Is it possible to enable a Firefox addon using a terminal command on the mac

firefoxterminal

Is it possible to enable and possibly even configure a Firefox addon using terminal?

Every now and then I need to temporarily disable an addon. I often then forget to re-enable it but it is really important I keep it running as often as possible. I thought that if I can enable the addon through a terminal command then I can run that command on a timer somehow.

(please be kind, I'm still new to the mac!)

Best Answer

What you need to do is create a new Firefox profile.

That profile will be completely different from the default profile that you normally use including the add-ons that are installed.

Command line Mac Command Line Options:

Symlink the Firefox binary (optional)

The Firefox binary is located in /Applications/Firefox.app/Conents/MacOS so I suggest making a symlink to it so you can launch Firefox from anywhere and you don’t have to type out the full path each time.

% sudo ln -s /Aplications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox /usr/bin/firefox

For the rest of the examples below, I will assume that the binary is symlinked. If you chose not to, you’ll need to type out the full path.

Launch Firefox Profile Manager

The ProfileManager launches Firefox with a Profile selection box in the GUI allowing you to choose which profile you’d like to use

% firefox -ProfileManager

Create a Profile

This is the quick command to create a profile in the default location which will be in the ~Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles directory.

% firefox CreateProfile <profile name>

To create a profile in a specific directory, you need to specify either the absolute or relative path

% firefox CreateProfile “profile_name profile_dir”

Launch Firefox specifying a profile

This command will launch Firefox with a specific profile

% firefox -P “<profile_name>“

Use this command if you have Firefox already running and want to have a new instance with a different profile

% firefox -new-instance -P “<profile_name>”

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to remove Firefox using terminal

To remove Firefox.app:

Login with an administrator account
sudo rm -rf /Applications/Firefox.app/

You get the same result by just dragging the Firefox app from /Applications/ to the trash.

If the crashes continue after reinstalling, deleting preferences and support files in the user library may help:

~/Library/Preferences/org.mozilla.firefox*
~/Library/Application Support/Firefox
~/Library/Application Support/Mozilla
~/Library/Mozilla
~/Library/Caches/Firefox

MacOS – Disable Screen sharing via the command line in mountain lion

To start screensharing:

sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.screensharing.plist

To stop:

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.screensharing.plist

The -w flag modifies the Disabled key as appropriate. It's best to let launchctl handle this, as the location where the config files are stored has changed a bit between OS versions.