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Reviewing extensions: What is the installation date?

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I wish to review my Firefox Extensions, specifically I want to know the date when I installed all my extensions. Is this possible?

I know about Review installed extensions | Firefox Help - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/review-installed-extensions support article but it's not helpful. And I know about ``about:addons``

I also posted this question on SuperUser Stackexchange - https://superuser.com/questions/1512094/reviewing-firefox-extensions-when-was-it-installed/1512096#1512096 I also posted this on Addons.Mozilla.org forum - https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/reviewing-extensions-what-is-the-installation-date/50872?u=brisdaz

A kind gentleman [pointed](https://superuser.com/a/1512096/627894) me to the ``extensions.json`` file which when viewed with firefox had a nifty expandable tree view. However the date was encoded in epoch seconds and it was hard to find which extension was which as the id attribute didn't have the name of the extension nor a link to AMO.

Is there an extension or software or web app that would enable one to view it easily?

I wish to review my Firefox Extensions, specifically I want to know the date when I installed all my extensions. Is this possible? I know about Review installed extensions | Firefox Help - https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/review-installed-extensions support article but it's not helpful. And I know about ``about:addons`` I also posted this question on SuperUser Stackexchange - https://superuser.com/questions/1512094/reviewing-firefox-extensions-when-was-it-installed/1512096#1512096 I also posted this on Addons.Mozilla.org forum - https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/reviewing-extensions-what-is-the-installation-date/50872?u=brisdaz A kind gentleman [pointed](https://superuser.com/a/1512096/627894) me to the ``extensions.json`` file which when viewed with firefox had a nifty expandable tree view. However the date was encoded in epoch seconds and it was hard to find which extension was which as the id attribute didn't have the name of the extension nor a link to AMO. Is there an extension or software or web app that would enable one to view it easily?

Modified by brisdaz

All Replies (9)

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To the best of my knowledge, no, I don't know of any software that will show you that information.

However, to convert the epoch time, you can use a website like Epoch Converter.

As for the IDs, if you go to about:debugging and select the This Firefox tab on the left side, you can see a list of your add-ons and their Extension ID.

But it's worth noting that the JSON file you are referring to do indeed list the extension name. It's in the defaultLocale key.

Additionally, I'm not what you have been using to view the JSON file currently, but if you open the file with Firefox, it will parse and format the JSON file. That probably makes your life a lot easier.

Although it's not really an answer to your original question, hopefully it will help you out a bit.

NOTE: As a side note, the extensions.json file will list internal extensions along with ones that you have installed. Many of the internal ones can't be uninstalled and won't appear on your extension list on the about:addons or about:debugging pages.
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I've entered feedback into the Help|Submit feedback webpage. Where else can I submit?

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That's the correct place to enter feedback.

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You can run some JavaScript code in the Web Console to convert 13-digit datetime strings to readable date strings.

EDIT: I've converted the JavaScript code to a bookmarklet that works for both cases. You can create a new bookmark and paste the JavaScript code in its Location field. This version works at this forum (datetime) and at Bugzilla (data-time).


javascript:/*EPOCH->Date*/(function(){
var JD={"day":"numeric","month":"short","year":"numeric", "hour":"numeric","minute":"numeric","second":"numeric", "hour12":false};
var LO='en-US';/*en-GB:DMY;en-US:MDY*/
var D,E,T,i;
/*JSON Viewer*/
var elm=document.querySelectorAll('span.objectBox-number');
for(i=0;E=elm[i];i++){
T=E.textContent;if(/\d{13}/.test(T)){
D=new Date(Number(T));
E.textContent=D.toLocaleString(LO,JD).replace(/,/g,'');
}}
/*JSON Raw Data*/
elm=document.querySelector('pre');
if(elm){
elm.textContent=elm.textContent.replace(/\d{13}/g,(function(r){D=new Date(Number(r));return(D.toLocaleString(LO,JD).replace(/,/g,''))}));
}
/*Bugzilla*/
elm=document.querySelectorAll('*[datetime],*[date-time],*[data-time]');
for(i=0;E=elm[i];i++){
T=E.getAttribute('datetime')||E.getAttribute('date-time')||E.getAttribute('data-time');
D=new Date(/\d{13}/.test(T)?Number(T):/\d{10}/.test(T)?Number(T)*1E3:T);
E.innerHTML=D.toLocaleString(LO,JD).replace(/,/g,'');
}
})()

Modified by cor-el

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I've edited the above posted JavaScript code and converted it to a bookmarklet, so you can use it in the location field of a bookmark.

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Thank you cor-el and Wesley Brunton for your help. I was able to use the web console version but the bookmarklet makes it just more convenient.

Jefferson Scher (jscher2000) who wrote Session History Scrounger for Firefox (with lz4 support) — Fx File Utilities and is also I believe a top 10 SUMO contributor seems interested in developing or adding features to an existing extension list web app to do do just this.

I'm also trying to engage external developers to contribute a solution. If I give them my extensions.json file what privacy risks should I be aware of?

Is there a open source funding/bounty program that is recommended to do this sort of project?

Modified by brisdaz

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I've added support for date-time attributes as used on this forum and data-time attributes used on Bugzilla. You can use LO='en-GB' for dates in DMY format.

Modified by cor-el

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brisdaz said

I'm also trying to engage external developers to contribute a solution. If I give them my extensions.json file what privacy risks should I be aware of?

No real privacy risk because there isn't really any private information in there. Most of the information included in that file is publicly accessible information.

The most private things are file paths (because they show your computer username) and the internal ID that Firefox Sync gives each extension. Not really anything that's too private.

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Chosen Solution