Extension suddenly broke in Firefox

[Sp00ph]

I'm using Firefox 108.0.1 and the most recent version of the add-on, which is 1.9.1. The experience in Firefox with the add-on has always inferior to the experience in Chrome for me (search results sometimes not showing up properly, pressing Enter on a search result sometimes just leads you to a different page?, etc.), but generally it's been working fine. Since today it's not showing me any search results anymore though. When I type in the rs prefix, it's still showing me the rust search extension suggestion, but it doesn't seem to actually find the proper link:

Even actions that don't require any actual querying don't work:

(When I press enter on the highlighted suggestion, nothing happens)

I haven't changed any configuration/settings, and I don't think my Firefox had any updates. The search extension is also still working just fine in Chrome.

(Sidenote, but is it possible to set up the search extension as a Firefox search engine somehow, so that you can just press Tab after typing the rs prefix and then only get rust search results? It's doing that by default in Chrome for me, but not in Firefox)

[Sp00ph]

Welp, it suddenly started working again. Would still be interested in answers for my other questions though.

[allsey87]

I have the same issue. I type in rs + space but there is no change in the search bar.

[pickx]

I have the same issue. I type in rs + space but there is no change in the search bar.

for the benefit of anyone who sees this: just had the same thing happen here.
I managed to fix it on my machine by exporting data to a JSON file (from the extension settings), uninstalling/reinstalling the extension, and then re-importing the JSON.

[Diegovsky]

I have the same issue. I type in rs + space but there is no change in the search bar.

for the benefit of anyone who sees this: just had the same thing happen here. I managed to fix it on my machine by exporting data to a JSON file (from the extension settings), uninstalling/reinstalling the extension, and then re-importing the JSON.

while doing that indeed solves it, it is definetely not ideal

[DCNick3]

I've tried debugging this when this happened to me.

I think this is due to local storage going into an inconsistent state, where getting the 'index-std-nightly' key returns an object with all properties being undefined here and the searchIndex fallback not being used. This later causes a TypeError here.

Curiously, browsing the local storage in devtools shows the stored value to be just {}, but I guess it doesn't make a difference for the || operator.

Removing the index-std-nightly local storage entry with devtools makes the extension work again. I am not sure why this local storage key gets set to an "empty" object though =(

[Diegovsky]

Is there a way to clean this index-std-nightly in firefox?

[DCNick3]

@Diegovsky, it's pretty tedious, but this is how I did it:

1. Go to about:addons
2. Press Gear Icon > Debug Add-ons
3. Find the Rust Search Extension
4. Press Inspect button next to the extension name
5. In the Inspector go to Storage tab
6. Select Extension Storage in the panel on the left
7. Find the offending key (index-std-nightly)
8. Right click on it > Delete "index-std-nightly"
9. Reload the extension by pressing F5 in the inspector window

It would be nice to see the root cause of this "corruption" identified though..

[Folyd]

Hi all, I just released the v1.13.0 yesterday, I think this issue has been fixed in the new version. Please feel free to report if you encounter any bugs.
https://rust.extension.sh/changelog/#v1-12-0-2023-07-15

[g2p]

I'm on v1.13.0, sending a search / selecting a search result had no effect, following @DCNick3's steps and clearing index-std-nightly (previously {}) fixed it.

[yannbolliger]

Same, here. It seems that the extension still regards the string "rs" as input and thus only provides matches for "docs.rs" crates because it matches on the rs.

[Folyd]

I'll release Rust Search Extension v2.0 soon, this is a big version.

[Folyd]

Rust Search Extension v2.0 has been released.
https://github.com/huhu/rust-search-extension/releases/tag/v2.0.0

[yannbolliger]

Sadly, there still is an issue in Firefox (v131.0.3). The extension works after installing it.
Also, the issue that rs<space> doesn't work is fixed. But then, after 1-2 searches it just doesn't do anything anymore when you press enter after typing "rs ".

I can make it work again by "reloading" the addon in the debug addons page of Firefox.

[Folyd]

Hi @yannbolliger, it works on my Firefox. Just confirming are you sure you upgraded to v2.0?

[Folyd]

Uninstall then reinstall the latest version should fix the problem.

[yannbolliger]

It's with v2.0.0 of the addon. I reinstalled it in the browser, I restarted the browser.
At first, it worked but then, after some time, it started not doing anything when pressing enter.

As said, I can make it work again by "reloading" the addon in the debug addons page of Firefox.

[MolotovCherry]

Similar experience. On Firefox latest (131.0.3, running extension version 2.0). Std docs work initially, but after restarting browser, std docs don't show in the search anymore. Turning the addon off and on again temporarily fixes it, although it comes back quickly (usually within 10 minutes for me)

I have tried going into debug settings and wiped the entire storage data of the addon. (I have also already uninstalled and reinstalled a few times as well)

>> I can also confirm that the omnibox on the search extension page continues to work normally despite the firefox search bar not working.

Before:

After:

[Folyd]

I found the possible reason why it stops working after restarting the browser. It's because I upgraded to Manifest V3, and I guess Firefox never automatically activates V3 extensions and don't allow persistence background script according to Manifest V3 migration guide.

Firefox don't support service worker for V3 (which not a problem on Chrome): https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1573659

The quick fix is that after launching, you should click the extension icon on the toolbar to activate the extension.

[pickx]

The quick fix is that after launching, you should click the extension icon on the toolbar to activate the extension.

this works for me, but after about 2 minutes of browsing, search stops working again. I haven't timed it, but this happens consistently.

[freedit-dev]

Temporary solution:

Install Version 1.13.0 from

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/rust-search-extension/versions

And disable Allow automatic updates

[DCNick3]

Another workaround I found: you can open devtools like in this instruction here and keep it open.

Having devtools on the background script open will prevent it from going to sleep (you can see messages like "Background event page was not terminated on idle because a DevTools toolbox is attached to the extension.")

[gihrig]

2 years later the problem remains. Is Firefox just not fully supported any more?

Firefox 133.0.3
RS Search Ext 2.0.0
MacOS 15.1.1