Ok, so I have local root access to a machine with a lot of local user accounts. These all have some version of a a particular extension that was installed under their user account during account setup (various versions depending on when the account was created for the user). Poor way to manage I know, but it's an old system that I was handed as is.
I am in the process of trying to update the extension globally. I have a version installed under my profile, I copied out the extension's correctly named folder (friendly name not the ID string) and moved it to the location described below. There is also an XML config file that goes along with the extension that I separately figured out how to copy to all users Firefox profiles.
Global addon install - "If you want to install an extension automatically to all users in your system you need to extract it, rename the folder that contains the addon to the addon's id string and copy it to the firefox global extensions folder /usr/share/mozilla/extensions/{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}/
, anything that you use there will be called up automatic when a user opens firefox."
Outcome for new users - Created a new test user, logged in, and the extension is there / functioning. XML is there so all the configs are present. All good!
Outcome for existing users - No errors or anything but the older version of the app is still present. I see no mention of the new version of the app that was placed in the global extensions folder. The XML is there and the old version of the addon does see it - so I am good there. Is there a way I can only make firefox recognize addons installed from the global location? I think because the same extension is installed under their user profile, it is taking precedence. I could be wrong though. I am new to Ubuntu administration.