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Adding the XPI MIME Type for Firefox Extension Installs

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Yesterday I posted version 0.1 of the David Walsh Blog Toolbar for Firefox. Unfortunately that led to an awkward conversation with my .htaccess file.

.htaccess: I have no idea what to do with this.
me: I want the toolbar to install when they request this file.
.htaccess: Well, how am I supposed to do that?
me: OMG! You don't know?!
.htaccess: No, just like you didn't know how to create a Firefox extension before you did the research.
me: Good point. When can you research and start serving it up?
.htaccess: I can't research. I'm a file.
me: Oh. So I just need to figure things out for you again?
.htaccess: You never pay attention to me anymore...

That went on for quite a while but the moral of the story is that if you want your server to handle XPI files correctly, you need to add the following to your .htaccess file:

AddType application/x-xpinstall .xpi

If you don't add the above directive, Firefox will open the file as plain text which is an ugly mess.

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Discussion

  1. Paul Davis

    Only a web dev could have some kind of decent conversation with a file!

    I did wonder why it didn’t install when I clicked it, good to see you found out why though. The ever brilliant David saves the day!

  2. Tom

    Awesome :)

    Is it just me or are .htaccess files getting increasingly uppity lately?

  3. Eric Wendelin

    You’re hilarious, dude! Have fun in Cali!!

  4. Facundo

    LOL! i used to have long talks whit .htaccess too.

  5. Sajid Khan

    I envy your relationship with your .htaccess file.

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