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Automate toggling about:config values?

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 6 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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Windows 8.1, Firefox 102.0.1

I recently discovered that it is quite true that some folks (including the folks at Mozilla) store cookies in DOM storage.

For example, it is impossible to log into your Mozilla account (because you are not accepting cookies!) if you have set dom.storage.enabled = false using the about:config editor.

So, as you can see, those sneaky folks at Mozilla :) like to obscure "cookie" collecting by using DOM storage cookies instead of the usual cookies everyone complains about and have to be warned about by law. (I love the "I don't care about cookies" extension, by the way. It shuts up that completely asinine annoyance.)

As a test of sorts I would like toggle the blocking of DOM cookies on a regular basis by toggling dom.storage.enabled. Rather than going back and forth and toggling the value manually using the about:config editor I would like to automate the process, possibly with a Windows batch file or a script. Also, possibly, (just for fun) I would like to take this concept of the automating the changing of certain preference values into building an extension. If I ever learn how to properly code one, that is.

So, my question is -- Where is the dom.storage.enabled value stored? (I examined the pref.js file but it is not there unless it has some other name.)

Windows 8.1, Firefox 102.0.1 I recently discovered that it is quite true that some folks (including the folks at Mozilla) store cookies in DOM storage. For example, it is impossible to log into your Mozilla account (because you are not accepting cookies!) if you have set dom.storage.enabled = false using the about:config editor. So, as you can see, those sneaky folks at Mozilla :) like to obscure "cookie" collecting by using DOM storage cookies instead of the usual cookies everyone complains about and have to be warned about by law. (I love the "I don't care about cookies" extension, by the way. It shuts up that completely asinine annoyance.) As a test of sorts I would like toggle the blocking of DOM cookies on a regular basis by toggling dom.storage.enabled. Rather than going back and forth and toggling the value manually using the about:config editor I would like to automate the process, possibly with a Windows batch file or a script. Also, possibly, (just for fun) I would like to take this concept of the automating the changing of certain preference values into building an extension. If I ever learn how to properly code one, that is. So, my question is -- Where is the dom.storage.enabled value stored? (I examined the pref.js file but it is not there unless it has some other name.)

All Replies (4)

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The file prefs.js seems to contain only modified preferences.

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Re Dropa: Thank you for sharing but I reviewed those pages ages ago and they have abolutely nothing to do with DOM cookie storage. Clearing cookies does NOT clear DOM cookies (which I believe are stored in webappsstore.sqlite). Clearing cookies clears only regular cookies stored in cookies.sqlite.

To prevent DOM cookies from being stored you can set about:config dom.storage.enabled = false.

Note: Set to false this disables all DOM storage not just the storage of DOM cookies.

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WARNING from the moderator team: Changing Firefox pref from the about:config page can sometimes break Firefox or cause strange behavior. You should only do this if you know what you're doing.

Please read Firefox Advanced Customization and Configuration Options to learn more.

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Note that you can clear local storage by using Everything as the time frame for "Clear Recent History".

You can also click the padlock and use "Clear cookies and site data..." to clear the cookies and storage for a specific webpage.

  • Settings -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data: "Clear Data" and "Manage Data"