Re: Does anyone know the purpose of this empty FF folder?{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}

On Feb 12, 1:13*am, Jack <no...@nohow.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> On my XP machine it is located here:
>
> C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application
> Data\Mozilla\Extensions\{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}
>
> I have searched the web and newsgroups and there are 150,000 hits for:
>
> "{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}"
>
> but nothing to explain what this folder is used for.
>
> I tried to delete it but it reappeared after restarting FF.
>
> There's no great concern. I'm just curious as to it's purpose.[/color]

The folder name is clearly a GUID (Global Unique IDentifier). From
examining the Firefox profiles I have on my Windows partition as well
as the ones on my Linux partition I see a folder with a GUID
for .NET. The name of the folder is the same for both profiles on
Windows as well as on Linux. I wonder if it's left behind from an
extension you had installed and later uninstalled. In my case there
are files/folders in it, among others there is install.rdf in each
case and that file can be viewed in a text editor and you'll see the
name of the extension (at least you do in the case of .Net). I do
have other extensions installed but don't see such a folder for them
in the meantime.

In searching I found a number of sites as you noted that has that
GUID. At [url]https://wiki.mozilla.org/PFS2[/url]
I found the following:

-------------------------
# App ID is hardcoded in the JS. We'll update this script when a new
appId is available. Firefox always uses the same app id and it won't
change any time soon.
# appID={ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}
------------------------

So it's the GUID is for Firefox itself. But under it you could find
any number of add-ons.

At [url]http://www.bengoodger.com/software/mb/extensions/packaging/extensions.html[/url]
we find the following info along with other good info on how to
generate a GUID:

-------------------------
Compulsory install.rdf Properties

Your install.rdf file must have these properties:

em:id
The string GUID of the extension - you can create these by using
guidgen (Windows), uuidgen (Unix) or "botbot uuid" on IRC. e.g.

<em:id>{daf44bf7-a45e-4450-979c-91cf07434c3d}</em:id>

em:version
A Firefox Version Format (FVF) string identifying the version that
is being supplied by this package. e.g.

<em:version>4.6</em:version>

em:targetApplication
A object specifying an application targeted by this extension.
This means that the extension will work with the application
identified by the GUID (em:id), from the min version (em:minVersion)
up to and including the max version (em:maxVersion). An extension
manifest must specify at least one of these properties, and may
specify more if the extension targets multiple apps that support this
extension system (e.g. Firefox and Thunderbird). e.g.
-------------------------

So from that you can see that when you create an add-on you must
create the install.rdf file. Within that file you must provide the
GUID of the application for which the install is designed for (could
be a TB add-on, SM, FF).

So it would make sense that it gets re-created when you delete it.
It's Firefox's GUID.

JB

On Feb 12, 3:07*am, Fox on the run <jjrbouc...@gmail.com> wrote:
<snip>[color=blue]
> So it's the GUID is for Firefox itself. *But under it you could find
> any number of add-ons.
>[/color]
<snip>[color=blue]
> JB[/color]

Also at [url]http://www.bengoodger.com/software/mb/extensions/packaging/extensions.html[/url]
I noticed the following info:
--------------------------------------------
Application IDs

The following are some common target application GUIDs that you can
use in your targetApplication properties:

Firefox {ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}
Thunderbird {3550f703-e582-4d05-9a08-453d09bdfdc6}
------------------------------------------

JB

On Feb 12, 3:24*am, Jack <no...@nohow.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> Fox on the run wrote:
>
>
>[color=green]
> > On Feb 12, 1:13 am, Jack <no...@nohow.com> wrote:[color=darkred]
> >> On my XP machine it is located here:[/color][/color]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
> >> C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application
> >> Data\Mozilla\Extensions\{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}[/color][/color]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
> >> I have searched the web and newsgroups and there are 150,000 hits for:[/color][/color]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
> >> "{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}"[/color][/color]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
> >> but nothing to explain what this folder is used for.[/color][/color]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
> >> I tried to delete it but it reappeared after restarting FF.[/color][/color]
>[color=green][color=darkred]
> >> There's no great concern. I'm just curious as to it's purpose.[/color][/color]
>[color=green]
> > The folder name is clearly a GUID (Global Unique IDentifier). *From
> > examining the Firefox profiles I have on my Windows partition as well
> > as the ones on my Linux partition I see a folder with a GUID
> > for .NET. *The name of the folder is the same for both profiles on
> > Windows as well as on Linux. *I wonder if it's left behind from an
> > extension you had installed and later uninstalled. *In my case there
> > are files/folders in it, among others there is install.rdf in each
> > case and that file can be viewed in a text editor and you'll see the
> > name of the extension (at least you do in the case of .Net). *I do
> > have other extensions installed but don't see such a folder for them
> > in the meantime.[/color]
>[color=green]
> > In searching I found a number of sites as you noted that has that
> > GUID. *Athttps://wiki.mozilla.org/PFS2
> > I found the following:[/color]
>[color=green]
> > -------------------------
> > # *App ID is hardcoded in the JS. We'll update this script when a new
> > appId is available. Firefox always uses the same app id and it won't
> > change any time soon.
> > # appID={ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}
> > ------------------------[/color]
>[color=green]
> > So it's the GUID is for Firefox itself. *But under it you could find
> > any number of add-ons.[/color]
>[color=green]
> > Athttp://www.bengoodger.com/software/mb/extensions/packaging/extensions....
> > we find the following info along with other good info on how to
> > generate a GUID:[/color]
>[color=green]
> > -------------------------
> > Compulsory install.rdf Properties[/color]
>[color=green]
> > Your install.rdf file must have these properties:[/color]
>[color=green]
> > em:id
> > * * The string GUID of the extension - you can create these by using
> > guidgen (Windows), uuidgen (Unix) or "botbot uuid" on IRC. e.g.[/color]
>[color=green]
> > * * <em:id>{daf44bf7-a45e-4450-979c-91cf07434c3d}</em:id>[/color]
>[color=green]
> > em:version
> > * * A Firefox Version Format (FVF) string identifying the version that
> > is being supplied by this package. e.g.[/color]
>[color=green]
> > * * <em:version>4.6</em:version>[/color]
>[color=green]
> > em:targetApplication
> > * * A object specifying an application targeted by this extension.
> > This means that the extension will work with the application
> > identified by the GUID (em:id), from the min version (em:minVersion)
> > up to and including the max version (em:maxVersion). An extension
> > manifest must specify at least one of these properties, and may
> > specify more if the extension targets multiple apps that support this
> > extension system (e.g. Firefox and Thunderbird). e.g.
> > -------------------------[/color]
>[color=green]
> > So from that you can see that when you create an add-on you must
> > create the install.rdf file. *Within that file you must provide the
> > GUID of the application for which the install is designed for (could
> > be a TB add-on, SM, FF).[/color]
>[color=green]
> > So it would make sense that it gets re-created when you delete it.
> > It's Firefox's GUID.[/color]
>[color=green]
> > JB[/color]
>
> Thanks JB, I came to pretty much the same conclusion that this
> "extension" is hardwired into FF. See my reply to Leonidas Jones in this
> thread. I was just a bit concerned that this extension folder was not
> where it should seem to belong and did not correspond to anything I
> added on. Thanks for the responses.[/color]

I read that. I also have it at that location in addition to the one
in the profile/extension folder.

JB

On Feb 12, 1:44*pm, Jack <no...@nohow.com> wrote:[color=blue]
> Fox on the run wrote:[/color]
<snip>[color=blue][color=green]
> > I read that. *I also have it at that location in addition to the one
> > in the profile/extension folder.[/color]
>[color=green]
> > JB[/color]
>
> That's interesting that you also have it in the profile/extension
> folder. Is it empty there also or does it contain any evidence as to its
> purpose? At this point I am only curious as it seems to be where it is
> by benevolent design, and is not some aberration.[/color]

It's empty there as well. I'm not sure what would populate that
folder. Clearly it's the GUID for Firefox. But not clear on why it's
there as well as under the profile.

JB