Alan Beagley wrote:
> 
> Is it OK to save the profile file(s) somewhere, delete the whole Mozilla
> tree, unzip another version, then copy the profile file(s) back?

You can avoid the saving and copying by putting the profile outside the
mozilla tree and setting MOZILLA_HOME to point to it. But the profile
files are generated from those in bin/defaults, which may change every
now and then. That too can create problems, e.g. if a string in an old
prefs file doesn't match what an element in the Preferences window
expects, or the contents of an .rdf file aren't what the JavaScript code
in one of the jars expects.

If you're carrying profiles forward, one way to catch this would be to
save the old bin/defaults and compare it with the new bin/defaults. If
there are changes, you have to upgrade your profile by starting afresh
with a new one, or regenerating the changed files by deleting them in
the old one (which risks losing preferred settings), or doing a
diff/patch, or manual patching.

The only elegant solution I can think of would be to write an installer
that 1) compares the list of files in the new archive against those in
the old /bin to determine if any have to be deleted with the overwrite,
and 2) upgrades profiles if necessary by applying a patch based on the
diffs between the new and old bin/defaults.

h~

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