Firefox 42 will not allow unsigned extensions

I created and maintain an extension that is used by visually-impaired people around the world (it has been translated by volunteers into Dutch and Chinese, for example).

Occasionally a Firefox update breaks this extension. OK, fine, that's the cost of doing business. Of course, the automated compatibility report that Firefox creates is utterly useless; it almost never catches the breakage. But that's a side rant....

There can be a decent turnaround lag (sometimes on the order of a few days) to get a new version of an extension reviewed by addons.mozilla.org. In the meantime, I have made a habit of building a new version of the extension and giving it to anyone who asks. Some people rely on it to use the web and can't wait for Mozilla to do their thing (another side rant: I once stupidly forgot to check in a key resource. I've since changed my development process to keep this from happening again. But the non-functional extension that I pushed passed Mozilla's review just fine. Makes me wonder how much value the review process is really adding.)

If I want to be able to continue this process, I will need to sign the extension myself (and who knows what histrionics Firefox will throw if a user tries to replace an extension with one that has the same UUID but a different signature!)

Actually, the link says

> Files submitted for signing will go through an automated review process. If they pass this review, they are automatically signed and sent back to the developer. This process should normally take seconds

You may be thinking of a different type of review process, the signing one sounds almost instantaneous.

This seems to be part of Mozilla's effort to be more like the Apple and Google stores.

Mozila AMO - Learn to embrace the pain.

Addons are running in the chrome context and are thus pretty powerful. It's trival to compromise the whole computer if they aren't reviewed.