Temporary Add-ons won't load: XULStore.jsm "Error: Can't find profile directory"

The title pretty much says it all: I cannot load temporary addons anymore. They show up on the “about:debugging” page after I try to load them, but do not show any signs of running. The “Inspect” button shows an error “Can’t find profile directory” with the filename XULStore.jsm.

I’ve tried creating deleting (renaming) XULStore.jsm, restarting Firefox, creating a new profile, and rebooting the computer. Still having the issue.

One thing that may be related is that I was working on a very memory intensive addon (it attempted to load 300+ multi-megabyte images) when this started. However, it is not just this addon that I cannot temporarily load; others that worked before will not load as temporary addons.

Any help would be welcome. :slight_smile:
-Scott

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How to solve this problem? anyone has idea?

I suggest you file a bug for it.

Same issue here.
I found a bugreport in bugzilla saying this bug won’t be fixed because it shouldn’t happen for long … It’s been 10 monthts now :frowning:

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I’m still getting this error. Really unfortunate when you’re trying to learn something new.

Maybe put up a warning over here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Your_first_WebExtension

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I agree, the docs could be improved.
I would say you should always use web-ext tool for testing your extensions.

First install it globally with:
npm i -g web-ext

And then go to the folder with your extension and execute:
web-ext run

It will open new Firefox instance with your extension. Plus it will reload it every time you change your sources.

Same problem in Firefox 79.0 (64-Bit) on Manjaro Linux.

When I load a temporary add-on, the console shows this error:

Error: Can’t find profile directory. XULStore.jsm:66:15
load resource://gre/modules/XULStore.jsm:66
XULStore resource://gre/modules/XULStore.jsm:24

But:
This error only occurs after setting
Edit -> Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> History -> Never remember history
(which Firefox automatically changes to “Use custom settings for history -> Always use private browsing mode” after restarting)

I keep discovering bugs like this in Firefox.
It’s the gift that keeps giving!

Since you seem to have isolated the exact conditions:

Thanks!

I don’t have much experience with reporting Firefox bugs…

Should I use https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1548017 (already posted in this thread) or create a new bug report?

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If you’re unsure that it is the same bug, report a new bug. It’s better to have duplicates than no info…
If you are fairly certain that it’s the same thing, post a comment on there.

Reported as https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1661906