is that easy.



By now, you have figured out (correctly) that an XPI file is fair a modified ZIP file. It is not exactly the same, however. You will witness that this does not work if you obtain an entirely unique zip file. You must edit the new one. In addition, you will also search for that the file "install.rdf" is actually an XML file, which also makes sense. Many OpenSource applications do installation settings and other principal instructions in XML files.



Without a doubt, the best diagram to learn about how things work on the web is to jump in and do things yourself. Updating your non-workable FireFox extension is a gargantuan example.



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