I’m working on a suite of scripts that will enable me to hop Linux distros and get back to business as usual w/ minimal fuss. When I hop distros, I tend to back up my important stuff and blow everything else away so I can start with a clean slate. I have some scripts for updating my backups before the wipe and updating the system after the base install:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Followed by other commands to install my favorite apps and configure my favorite desktop settings.

One thing that I haven’t nailed down yet is restoring my Firefox add-ons through the command line. Searching the web, I’m not even sure this is feasible. I found this post from 2011 in the AskUbuntu forum, but I figure the answer might have changed since then.

I just want to remove as much friction as possible from the distro hopping process. I know I can store /home on a separate partition, but I prefer nice, clean installs followed by scripting in my config changes.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

  • redxef@feddit.org
    4·
    4 days ago

    I use something like this:

    #!/bin/bash

set -euo pipefail
URLS=(
    'https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/'
    'https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-badger17/'
    'https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/passff/'
    'https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/copy-plaintext/'
    'https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/duckduckgo-for-firefox/'
    'https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/user-agent-string-switcher/'
    'https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clearurls/'
    'https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/temporary-containers/'
    'https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/consent-o-matic/'
)

DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL='https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/downloads/latest'
_="${FIREFOX:=firefox}"
_="${DST:=/usr/lib/$FIREFOX/browser/extensions}"

if [ $UID -eq 0 ]; then
    SUDO=
else
    SUDO=sudo
fi


download_links=()
for url in "${URLS[@]}"; do
    package_name="$(sed 's_/$__' <<< "$url" | awk -F/ '{print $NF}')"
    download_links+=("$DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL/$package_name/addon-$package_name.xpi")
done

workdir="$(mktemp --directory)"
cd "$workdir"
for url in "${download_links[@]}"; do
    curl -OL "$url"
done

for ext in *.xpi; do
    ext_id="$(unzip -p "$ext" 'manifest.json' | jq -r '(if .browser_specific_settings then .browser_specific_settings else .applications end).gecko.id')"
    target="$DST/$ext_id.xpi"
    echo "$ext -> $target"
    $SUDO install -Dm644 "$ext" "$target"
done

    That doesn’t handle the extension config though.