4 Replies Latest reply: Nov 14, 2011 7:42 AM by MacEachaidh RSS

    Acrobat X plugin incompatible with Firefox 7.0.1

    jlua001 Community Member

      Firefox 7.0.1 plugin manager reports that "Adobe Acrobat-Create PDF 1.1" is incompatible with Firefox.  And, indeed, there is no Acrobat Toolbar visible on the main browser window.  Is that so, and why?

        • 1. Re: Acrobat X plugin incompatible with Firefox 7.0.1
          GKaiseril CommunityMVP

          A better question might be when will FireFox support  Adobe Acrobat-Create PDF 1.1. This has been situation for quit some time.

           

          There is  the "PDF Download Tool" from Nitro PDF.

          • 2. Re: Acrobat X plugin incompatible with Firefox 7.0.1
            MacEachaidh Community Member

            Thanks for the reply GKaiseril.  I came here to see if others knew what was happening with the Acrobat plugin Create PDF 1.1.

             

            Weird thing is, it worked fine for me on Firefox 7.01 - it was only when I updated to Firefox 8 that the update disabled the plugin.  Maybe a re-installation of Acrobat will put it back?

            • 3. Re: Acrobat X plugin incompatible with Firefox 7.0.1
              Dave Merchant CommunityMVP

              Maybe a re-installation of Acrobat will put it back?

               

              No it won't.

               

              The problem is not with Adobe, but with Mozilla. They automatically disable  extensions until the developer certifies it is compatible with the new version, and in the case of binary XPCOM extensions such as the Acrobat Create PDF toolbar, it has to be recompiled from scratch for every major release of Firefox as the version number is coded into the headers. Even if you disable Firefox's compatibility checking, it won't run.

               

              With Mozilla's new rapid update policy, Adobe cannot possibly keep updating Acrobat every time Mozilla push a new version, and developers are not allowed to fake the compatibility header to refer to a future build. Each time Adobe do push an update to Acrobat (via the quarterly schedule) it can be expected to come with an extension compatible with whatever current (RTM) version of Firefox exists at the time that update code was developed. Given Adobe and Mozilla have wildly-different schedules, until Mozilla drop their rules on recompiling XPCOM the extension may be killed again in a matter of days, and there's nothing we can do to stop it.

              • 4. Re: Acrobat X plugin incompatible with Firefox 7.0.1
                MacEachaidh Community Member

                You're right, Dave, it didn't. 

                 

                The reason I wondered was that I seem to remember something similar happening the last time I upgraded Firefox, but then after that Acrobat had an update, and that seemed to put the plugin back again.  I guess the plugin was recompiled by Adobe for the update.

                 

                Seems strange to me, though, because there are other plugins that have remained compatible across several version updates of Firefox with no issues, so I'm thinking it can't be just a matter of hard-coding a version number into the file.

                 

                But I hope Adobe and Mozilla can find a solution.  Not only in the short term, to prevent plugins getting disabled;  I don't want to have to be upgrading major software like Adobe's stuff just to keep plugins and the like compatible.

                 

                Ah well.