NS upgrade removes NS and most other extensions

[Aspirant]

I prefer to upgrade NS by loading the XPI file. When I upgraded from NS 2.1.4 to 2.1.5, most of my extensions disappeared including NS (confirmed in Add-ons Manager). Luckily, I backed up my user Mozilla folder before the upgrade, so I was able to restore the old profile. The same thing happened when I upgraded from NS 2.1.4 to 2.1.6rc1. I saw these NS forum threads about other NS users experiencing something similar when upgrading Firefox:
http://forums.informaction.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6057
http://forums.informaction.com/viewtopi ... 358#p31358

My setup: Win7 SP1 x64, Firefox 7.0.1, NoScript 2.1.4, Add-on Compatibility Reporter 0.9.2, MediaPlayerConnectivity 0.9.4, Adblock Plus 1.3.10, RoboForm 7.5.7, Mouse Gestures Redox 3.2pre, disabled-Java Console 6.0.27.

Are other NS users experiencing the same problem when upgrading NS? Any ideas?

[Aspirant]

I found the problem...

NoScript v2.1.5 changed the installation structure to use an XPI archive instead of a folder. Because I use other security software to block reads of XPI files by Firefox, this problem occurred. When I removed the security rule, NoScript 2.1.6rc1 works fine.

Since the recent NoScript versions caused me to reduce my security, I created a thread for a suggestion:
http://forums.informaction.com/viewtopi ... =10&t=7474

[therube]

There was a bug in FF 7.0 that caused extensions to "disappear".
That bug was fixed in FF 7.0.1.

Extensions (not just NoScript) have long been using XPI rather then "folder" method of installation.
(Since Gecko 2.0, aka FF 4.)

This can be overridden by specifying <em:unpack> in the install.rdf file. (If done in "signed" extensions, you would need to removing the signing.)

Now if you manually installed as a folder, once, what would happen on an update?
Not sure if it would leave the folder structure or if it would replace it with the XPI?
Easy enough to test it out.

(It deletes the folder & installs as an XPI.)

[dhouwn]

Not sure if it would leave the folder structure or if it would replace it with the XPI?

I believe it would leave the folder structure as (AFAIK) it did for extensions that where installed on a Firefox version that always unpacked extensions.

/edit: I might have been wrong on that one.