Breaking out of a walled garden. How do I install a local add-on permanently on Firefox?
Having done my share in software developement on various platforms and using various languages in the past, I'm not really into JavaScript or creating add-ons for browsers. But recently I thought about implementing a tool for internal, private use at home by writing a Firefox add-on.
Alas, and somewhat unexpectedly, Firefox, while open source, is even more closed down than Android. While Android allows me to sideload an app easily, without getting any third party involved, AFAIK there is no way to install one permanently, on recent versions of Firefox, on any platform. Even add-ons that aren't intended to get published anywhere have to get submitted to Mozilla for review and signing.
So my question is: Did I miss some not so obvious ways to do what I want?
Using the developer or nightly versions of Firefox plus manually and temporarily load an add-on for debugging isn't a viable option. Installing an ESR version perhaps may allow it. I didn't try so far, because this would need me to uninstall the standard version 122.0 I'm using right now. I have also lost confidence that Mozilla will not continue to cripple this version as well.
Using a Firefox clone might perhaps solve my problem. I don't intend to use it (and the not yet written add-on) for surfing the web, ever. The intended use is limited to a local network that is not routed to the outside. Any recommendations or ideas? My fallback would be implementing the stuff strictly server side, but I'd rather implement everything inside the running browser, perhaps even without network connectivity.
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