Add-on Compatibility Reporter Turned To Reporting Only Add-on

The Add-on Compatibility Reporter add-on for the Firefox web browser was a useful browser extension to force add-on compatibility in unsupported versions of the Firefox web browser. While it was not able to force compatibility for add-ons that were incompatible due to changes in the browser itself, it managed to enforce compatibility for the majority of add-ons.

Mozilla with Firefox 10 introduced the compatibility by default feature which enforces compatibility natively for the majority of add-ons.

As a consequence, the compatibility enforcing capabilities have been removed from Add-on Compatibility Reporter. The add-on is now only a reporting tool that provides Mozilla and add-on developers with compatibility information about their add-ons.

Firefox users who have installed the extension solely for the reason of enforcing add-on compatibility, can remove it from the browser as it is no longer offering that functionality.

The compatible by default feature does not enable all add-ons by default. Brian King lists the following exemptions from the rule:

Add-ons marked to work with a Firefox version less than 4.0
Add-ons with binary components
Add-ons explicitly marked by the author as incompatible, i.e. opt-out of Compatible By Default
Add-ons tested and determined to not be compatible with a given version of Firefox, and marked as incompatible by Mozilla
Themes

Most add-ons currently installed in Firefox 10 or higher should be automatically enabled by the new compatible by default feature. Users who are still running pre-Firefox 4 add-ons on the other hand that they now are working in Firefox 10 and higher are left standing in the rain.

One option for them to make their add-ons compatibility would be to install the Nightly Tester Tools to force add-on compatibility. Another option would be to edit the Firefox add-on file directly. Check out Three Methods To Force Add-On Compatibility In Firefox for information on how to do that.

Please note that this affects Thunderbird and SeaMonkey as well.