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Firefox Developer Edition
The Firefox Developer Edition has its own profile path, so it can run side-by-side with a normal or ESR Firefox installation.
Firefox Portable
It has its own profile path, so it doesn't interfere with a normal Firefox installation. Regarding updates, it says "To upgrade to a newer version of Firefox Portable, just install a new copy of Firefox Portable right over your old one. All your data will be preserved. You can use the built in updater as well, but some non-personal files or directories may be left behind."
There are separate portable installs available, depending on which Firefox version you want to run:
https://portableapps.com/support/firefox_portable
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-esr
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-developer-portable
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-nightly
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable/test (beta)
Each one has its own profile folder. You can install and run multiple portable versions.
If you want to run multiple versions at the same time (or if you want to run the portable and regular versions at the same time), you should copy the FirefoxPortable.ini file from the portable version's "Other\Source" subfolder to its root folder, and edit it to update "AllowMultipleInstances" to true.
There is a separate app which lets you set up multiple profiles with Firefox Portable. But this only works with the regular portable version, not the ESR or other versions. There are other ways setting up multiple profiles which may work with the other versions.
This page has older versions of the regular Portable Firefox and ESR versions.
Firefox Versions
If you don't want to use the latest Firefox version, it is safer to run the ESR version than version 56, as the ESR version will continue to get security updates. The ESR channel won't get the v57 (Quantum) changes until around March 2018. Hopefully by then, more add-ons will have been updated to work with Quantum, or replacements will be available.
You can copy your profile (which has all your add-ons and settings) from a regular Firefox install to one of the portable versions.
However, profiles from Firefox 55 and later won't work with older Firefox versions. If you are downgrading from version 56 or 57 to the ESR version (which is currently at 52.5), you'll have to recreate your profile from scratch.
NoScript
The NoScript add-on is now available for Firefox 57, at least in a preliminary state. The interface is different than before. Either I haven't figured it out yet, or not everything is working quite right yet. I haven't found any good instructions for it yet.
(I tried setting "Temporarily Allow" for a few domains, but the webpage still didn't work, even though the same page did work with those same settings in Firefox 56.
Also, in Firefox 57, the domains shown in the NoScript drop-down don't include all of the domains that are listed in Firefox 56, for the same page.)
Status (etc) bar add-ons
Design and implement an API for Toolbars - bugzilla entry. Hopefully this will be implemented, so status bar add-ons can be made to work again.
The Firefox Developer Edition has its own profile path, so it can run side-by-side with a normal or ESR Firefox installation.
Firefox Portable
It has its own profile path, so it doesn't interfere with a normal Firefox installation. Regarding updates, it says "To upgrade to a newer version of Firefox Portable, just install a new copy of Firefox Portable right over your old one. All your data will be preserved. You can use the built in updater as well, but some non-personal files or directories may be left behind."
There are separate portable installs available, depending on which Firefox version you want to run:
https://portableapps.com/support/firefox_portable
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-esr
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-developer-portable
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox-portable-nightly
https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable/test (beta)
Each one has its own profile folder. You can install and run multiple portable versions.
If you want to run multiple versions at the same time (or if you want to run the portable and regular versions at the same time), you should copy the FirefoxPortable.ini file from the portable version's "Other\Source" subfolder to its root folder, and edit it to update "AllowMultipleInstances" to true.
There is a separate app which lets you set up multiple profiles with Firefox Portable. But this only works with the regular portable version, not the ESR or other versions. There are other ways setting up multiple profiles which may work with the other versions.
This page has older versions of the regular Portable Firefox and ESR versions.
Firefox Versions
If you don't want to use the latest Firefox version, it is safer to run the ESR version than version 56, as the ESR version will continue to get security updates. The ESR channel won't get the v57 (Quantum) changes until around March 2018. Hopefully by then, more add-ons will have been updated to work with Quantum, or replacements will be available.
You can copy your profile (which has all your add-ons and settings) from a regular Firefox install to one of the portable versions.
However, profiles from Firefox 55 and later won't work with older Firefox versions. If you are downgrading from version 56 or 57 to the ESR version (which is currently at 52.5), you'll have to recreate your profile from scratch.
NoScript
The NoScript add-on is now available for Firefox 57, at least in a preliminary state. The interface is different than before. Either I haven't figured it out yet, or not everything is working quite right yet. I haven't found any good instructions for it yet.
(I tried setting "Temporarily Allow" for a few domains, but the webpage still didn't work, even though the same page did work with those same settings in Firefox 56.
Also, in Firefox 57, the domains shown in the NoScript drop-down don't include all of the domains that are listed in Firefox 56, for the same page.)
Status (etc) bar add-ons
Design and implement an API for Toolbars - bugzilla entry. Hopefully this will be implemented, so status bar add-ons can be made to work again.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-25 04:23 am (UTC)From:ESR Portable is acting weird
Date: 2017-11-25 07:11 am (UTC)From: (Anonymous)Possible you might want to scratch Firefox ESR Portable from that portable list above; it did a bad install (dialog box said it was missing a temp file on firstrun). When it finally ran (very slow to open), it opened two windows: a regular full-sized one and a smaller rectangular box with scrollbars on all sides of it. Neither window painted any content (both stayed empty; the bigger one had a grey load spinner that just kept spinning) and the rectangular one couldn't be brought to the front so it could be viewed, so I have no idea what was going on there.
After ESR had been running/not loading for a while I pinned it to the Win10 Taskbar. After windows failed to paint/finish loading I closed ESR; it took extra-long to shut down. Clicked the taskbar icon to run it again and got three error messages: 1) "code execution cannot proceed because mozglue.dll was not found; reinstalling the program may fix this problem", 2) ditto msvcp140.dll, 3) ditto vcruntime140.dll.
With the help of Everything search, I saw ESR installed to AppData on Windows 10. Copy/pasting the path I saw it's located at C:\Users\[PCName]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\TempState\Downloads\FirefoxPortableESR\FirefoxPortable.exe
That's the location it actually runs from, which I find just a bit...odd. Opening it from exactly that path results in none of the above errors (it runs just fine) but same deal otherwise, minus the little rectangular box -the page is empty and won't paint, and doesn't seem to work - running searches from the search box and typing addresses in the address bar does nothing.
The last issue *might* be on my firewall settings, so I'll check and try to run ESR Portable again to see if changing firewall rules helps but either way, I think this decided me that I'm going with a copy of Dev Edition and regular ESR, which I think is one combo I won't need to explicitly set separate profiles for (which is all I want to avoid, at this point!).
Will keep you updated...MM
Update 2
Date: 2017-11-25 07:25 am (UTC)From: (Anonymous)So...I'm about to wipe portable ESR and just go with regular ESR and regular Dev Edition, for now...hopefully that goes more smoothly and the profiles play nice and don't breath fire or scream at each other too much. -MM
no subject
Date: 2017-11-25 09:33 am (UTC)From:The first thing you mentioned, running Dev Edition with ESR, has gone quite well. I've tested it in a myriad of ways - both versions running at once side by side, one at a time, one after the other, varying which one goes after the other, checking add-ons, themes and settings for any profile bleeds during and after each run but so far, it's all been perfect, no issues whatsoever.
I'm a little concerned that with one tab open - just the new tab page - Dev Edition runs five separate processes to ESR's one, but other than that, so far everything's been cool. I have ESR set up with all my dev tools in the add-on bar (restored!) which is really neat; it kills me how much I've missed that bar in Quantum versions.
I tested the Web Dev add-on the most for profile bleed because the fact that it wasn't working right in Quantum (it's no longer missing data under tabs, but is missing some of the very tools I need under the same tabs that were once blank) was what started this whole thing where I needed to roll back to ESR.
My other question was why I couldn't run Legacy add-ons in Nightly (never did figure that out) but as long as ESR is running them (and it is) I've got until at least sometime next year to try that again, and I like how I've got everything set up now, so no need to change it anytime soon. Thank you so much for your help with this! :)
no subject
Date: 2017-11-25 07:26 pm (UTC)From:I don't think Legacy add-ons are supposed to work in Nightly. Nightly is based on the most recent updates, so it should have all the same limitations as 57 in that regards.
Maybe you were thinking about unsigned add-ons. The nightly and developer editions can still run unsigned add-ons (for testing purposes), but you still have to set a flag:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing
no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 04:08 am (UTC)From:According to the table at the link, "legacy extension[s] (bootstrapped, overlay, XUL etc)" that are "signed by AMO" and "unsigned" can be run in "Nightly, Developer Edition, unbranded beta, unbranded release"; if "signed by AMO" or "unsigned" then "YES with pref", if signed by Mozilla internally then simply "YES".
I posted about it on Nov. 9th after the topic was brought up by
Unless I'm reading the table entirely wrong (which I can't and don't entirely rule out!).
no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 04:35 am (UTC)From:If that were true, it would imply that nothing in the Firefox code base was changed which inherently prevents legacy addons from working. And that it's just an on/off switch somewhere to disallow it. I had thought that the Quantum changes were simply incompatible with legacy addons.
But I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else that legacy addons would still work anywhere but older versions of Firefox.
I have read that PaleMoon and WaterFox, both Firefox forks, support both WebExtensions and Legacy addons. So that's another option to try. But I had issues with both of them the last time I tried them (which was quite a while back).
no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 04:54 am (UTC)From:Yeah, I can't figure it out - I took that page at it's word from Nov. 9th on, which was the only reason I was so puzzled at Legacy not working in Nightly. There are two possible flags you can set and I set them both and still could not get any Legacy add-on to work. So jumping down that rabbit hole has been a complete waste of time, and if that's because that page was or simply currently is wrong, someone should have updated it to reflect that at some point before Quantum rolled out.
I have read that PaleMoon and WaterFox, both Firefox forks, support both WebExtensions and Legacy addons.
I've used both pretty extensively in the distant-ish past, no problems outside of Firefox's usual ones (slow/buggy/crashes) but never could stick with them because a) I have trouble trusting a fork maintained by just one person not on the Mozilla project and b) lack of security updates - at least one if not both devs code only in their spare time; updates seem to seriously lag as a result.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 05:04 am (UTC)From:https://www.tenforums.com/browsers-email/87182-why-your-firefox-not-using-multiple-processes.html
http://www.zdnet.com/article/new-versions-of-firefox-prepare-for-its-biggest-change-ever/
no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 05:17 am (UTC)From:It's just... *checks Firefox tag, myself* it was supporting max four processes through 56 (https://wiki.mozilla.org/Electrolysis), even if e10s was able to run on your hardware and/or with your add-ons (those were the two checks Mozilla made; if either failed they put you on single process through those updates, if I recall correctly).
The first time Firefox official was released with e10s they kept me off multi-process, so I uninstalled/re-installed Fx from scratch, went with all non-legacy add-ons, and had multi-process working on it ever since (even with Legacy add-ons in later releases, because they unset the flag for that toward the end) - on this laptop anyway...I didn't even pay attention/really care about the other, kitchen laptop; it's so slow nothing helps it much, anyhow).
The uptick from four processes to five kind of alarmed me, that was all (and I see now I completely forgot to mention it was the uptick from four to five that concerned me; comparing it to ESR's one process just made the difference a bit more startling)...but it's not affecting computer performance (using the Dev Edition right now, and so far, I still couldn't be much happier unless it supported add-ons I miss most...if I had any money, for example, I'd totally pay someone just to get the add-on bar back).
no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 05:53 am (UTC)From:Opened 3 more tabs & sites, now there's 5 processes.
no subject
Date: 2017-11-26 06:41 am (UTC)From:Multiprocess is going to have a min and max number of threads, but I haven't yet looked into what the current limits are on that.
hello
Date: 2017-12-04 05:08 pm (UTC)From: (Anonymous)https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/toggledocumentcolors-198916/
i saw your reply for a possible update, maybe this could help a little
https://github.com/M-Reimer/togglewebsitecolors/
about noscript,
afaik there is no api to deny js like before, for now
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/javascript-control/
this one is very straightforward
all firefox versions are available from
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/
different profiles can be started with --no-remote iirc
Re: hello
Date: 2017-12-05 03:12 am (UTC)From: