[conspire] How to update packages when Deb is behind?

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):

> With hindsight, wish I hadn’t installed the latest firefox-esr so I
> could add the code to over-write the User-Agent string.

Let's have a look at that.

The current release of Firefox-ESR on Debian 9 'buster' is 52.9.0esr-1
(Debian's packaging of the upstream 52.9.0 release).  As a reminder,
traditional Firefox extensions coded in XUL have support until upstream
release 57.  Starting with v57, XUL/XBL will be dropped, and only
new-style extensions written in WebExtensions will work.  (ISTR, that's
when they're abandoning the Gecko rendering engine and switching to the
new, shiny one called 'Quantum'.)

I had pointed out upthread that Chris Pederick's XUL-type extension User
Agent Switcher has been packaged in Debian as package
xul-ext-useragentswitcher .  In re-finding that package, I noticed this
bug:  https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=881904

It claims that the extension thus packaged hasn't worked in recent
releases of Firefox, even those prior to v57.  A comment (Nov. 2017)
says that Pederick plans to make a WebExtensions replacement sooner or
later.[1]

https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=xul-ext-useragentswitcher
says the package isn't currently available in Debian-Testing, but is  
Stable and Unstable.  The package's developer page
(https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/useragentswitcher) reveals that it was
removed from Debian-Testing on Dec. 16, 2017 citing the above-mentioned
bug.

You could always manage User-Agent the old-school way, using
about:config .
https://www.howtogeek.com/113439/how-to-change-your-browsers-user-agent-without-installing-any-extensions/

In the way of equivalents of User Agent Switcher 
I already mentioned (again, upthread) User Agent Overrider by
'muzuiget'.  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/user/muzuiget/ .
I _think_ (contrary to what I said before) it's still a XUL extension.
A competitor that professes to be in the same spirit and a 'successor'
Alexanger Schlarb's User-Agent Switcher,
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/uaswitcher/
Which is definitely in WebExtensions.

I am unclear on from what version onwards Firefox-ESR starts supporting
WebExtensions, so consider that question homework.  ;->  Also, I'll
repeat a short version of my usual warning about installing software, 
especially if you do it with superuser privilege, that you get from
public-bazaar sites like addons.mozilla.org, functionally the same as
running code from nobody in particular, which unless you're desperate
and/or reckless is a dangerous idea.  

Lots of people seem to have good luck with  user-agent-switcher-revived
and UASwitcher, FWIW.  See footnote.  Problem is discussed here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/6rw3co/webextension_alternative_to_useragent_switcher/


> As a related item, I have long used NoScript to reduce the traffic to
> 3rd party websites.  However recently I am encountering more and more
> sites that link to a dozen or more others.  It gets to be a hassle to
> figure out what I need to temporarily allow.  

It's always been a hassle, in my experience, and always worth the work.

> So, something I might do is change /etc/apt/sources.list to replace
> testing to buster.  At a later date when buster is released, edit the
> file to replace buster with stable.  And after that consider if
> backports will get some updated package I am dying to have.

Sure, you could do that.



[1] Someone calling himself 'Linder' claims to have beaten Pederick to
the punch:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/user-agent-switcher-revived/