Firefox Add-on Manager update introduces signing information

 

If you have installed the most recent version of Firefox Nightly, you may have noticed changes in the add-on manager that comes with every version of Firefox.

 

The add-on manager highlights the signing state of every add-on installed in Firefox. As you may know, Mozilla will introduce add-on signing in Firefox 42 which means that add-ons need to be submitted to Mozilla so that they can be signed by the organization.

While it is theoretically possible to keep add-ons unsigned, it will exclude Stable and Beta users of the browser from installing them once Firefox 42 Stable is released.

This leaves Nightly and Developer editions of the browser as well as so-called unbranded builds of which we don't know anything yet except for that fact.

The redesigned add-on manager highlights the verification state of add-ons. Add-ons that are not signed are highlighted in the add-on manager which -- currently -- means lots of wasted space as most add-ons will show the warning message.

It reads: [Add-on name] could not be verified for use in Nightly. Proceed with caution.

There is a more information link which links to the Addons signing page on Mozilla Wiki currently. It is likely that this is changed to a support page in the future.

The same warning is displayed when you click on an add-on's more link.

There appears to be no option to disable the warning. It is unclear if Mozilla will add an option to do so. If the organization does that, it is likely going to be added as a new parameter that you can control on the about:config page of the browser.

For now, there is no way around the notification in Firefox. Extensions like Slim Add-ons Manager display the notification as well currently. It is probably only a matter of time before add-on updates are made available that take the new notification into account.

Notifications will become less of an issue with time in most cases as most add-ons will be signed eventually. This is for instance the case for the most recent version of all add-ons currently offered on Mozilla's Web Store.

Still, some add-ons will never be signed. This is for instance the case for user-modified add-ons which is frequently used to enforce compatibility of classic add-ons abandoned by their original developer.