# firefox-sideloader

### How to use

The following session demonstrates how to use.

Mostly all you need:
```
[u@h:~/firefox-sideloader]$ . functions.sh
[u@h:~/firefox-sideloader]$ clone_default_profile MyNewProfileName
[u@h:~/firefox-sideloader]$ firefox -P MyNewProfileName
```

The profile MyNewProfileName will now start up with all extensions copied from
the default profile. Effort was made not to copy any settings or leak any
private data, so that the new profile can be redistributed as a firefox default
startup state.

Also possible:
```
[u@h:~/firefox-sideloader]$ clone_profile MyNewProfileName SecondGenerationClone
[u@h:~/firefox-sideloader]$ firefox -P SecondGenerationClone
```

### Future

The next feature (unimplemented but needed) is to change the target home
directory of the profile. Then the `clone_profile` function becomes
suitable to use when creating a new home directory (i.e. a dynamic
/etc/skel/ to work around Firefox's internal dependence on absolute
paths).  This is the whole point of this code from my perspective.

### Counter-factual Future

Another obvious direction to take this code would be to make it work on existing
profiles, rather than being confined to creating a new profile.

The `jq` queries in this codebase illustrate how/where it would be possible to
insert one extension at a time into an existing profile without damaging it.
Just merge the output of those queries back into the JSON input files. The tool
`jq` itself can make the changes needed. It's obviously the right and robust way
to go about this, but I don't have a personal need for it.

### By the way

Another useful function:

```
[u@h:~/firefox-sideloader]$ list_extensions
{"id":"uBlock0@raymondhill.net","name":"uBlock Origin"}
{"id":"bypasspaywalls@bypasspaywalls.weebly.com","name":null}
{"id":"default-theme@mozilla.org","name":null}
[...]
```

Check another profile than the default like this:
```
[u@h:~/firefox-sideloader]$ list_extensions SecondGenerationClone
[u@h:~/firefox-sideloader]$ list_extensions ~someotheruser/.mozilla/firefox/randomstring.profilename/
```

It should just accept a profile name as an argument and do that itself, but it
does not.