Zotero 2.1.10 incompatible with Firefox 9.0.1

femrich
I went to use Zotero today with LibreOffice and noticed the database links had disappeared from LO and the Zotero icon on the lower right portion of my browser screen had a yellow triangle in the center of it.

Searching the forum for help, I followed the instructions here:
http://www.zotero.org/support/reporting_bugs#reporting_startup_errors

When I got to step 3, however, I found that the extension for Zotero 2.1.10 (though not the libreoffice nor word extensions) had been automatically disabled and marked as incompatible with Firefox 9.0.1.

I have Firefox set to automatically upgrade anytime a new version is introduced, which is pretty frequent these days.

1) Can you help me get back to a state in which Firefox, Zotero, and LO play nicely together? Do I need to uninstall Firefox and revert to a previous version?

2) Should I stop Firefox from automatically upgrading in order to prevent this from happening in the future? If so, how do I do that?

3) How can I know, when Firefox is upgraded, whether it is safe to upgrade without causing this problem in the future?

I realize this is not the Firefox forum, but since Zotero relies on Firefox, I guess this is the right place to post these questions.

Thanks.
  • femrich
    Hmmm... Odd. So I did a google search for this problem and found nothing. Triple-checked that I was using the most updated version of Zotero. Then went to the add-ons page for Zotero at Mozilla. I missed the version number there and installed Zotero again. While it was downloading, I noticed I was downloading the same version of the extension FF had informed me was incompatible. But I figured, what the heck, and went ahead with the reinstall. Upon restart, at this point Zotero seems to be working. Will check back if there are further problems. If not, hope this post will help someone else...
  • adamsmith
    The devs make sure that the most current Zotero (and Word/Lo add-on) version is always compatible with the most recent Firefox (final) release. E.g. Zotero 3.0 will come out of beta before or when Firefox 10 is released to assure continued compatibility.

    There will occasionally be some issues when Firefox doesn't correctly access Zotero's update manifest.
  • femrich
    Thanks. Everything seems to be working okay now. Not sure what the problem was, but good to know there is some security that the zotero extension should always stay compatible with the latest firefox.

    I haven't been using Zotero long. Initially looked to other solutions because I wanted something that was not internet dependent. However, I'm very happy with it so far...
  • docja
    Firefox 10 was released today. Will zotero 3.0 be released out of beta soon?
  • adamsmith
    it already is.
  • femrich
    When I begin the upgrade process for the new version of firefox, it simply notifies me the current zotero plug-ins (for zotero 2) are incompatible with the new version of firefox. It does not suggest that other zotero plug-ins are available.

    I've searched the forums but not found anything to answer the following questions: 1) What is your recommended upgrade path for accomplishing the move from firefox9/zotero2 to firefox10/zotero...3 presumably? And 2) As a failsafe, is it possible to keep the firefox9/zotero2 installation active and still install and test firefox10/zotero3?

    Sorry, I realize there are overlapping firefox/zotero issues in these questions. Any help you can offer would be much appreciated.
  • adamsmith
    1) doesn't matter. You can upgrade in any order. If Zotero is disabled due to incompatibility your database will still be intact when you upgrade it. You should install Zotero for FF from zotero.org rather than from mozilla (updates take a while until they appear on mozilla)

    2) I guess you can have two parallel FF installations (and if you do, you can have a different Zotero in each of them) - but why would you?
  • femrich
    Thanks for the help, adamsmith. Will try the upgrade and see how it goes.

    About your question in response #2, I was thinking it might be a good idea to keep firefox9/zotero2 active until I was sure that firefox10/zotero3 were behaving properly together. That way, if I screwed anything up at least I could still work with zotero until I figured out a solution for the new installation. But then, that takes all the excitement out of it--sort of like a tightrope walker using a net...
  • adamsmith
    You can still downgrade if all else fails - Zotero 3.0 doesn't do a database upgrade. So it's not really without a net.
  • femrich
    Good to know. It's like having a net the audience can't see. ;-)

    BTW, I am halfway there with the upgrade--now testing Zotero 3 with Firefox 9 and so far so good. I like the new citation selection window, though it took me a few minutes to figure out I needed to hit Enter to get the citation to appear in my document.

    One question: is there a way to set my preferences so that I will be notified when the Zotero add-ons are upgraded (both minor and version upgrades)?

    Thank you
  • dstillman
    edited February 1, 2012
    You should be upgraded by default (and can confirm in the Firefox preferences). We just haven't pushed 3.0 to non-Fx10 users yet (which is why Fx9 just says 2.1.10 is incompatible but Fx10 then finds the 3.0 upgrade).
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