Provisioning Firefox Profiles

This project is an attempt to fully deploy (provision) a fresh Mozilla Firefox install, that incorporates the security hardening settings from the Arkenfox/user.js project. This is for version 104.0, which is after the migration to WebExtensions API. In particular that means:

Configure advanced settings (about:config) via user.js
Download addons and lanugage packs
Install language packs and populate General > Language locales
Install addons (aka. extensions)
Save addon settings
Search bar installation and settings
Create a fresh profile (unsure if I want to do this)
Provision a fresh profile
Add addons to saved UI layout (unsure we want to do this)

Inspired by things tools such as Nix, Terraform, and Ansible, this project is trying to create fully configured Firefox at the click of one button. Additionally, this project provides a nice CLI interface to keep up with updates from Arkenfox.

TODO

In addition the list above:

Tracking updates from the upstream Arkenfox project
Tab completion via ${COMP_LINE}

How this differs from Arkenfox workflow

<<EOF dot -Tsvg >"images/arkenfox.svg"
digraph {
  rankdir="LR"
  ArkenfoxL[label="Arkenfox\nBash Script"href="https://github.com/arkenfox/user.js"]
  Template1[label="user.js v1"]
  Template2[label="user.js v2"]
  Output1  [label="<profile>/user.js v1"]
  Output2  [label="<profile>/user.js v2"]
  ArkenfoxR[label="Arkenfox\nBash Script"]

  ArkenfoxL -> Template1;
  ArkenfoxL -> Template2;
  ArkenfoxR -> Output1;
  ArkenfoxR -> Output2;

  Template1 -> Template2 [label="update"]

  "*.js"    -> Output1
  Template1 -> Output1
  "*.js"    -> Output2
  Template2 -> Output2

  { rank=same; Template1; Template2; }
  { rank=same; ArkenfoxL; "*.js"; }
  { rank=sink; ArkenfoxR; }
}
EOF

This is based on the work of Arkenfox project. The workflow of the Arkenfox project is that, after git cloning the project into a directory, they provide provide you with user.js that has defaults that are not intended to be useable out-of-the-box. You create any number of additional JavaScript files that will override those settings, customised to your particular needs. Then you use the script in the Arkenfox project to combine all the JavaScript files and copy to <firefox-profile>/user.js (e.g. /home/jane-doe/.mozilla/firefox/34ahf5xy.default/user.js Additionally, you use the script to update the provided default user.js.

<<EOF dot -Tsvg >"images/project.svg"
digraph {
  rankdir="LR"
  Project  [label="This project"]
  Template1[label="user.js v1"]
  Template2[label="user.js v2"]
  Output   [label="<profile>/user.js"]

  Template1 -> Template2
  Project   -> Template2 [label="Download & Diff"]

  Project -> "Deploy addons"
  Project -> Output /* label should be for this edge but it looks better lower */
  "*.js"  -> Output [label="Build\n*.js"]
  { rank=same; Template2; "Deploy addons"; }
}
EOF

The workflow of this project creating the <profile>/user.js from just the JavaScript files. The Arkenfox's user.js template file is used only to compare versions to see what has changed since the previous version. Any updates that you like you can copy over to your JavaScript files. Additionally, this project provides methods for diffing a local copy of Arkenfox's user.js and online version of Arkenfox's most up-to-date user.js.

Steps moving forward

It seems not possible to fully automate extension installation. There seem to be several disparate locations that settings are stored for addons (see next section). Thus, targetting specific files in the profile directory is not very reliable.

I did try using the WebDriver API, i.e. using the Selenium framework to talk through the geckodriver proxy to programmatically control a Firefox instance. The goal would be to automate the browser to click on settings to configure each extension or to import settings. However, I've seen competing claims that Selenium explicitly does or does not officially support connecting to an already running instance of Firefox.

Another possible route would be to connect Selenium to the debugger. Although I was successful at making Selenium open a new instance (as one would do for normal webscrapping or integration testing), I could not figure out how to connect it to an already running Firefox instance.

Minimal Firefox Setup for storing addon settings

The five extensions I use are:

ublock-origin
NoScript for blocking specific domains. Although uBlock Origin offers JavaScript blocking and having less extensions means less liabilities, NoScript allows me to have fine-grain control over specific domains I want to allow.
cookie-autodelete
history-cleaner to clear history at startup. History is on vector for finger printing, and I cannot use Firefox's clear history on exit if I want session restore, i.e. I cannot use "Privacy & Security > History > Clear history when Firefox closes > Browser & Download History" if I want "General > Startup > Open previous windows and tabs".
Video Speed Controller adds controls for consuming media at increased or decreased speeds. There is no way to export settings for this extension.

XPI files are just zip files. Just putting downloaded addons in the extensions/ directory is not sufficient. Addons must also be registered (enabled, update schedule, available in private browsing), and you the addon configuration must be stored somewhere.

extensions/ for the .xpi files, or the actual addons and language packs.
storage/ is used for most extensions to store settings (it seems)
addons.json is used in combination with extensions.json and extensions.webextensions.uuid to register addons
extension-preferences.json is used store which addons are available during private browser sessions (implemented as a 'container').
extensions.json, see addons.json
storage-sync-v2.sqlite and its siblings are for used by NoScript to store the settings for specific domains
storage-sync-v2.sqlite-shm
storage-sync-v2.sqlite-wal
user.js (alternatively pref.js, but pref.js is essentially the browser store of about:config settings). The two main settings of concern are: ** browser.uiCustomization.state is for customising the layout of the browser (for display addon icons) ** extensions.webextensions.uuids, see addons.json

Most of this testing was done by progressively deleting all files and just adding back a ever-narrowing list of files and seeing what of the five extensions I use break. I am not entirely sure what the difference is between addons.json, extensions.json, and extensions.webextensions.uuids for the purposes of registering addons.

I am currently unsure if UUIDs for extensions change if you update them. If they do, then storing the browser.uiCustomisation.state, extensions.json, etc. is a bit fragile.

Useful links