Gears is not working with Firefox 3.6

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Gears doesn't work in Firefox 3.6 beta 4

Original issue reported on code.google.com by pascal.h...@gmail.com on 28 Nov 2009 at 10:24

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The Firefox 3.6 release candidate is out, Gears doesn't seem to work with it 
yet. Can
we avoid a repeat of the 3.5 release, where Gears wasn't updated until much 
after the
release? It's actively keeping people on old versions of Firefox, since they use
Gmail Offline etc.

Original comment by l...@gmail.com on 13 Jan 2010 at 5:33

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i had / have google gears 0.5.33.0 installed on firefox 3.5.x on winxp/win32. 
when
going for firefox 3.6 (Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.2)
Gecko/20100105 Firefox/3.6 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)), google gears 
addon(extensions) got
deactivated. i can second this bug. please update gears for ffx3.6/3.7/...
compatibility or give us hints for future progress and upcoming changes 
(abandoning
gears in favour of html5 or similar i think i read about. thanks.)

regards.

Original comment by abitt...@gmail.com on 13 Jan 2010 at 12:43

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Yup, the same problem here.
Tried fixing
C:\Program Files\Google\Google Gears\Firefox\install.rdf
C:\Program Files\Google\Google Gears\Firefox\components\stub.js

(replaced 3.5 with 3.6), still not working. Either the version number is not 3.6
(something like 3.6rc) or Gears will need somtehing more than a simple version 
check
patch.

Original comment by zlo...@gmail.com on 17 Jan 2010 at 8:14

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I dug into this and found that Firefox 3.6 deliberately breaks the "xpcom" 
mechanism
for a different "np" mechanism (I'm a bit foggy on the details).  

So it definitely won't work on Firefox 3.6 until Google rewrites Gears to use 
this
new interface. :(

Original comment by Syclone0...@gmail.com on 17 Jan 2010 at 8:17

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i want to say for dev that googl gear is juste a simple server instaled on our 
computers containe a server for mysql lite, so whene google heared that the w3c 
in its 
coming version of html (HTML5) google stopped developping gear because w3c will 
integrate it in HTML5.the solution is to forget the google gear and use dojo 
and wait 
for html 5.thanks

Original comment by brahimha...@gmail.com on 21 Jan 2010 at 11:00

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Brahim, dojo offline is based on gears also not supported since dojo 1.3 
release. At
this point, quite a few google apps depend on gears (docs, gmail, calendar, 
etc) so
until there's a number of browsers out there that fully support HTML5 offline 
storage
and workers (that are still in draft spec), there is really no other option 
that I
know of. Anyone else with more info?

Original comment by spuzv...@gmail.com on 21 Jan 2010 at 11:06

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Firefox 3.6 has been released.
I sure hope Gears is updated soon, as I rely on offline docs and gmail allot.

Original comment by rharm...@gmail.com on 21 Jan 2010 at 6:12

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please update gears soon! the users cannot wait for html5 release!

Original comment by marziom on 21 Jan 2010 at 9:37

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Please help to update new verison for firefox 3.6, I need use this for youtube 
upload
tool.

Original comment by cheerfankimo on 22 Jan 2010 at 5:37

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I can see from the commit messages of the latest revisions that the code is 
getting
an update to be compatible with Firefox 3.6.

http://code.google.com/p/gears/source/list

Original comment by mahmoud.kassem on 22 Jan 2010 at 9:39

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Pleaseeeeeee

Original comment by josef...@gmail.com on 23 Jan 2010 at 4:33

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I rely on Gears for offline access to a few web apps. Really hoping they put 
out a
new version to support Firefox 3.6 ASAP. Since the code has been checked in to 
the
SVN, it shouldn't be too hard to test and distribute.

Original comment by mjba...@gmail.com on 23 Jan 2010 at 2:56

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Please fix!

Original comment by nickeub...@gmail.com on 23 Jan 2010 at 9:46

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How is it that not working on the latest version of the most popular browser 
can only
rate as a Medium priority issue?  Its moves like this that make it difficult for
technologists to make the argument in their organizations that, "Google makes
products and platforms we can trust".  We, the guys arguing that Rich Web Apps 
are
the right direction for our organizations, lose face when we have to explain 
that our
customers are complaining, but we can't help.

I know Gears is free, but its part of Google Docs, and its part of Gmail, and my
company pays for both of those services, which now, like my product, do not 
fully
function on the latest version of the most popular web browser.

You knew this was coming, there is a post as early as Nov that indicates it was 
a
problem.  Like last time (ff3.5) it looks like the changes necessary to have 
support
are something that can be committed and deployed quickly.  Please get this to 
release
soon.

Original comment by tom.sor...@gmail.com on 24 Jan 2010 at 8:21

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Completely agree with tom.sorgie

Original comment by gui.g...@gmail.com on 24 Jan 2010 at 9:43

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Totally agree with tom.sorgie. I am more and more convinced that this and the 
problem
with firefox 3.5 when gears was also delayed are part of the plan to switch 
people to
Chrome - and that is just evil - and google promised to do no evil...

You had so many beta versions, release candidates to test and deploy compatible 
gears
- this should not have happened...

Original comment by sti...@gmail.com on 25 Jan 2010 at 2:41

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it is already fixed in SVN
http://code.google.com/p/gears/source/list
r3415
r3416

Original comment by pascal.h...@gmail.com on 25 Jan 2010 at 7:32

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It's quite clear that Google shifted focus away from the Gears Plugin and 
towards Chrome or even "Chrome 
Frame" for their services.
There is no excuse for this happening AGAIN after the same unnecessary delay 
when Firefox 3.5 came out. The 
code freeze for Firefox 3.6 happened a very long time ago and there have been 
several betas and release 
candidates. Mozilla urged all their add-on developers to make their plugins 
compatible for weeks.
Normally my motto is to never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately 
explained by incompetence. But 
given Google's and their employee's reputation I really struggle to understand 
the amount of incompetence 
necessary for this to happen again ...

Original comment by freiboo...@gmail.com on 25 Jan 2010 at 8:07

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Is there not even a beta version with r3415 and r3416 applied to be had 
somewhere?

well, waiting for offline support once again

Original comment by micatt...@gmail.com on 25 Jan 2010 at 11:19

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I just build gears from the SVN, and it seems works fine here. But I am very 
sad that
google delays us again.

Original comment by KJac...@gmail.com on 25 Jan 2010 at 2:10

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I believe the Chrome team has previously stated that they only work with final
browser builds. That makes sense, as I've done add-ons for beta software before 
where
major changes to the main software broke everything I did. 

<rant>Now, that being said, it's only been 4 days (2 business days) since 
Firefox 3.6
was released. It takes time to find a problem and fix it. If you have nothing
constructive to say, then there's no point in complaining. There is no 
conspiracy.
It's not a question of competence. If you don't want things to break, don't 
play on
the bleeding edge of software. Wait for the solutions or contribute to them. 
Every
post here, including this one, is another thing the development team has to 
check and
complaints only slow them down.</rant>

My thanks to the Gears team for all your work!

Original comment by Drak...@gmail.com on 25 Jan 2010 at 2:31

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There's a huge difference between a Beta and a RC.  Nobody complains about Gears
missing in FF Beta.

There was really enough time to have a solution prepared against the RC.  
Google has
the power to release a proper Gears within seconds after a FF release, so not 
doing
so must be considered evil.

Or saying it differently:  If Google would follow your arguments we would not 
have
Gears.  As we will see FF 3.6.1 soon.  In this universe, there is nothing like a
final build.  There's only abandoned software.  YKWIM.

Just my 2 cents.

Original comment by valentin...@googlemail.com on 25 Jan 2010 at 3:44

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There is a difference between a beta and an RC... but a "Release Candidate" is 
still
not a final version... it might eventually be, but likely there are still 
tweaks to
be made. Most groups (Mozilla included) recommend that you only use betas and 
RCs for
testing purposes... because they're potentially unstable.

How exactly do you define "evil"? It's a bit arrogant to assume anything you 
don't
like is evil. Not having Gears ready the second a new browser version is 
available is
inconvenient, but hardly evil.

Your last remark makes no sense... Gears didn't break for any 3.5's minor 
revisions,
and likely won't in any of 3.6's minor revisions. What happened was a major 
change in
Firefox between 3.5 and 3.6 broke things. Only when a stable version is 
released can
anyone be 100% sure that no more core changes are going to happen. If you MUST 
HAVE
gears, keep 3.5 until it's release. Firefox isn't asking you to update yet, no 
one's
forced you to update. If you updated without backing up your profile and 
something
broke... it's your fault. In fact, IIRC, Firefox actually warns you during the 
update
that some extensions might break.

I'm not going to respond further because I've wasted enough of my time, the
developers' time and around 140 other people's time with this and this is not 
the
place for this sort of argument. My apologies to those whose time was lost.

Original comment by Drak...@gmail.com on 25 Jan 2010 at 4:56

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An RC is the final version, save fixing showstopper bugs. But you're right that 
an RC
shouldn't be used in production systems ;)

gears is now my only 'grey' extension - hopefully the update will be released 
soon.

Original comment by racepr...@gmail.com on 26 Jan 2010 at 3:03

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Just pointing out, 3.6 is no longer RC (release candidate).  It is now in full
release, and is the default version at http://www.mozilla.com.

C'mon google! We cannot go through this every time Firefox has an update!

Original comment by windowof...@gmail.com on 27 Jan 2010 at 2:26

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Would it not be possible for some-one to check out the src and then post the
compilation results somewhere...?

Original comment by j.cimb.b...@gmail.com on 27 Jan 2010 at 8:47

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Be fair, a company as small and as resource-limited as Google's not going to be 
as
quick off the mark as ... say, all the other major extensions authors, for 
example.

Original comment by jon.look...@gmail.com on 27 Jan 2010 at 11:50

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Excuse that they are waiting for the final version to start making upgrade is 
so lame
that they are insulting us when they say that...

Check Firefox add-on site. Of the 20 most downloaded extensions - all are 
compatible
with 3.6, and 9 are even compatible with 3.7 alpha...

Original comment by sti...@gmail.com on 27 Jan 2010 at 12:07

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Compile it from SVN yourself, attached is a 64-bit one I just made for myself.
Appears to be happy.

DS

Original comment by dstee...@gmail.com on 27 Jan 2010 at 3:57

Attachments:

• gears-linux-x86_64-opt-0.5.34.0.xpi

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there was a bug on firefox 3.6 on mac os
maybe is that the reason for the delay

Original comment by pascal.h...@gmail.com on 27 Jan 2010 at 4:03

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Thanks dsteeghs...! This works fine...! Has anyone compiled versions for Snow
Leopard. I'm looking for a 32 bit version. So far when I compile it on Ubuntu 
Karmic
I get:

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lxpcom
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [bin-opt/linux-x86_64/ff36/libgears.so] Error 1
make: *** [default] Error 2

I will try and compile a version for Snow Leopard this weekend.

Original comment by j.cimb.b...@gmail.com on 28 Jan 2010 at 10:20

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You will need the gecko SDK libraries for 1.9.2 (this includes libxpcom et 
al.). The
SVN repository does not contain 64-bit versions of these.

Original comment by dstee...@gmail.com on 28 Jan 2010 at 2:49

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i modified extensions .rdf and set the version to 3.*.* and set 
NS1:appDisabled= to
"false" Google gears appears enabled now, bt I still can't use youtube 
uploader. Fuck
the Mozilla developers for screwing around like that.

Original comment by pmfa...@gmail.com on 28 Jan 2010 at 5:47

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No need to blame the Mozilla developers. We have given ample notice whenever 
the 3.6
betas and again when the Release Candidate was out, with no response. It's 
probably
just not a priority for Google right now. I'm a heavy Gears user myself, and 
very
disappointed that I still can't use offline Gmail in Firefox 3.6.

PS: Let's avoid sending these kinds of comments to the 164 people that are 
subscribed
to this bug, and let it be used for what it should be used for: Google 
developers
talking about progress or closing the issue as fixed. Happy to take this 
conversation
in another medium, feel free to email me at limi at mozilla.com.

Original comment by l...@gmail.com on 28 Jan 2010 at 8:20

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Well the only solution I've found was to just use chrome when working with 
gmail,docs
and calendar, which maybe was their plan all along.

Original comment by tyepeter...@gmail.com on 30 Jan 2010 at 5:45

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My thoughts exactly.  I've been on the fence about switching to Chrome for 
awhile and
I admit that I'm leaning more towards making the jump and never looking back 
every
day I wait for a new version of Gears.  

FF 3.5.7 seems bloated and slow compared to the 3.6RC, but I travel too much to 
keep
sitting and waiting for a new version of Gears and being without offline Gmail. 
If
their plan is to get people like me to switch to Chrome then I hate to say it 
but it
might just work.  

Original comment by jjp%pete...@gtempaccount.com on 30 Jan 2010 at 10:32

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I am not quite ready to make the switch.  But I have starting keeping a Chrome 
tab
open for GMail only, which seems to work out pretty well and the Gears seems to
integrate better than when I was using offline Gmail with the Gears plug-in for
Firefox.  Now if only GMail Redesigned would make an extension for Chrome!

Original comment by damon.wi...@gmail.com on 1 Feb 2010 at 11:50

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Please fix it for windows! When is the next release?

Original comment by hanspaul...@gmail.com on 2 Feb 2010 at 11:14

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here is win32 version built from svn

Original comment by emp...@gmail.com on 2 Feb 2010 at 11:22

Attachments:

• gears-win32-opt-0.5.34.0.xpi

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thank you very much empeka!

Original comment by cyber...@gmail.com on 2 Feb 2010 at 11:34

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Chrome tab? Did a search but couldn't find it?

Original comment by awither...@gmail.com on 2 Feb 2010 at 12:08

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thanks empeka, works great!

Original comment by mar...@gmail.com on 2 Feb 2010 at 12:30

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192 people have starred the iusses. Please don't post thanks...

Original comment by pascal.h...@gmail.com on 2 Feb 2010 at 1:04

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empeka's build is the basis for the "0.5.34pre1" version posted to AMO:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/13492/

The AMO release will be updated as soon as I see Omaha update the official Gears
binaries on my build system.

Original comment by tv@pobox.com on 2 Feb 2010 at 5:35

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this compilation works on karmic FF 3.6 PPA http://gears64.org/

Original comment by chel...@gmail.com on 3 Feb 2010 at 10:23

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Any news on the Mac front?

Original comment by marcelpr...@gmail.com on 4 Feb 2010 at 10:44

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Please fix soon!!!!

Original comment by fcontrer...@gmail.com on 7 Feb 2010 at 12:21