Deploy customized Firefox to new users

[John Hupp]

On 1/9/2015 7:02 AM, Eric Bradshaw wrote:
> Hello, all.
> In Firefox for the initial user on a system, I want to customize it
> (settings, add-ons, etc) and then propagate that setup to any new users
> created.
> I was reading https://wiki.mozilla.org/Deployment:Deploying_Firefox, but
> several of the add-ons and links of interest (e.g. firefox.dbltree.com 
> <http://firefox.dbltree.com>
> <http://firefox.dbltree.com> and CCK add-on
> <https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/cck/>) no longer exist.
> Anyone know a way?
> --John
> P.S. Next on my to-do list is a close look at SystemBack, which will
> perhaps handle this chore, but for the moment I was looking at
> application-native methods of doing such things.  For instance, for
> certain purposes I can modify the files installed by
> lubuntu-default-settings.  I have also had a little look at /etc/skel
> and /etc/profile.d, though those two seem to have limited use in Lubuntu.
>
> ----------
>
> John,
>
> User addons for Firefox are (for the most part I believe) .xpi files 
> and are stored in 
> home/theusername/.mozilla/firefox/crazymixof#s&letters.default-stringof#s/extensions.
>
> You propagate the settings, addons, bookmarks, etc. to newly created 
> users by including the whole .mozilla folder in /etc/skel. Including 
> things in skel is the default way (in any *buntu) to ensure new users 
> have the same "settings," or "profile" as the user account the 
> system/distro/respin is being created on.
>
> However, Systemback automatically picks up the settings/profile of the 
> user account used to create the backup ("Live system create" in my 
> case) when the box to "Include user data files" is checked. As far as 
> I can tell; everything I'd usually have to specifically include in 
> skel is automatically carried over.
>
> So, that means I no longer have to make sure I include the latest 
> ".whatever" folders in skel to pass on the settings for several 
> different applications (including Firefox) to the newly created users. 
> I simply set up the user account - I'm using Systemback on - the way I 
> want it to be, before I create the live system.
>
> By the way; I set aside a separate machine (though a different user 
> account would probably work just as well) for system creation as I'd 
> imagine either method on a computer/account I use for myself would be 
> too easily "contaminated" with my own stuff.
>
> Eric
>
> ----
>
> Thank you,
> God bless you,
> Computers4Christians
> http://computers4christians.org/
>

Thanks Eric, for the additional info on the behavior of Systemback. I'll 
be looking at that soon.  Also the confirmation that /etc/skel is fully 
respected as the general-purpose tool for propagating files to new 
users.  It seems like it would probably work for my purposes.

But to raise a few prospective issues: I'm talking about propagating a 
Firefox setup /on a single machine/ to additional new users.  The skel 
method would create identically-named profiles for each of those users, 
which is not what Firefox does in an ordinary new installation.  But 
that would not be a problem because they would be in different sessions 
and not know about each other, unless perhaps the user made use of the 
Firefox Sync feature?  Do cookies use the profile name?

And in the meantime, I found veteran Firefox developer Mike Kaply and 
the many informative articles that he has generously written. For instance:
Integrating Add-ons into Firefox 
<http://mike.kaply.com/2012/02/09/integrating-add-ons-into-firefox/>
Distribution.ini 
<http://mike.kaply.com/2012/03/26/customizing-firefox-distribution-ini/>
Default Preferences Files 
<http://mike.kaply.com/2012/03/15/customizing-firefox-default-preference-files/>
Autoconfig Files 
<http://mike.kaply.com/2012/03/16/customizing-firefox-autoconfig-files/>
Default Profiles 
<http://mike.kaply.com/2012/03/30/customizing-firefox-default-profiles/>

Those articles provide at least two native Firefox methods for each of 
my goals (propagating settings and also add-ons).

Kaply also recently released CCK2, which replaces the CCK I found was no 
longer available (from my original post).  I understand CCK2 to be an 
add-on that provides a front-end for the methods described in his 
articles like the ones above.
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