abrowser doesn't auto-update Ublock Origin
Ublock Origin is, in my mind at least, an essential Add-on for Firefox. It installs and works well with abrowser. However, it does not auto-update. I think this is by design, as abrowser/Trisquel is officially independent from Firefox (thank heavens.)
I noticed some issues today with X forcing a login to view an official US government posting by the FCC. I normally use UBO to block such things, so I checked my settings. UBO was running version 1.65.0 dated Feb 7, 2026. The latest version is 1.75.0 dated last week.
(In my own defense, even old versions of UBO still work pretty well.)
The solution is to manually download UBO and restart the browser. The up-to-date UBO can be found here- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
Alternatively, the Github version is here- https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock
Be sure to install a signed xpi if you use a Github version.
I hope this helps my fellow UBO fans.
The addons on my abrowser from gnuzilla.gnu.org are definitely outdated. I do not know the exact reasons though. Abrowser uses gnuzilla instead of Mozilla's addon store because there are proprietary addons that you can install on Mozilla addon store unlike gnuzilla. The outdated addons are not a big deal for me though.
Hi Give_me_Libre_O-
Using outdated Add-ons carries some level of security risk and a higher level of functionality risk. I checked UBO's change logs. One recent entry says: "Fix possible injection of scriptlets requiring trust from non-trusted sources. Exception filters must never cause actual filters to be created." I'm no expert, but injection from untrusted sources sounds undesirable.
As far as functionality risk, my outdated UBO would have forced me to log on to X. I don't want X tracking me. Fortunately, I updated UBO and the problem went away.
The prevention of extension auto-updates may be to prevent the OS from making unwanted connections to the web. This policy is certainly valid, but may carry its own risks unless you manually update. Any Ad Blocker has broad access to every site you visit. This could obviously be the source of mischief if the extension is untrusted. It is a matter of balancing risk. Use only trustworthy extensions.
By the way, UBO is FOSS and its website says:
uBlock Origin (uBO) does not collect any data of any kind.
uBO has no home server.
uBO doesn't embed any analytic or telemetry hooks in its code.
uBO doesn't accept donations or any other form of financing.
The only time uBO connects to a remote server is to update the filter lists and other related assets. If you disable auto-update in the "Filter lists" pane in the dashboard, uBO will not connect to any remote server unless you click "Update now" and only if there are assets deemed "out of date."
GitHub is used to host the uBO project. GitHub, Inc. (a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation) owns GitHub and is unrelated to uBO. https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Privacy-policy
Today's meeting of the UBO fan club will now close.
The update is not automatic but you can update plugins from the plugins settings page, check the gear/settings icon there.
Regards
Thanks, but doing that only updated NoScript. Ublock Origin just stays on 1.49 from 2023. What's up with that?
EDIT: Sorry... I confirm it did work, it's just that NoScript updated nearly instantly and UBO took way longer, I was convinced it didn't. Solved!
Also thanks OP for the heads-up , I was convinced my add-ons were automatically updated :-/
I am running uBlock Origin 1.40.2, from the Trisquel repositories (specifically version 1.40.2+dfsg-1+11.0trisquel0). When I installed Trisquel 11, uBlock Origin was installed by default. I think Trisquel later removed it from the default install, but you can still do `sudo apt install webext-ublock-origin-firefox` and you'll get updates whenever you update the rest of your packages, though new features will only be added every couple of years or so, because of Trisquel's release process. "Auto-update filter lists" is enabled, and I think this was enabled by default.
I'm not sure how important app updates vs filter list updates are. In theory security fixes are supposed to be backported, I think, but in practice maybe some issues get overlooked.
I don't know where I was going with this, but I guess my point is just that you can install from the repositories if you want an older version of uBlock Origin that will upgrade with the rest of your packages eventually.
Thanks everyone. My UBO failed to update for many months on two separate occasions. First, last year, the out-of-date repository version stopped blocking annoying Youtube ads. So I started side-loading the latest Github version. I thought all was fine until UBO started failing to block X's login requests. UBO turned out to be stuck on the Feb 7 release (over six months old.) In both cases, updating to the most recent version solved the problem.
The ad-mongers constantly shapeshift, and this goes beyond mere definition updates. You need the latest UBO version.
My abrowser settings said extension updates were on, but they weren't actually working.
I have discovered what I think is the root cause of the updating issue hidden deep in abrowser. Trisquel undoubtedly made this tweak intentionally, so I don't want to share the fix (which I am still testing anyway.)
I run only two extensions, UBO and Nuke Anything. (UBO actually has the same capabilities as NoScript. Just check the "Block Javascript" box in UBO settings.) I know non-Trisquel users with normal Firefox who run a large variety of weird extensions. Hopefully Trisquel users are different. But doing my "fix" to abrowser would potentially allow all extensions to update/contact their servers. Someone more skilled at programming could probably figure a way to make the updates more granular, but not me.
For now, I think the best solution is manually updating extensions. Thanks.