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Using the backup NoScript configuration in bookmark option

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 3:30 am
by Scott
I am in the process of transitioning from a PC to a Mac (after 20+ years as a PC user). I was excited when the NoScript configuration in bookmark option was recently added, which I immediately checked on my PC. I just installed FF on my new Mac and installed all of my add-ons - of course including the amazing NoScript. The NoScript bookmark was synced by Xmarks onto the Mac. I tried the obvious method of selecting this bookmark on the Mac, but I received an "Unresponsive script" message. I tried this several times without success.

Am I doing this wrong or is the feature not working?

Thanks for any suggestions,
Scott

Re: Using the backup NoScript configuration in bookmark option

Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 10:37 am
by Giorgio Maone
The "* NoScript Configuration" bookmark is not meant to be opened. Additionally, since its URL is very long, Firefox may hang if you try to open it having some extensions (e.g. Autopager) installed.
Furthermore, this functionality has still some rough edges to be ironed out, therefore at this moment the procedure for first synchronization is not very intuitive:
  1. Enable the "Backup NoScript configuration..." option on all the machines you need to syncrhonize. DO NOT SYNCHRONIZE BOOKMARKS IN THIS PHASE.
  2. Now change any preference (e.g. enable a site) on the "Master" workstation, and syncrhonize your bookmarks (the newly updated bookmark should be copied on the XMark server)
  3. At this point, whichever other workstation gets its bookmarks synchronized, it will receive Master's NoScript configuration as well
As you can see, the tricky part is the order in which the "Backup NoScript configuration..." preference needs to be enabled. This is because, at this moment, as soon as you enable it you save a new configuration bookmark on that PC which is the newest of all your network, but it's also the one you do not want to replicate, because it's likely an empty configuration.
The change I'm going to deploy with next NoScript release is that as soon as you enable the "Backup NoScript configuration...", if a bookmark already exists and it's not been saved on this PC, your configuration gets synchronized with it before being saved.
This way "slave" PC can be easily configured by simply enabling the preference, with no need to go back and change settings on Master.