Chink in the Open Source Armor?

Chink in the Open Source Armor?

I discovered something by accident yesterday about Firefox (which I love) that is giving me a little pause around the beauty of open source.  Maybe I'm missing something - if I am, please comment.

I went to download some new extensions into Firefox, and the Mozilla site said I had to upgrade to the new version of Firefox (1.0.4) in order to access any extensions. 

Before I did the upgrade on my machine, I upgraded my colleague Lisa's (I was about to show her what extensions were, so I figured it would be best to make a clean start there with 1.0.4).  But once I upgraded her, I discovered that none of the extensions I use in Firefox are compatible with the new 1.0.4 version.

So, I can't download any new extensions until I upgrade...but I can't upgrade if I want to keep my existing extensions.  Seems like this is a problem with community-based development, although as my colleague Jack says, "I am surprised FireFox doesn't build the backwards compatibility since open source extentsions are so important to their business model."

Comments

[Fishbane]

You're right, it is a problem. I've been fighting this one for a while. Long term, they are going to have to provide a stable API between major versions.

These are growing pains...

I don't think it is specific to Open Source, though. I remember the early 90s desktop publishing landscape. Frequently, we'd have two or three different versions of QuarkXPress on a machine, each hosting different extensions, and complicated workflows to pipe documents through each one in turn and still get something that would output to film.

(Ah, output to film. How quaint that sounds now.)

Give them some time...

[Jonathan Snook]

In actuality, those older extensions would probably work just fine in 1.0.4. The problem is that the extension makers put in what versions of Firefox they can be used in. As a result, whenever a new version comes out, all the earlier extensions have to be modified to confirm that, "Yes, I can work in this version." The inevitable problem is that there is a delay between when a new version is released and when these extensions get updated.

A better solution would be for the software to indicate that the extension wasn't specifically written for that version and warn the user before enabling the older and possibly incompatible extensions.

[Jonathan Snook]

Oh, I should add that this really has nothing to do with it being open source.

[W.B. McNamara]

Others have already made the point that this isn't unique to open source -- it's as bad or worse in the closed source world, with photoshop plugin compatibility as the example that's burned into my mind -- I'll leave that one alone. :)

Two things I'll add...

First, a quick note to the plugin developer often works wonders. "Hey, I think plugin X is great and use it all the time, but noticed that FF version X.X.X isn't supported -- are you planning to update plugin X?" As often as not, the answer is "yep, a lot of people are asking about it, so a new version should be out in n days/weeks."

Like any other software developers, the folks writing extensions won't bother to do something if no one's going to use it. Let them know that you use and like what they've done.

For that matter, when you're talking about a FF extension or a tool written by a single developer or small shop, you should really send them a note and let them know that you like their product, in any case. Developers get a lot more "why can't I hammer nails with this screwdriver you developed?" and "why does your program crash my virus-ridden Pentium I running Windows98, you asshole?" than "hey...thanks for creating something really cool and useful." Yes, it takes time to do that, but it seems to me like a pretty good way to spend ten minutes a week.

That was an awfully long first thing, so I'll cut the second short: a lot of extensions are released under open licenses, so someone may have already done the updates to the extensions you're looking for, though it can take a little searching to find them. They're often out there, though, and they're out there because of open source. :)

[Dan Kohn]

If you're upgrading it yourself, the trick is to choose Tools: Options: Advanced tab, and click Check Now for software updates. This then allows you to upgrade the extensions rather than the browser. You should then be able to upgrade the browser without a problem. Obviously, the Firefox team needs to automate this and make it part of the regular upgrade process.