Error Installing Firefox Addon SDK Python

Question

Hello im trying to figure out how to properly install Firefox Addon SDK, I've followed all the installation details such as: Installing Python 2.7, setting my PATH Variables correctly, and running the addon from my cmd.exe .. Everytime I run the command line to start developing an addon I get this error:

    C:\mozilla-build\addon-sdk\bin>activate.bat
    Warning: Failed to find Python installation directory

IFrom my understanding I have everything properly configured, Can anyone help with this error. And also my PATH variables are as below

   User Variables...;C:\mozilla-build\addon-sdk\bin;C:\mozilla-build\python;C:\Python27
   SYSTEM Variables ...;C:\mozilla-build\addon-sdk\bin;C:\mozilla-build\python;C:\Python27

Answer 1

The problem seems to be that the activate batch file having issues to set the write value of the variable PYTHONINSTALL. I solved this by setting it manually and deleting all the bloated function Mozilla used to detect the path.

open the bin\activate.bat file with an editor (np++ makes it clear to work with) under the :CheckPython label delete the function and the comments and use this to set your python installation path:

:CheckPython
::CheckPython(retVal, key)
::Reads the registry at %2% and checks if a Python exists there.
::Checks both HKLM and HKCU, then checks the executable actually exists.

SET key=%2%
SET "%~1="
SET reg=reg
if defined ProgramFiles(x86) (

  if exist %WINDIR%\sysnative\reg.exe SET reg=%WINDIR%\sysnative\reg.exe
)
rem here you should make sure to set the correct path
set PYTHONINSTALL=C:\Program Files\Python27
if exist %PYTHONINSTALL%\python.exe goto :EOF

if exist %PYTHONINSTALL%\PCBuild\python.exe (set "PYTHONINSTALL=%PYTHONINSTALL%\PCBuild" & goto :EOF)

if exist %PYTHONINSTALL%\PCBuild\amd64\python.exe (set "PYTHONINSTALL=%PYTHONINSTALL%\PCBuild\amd64" & goto :EOF)



GOTO :EOF

Answer 2

I had the same problem too, it seemed that changing the default installation directory for python can cause this problem.

1. Make sure you have installed python version 2.5, 2.6 or 2.7. Versions 3.x of Python will not work.
2. Install Python in its default path C:/Python32/.
3. Open command prompt in the addon-sdk folder and run bin\activate.

Answer 3

It's 2015 and I doubt most users can get the Firefox Addon SDK working on the first try without touching some code for Windows- even with Python being installed in the default location...

Here's how I got it installed using v2.7 of Python

In around line 111 of activate.bat you have:

set PYTHONINSTALL=%PYTHONINSTALL:REG_SZ=%

change to

set PYTHONINSTALL=%PYTHONINSTALL:REG_SZ="C://Python27"

Or set it to whatever location Python is installed on. That's it!

Answer 4

I had this same problem using Windows 7 and this is what I did to make it work

1. Ran the MozillaBuildSetup tool from https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/mozilla/libraries/win32/MozillaBuildSetup-Latest.exe
2. Ran the python-2.7.5.msi inside C:\mozilla-build\python
3. Opened a command prompt in the addon-sdk folder and ran bin\activate

I don't know any more than this yet, so hopefully this fixes it!

Answer 5

Here's an alternative way to isolate the path (possibly) returned by reg query, independently from Windows version:

1. Replace the only guaranteed word in query result, REG_SZ, with a unique single character, e.g. ?. (See note later)
2. Then use that unique single char, if found, to split query result in 2 tokens and get only the 2nd one, if any.
3. Finally, trim tabs and spaces from the left of such token, to get the path.

Note: A question mark could actually be part of a path, although that seems to be uncommon. Ideally it should be a character unallowed in paths: |, <, >, and so on. But some of those gave us troubles escaping them.

There's also another issue with original code, when checking:

if exist %PYTHONINSTALL%\whatever goto :EOF

the path being checked should be enclosed in double quotes, to take into account for paths containing spaces.

So all in all, here's the alternative implementation, e.g. just for the HKML part:

rem Try HKLM
SET QueryResult=
FOR /F "usebackq delims=" %%r IN (`%reg% QUERY HKLM\%key% /ve 2^>NUL`) DO @SET QueryResult=%%r

SET ReplacedResult=%QueryResult:REG_SZ=?%
FOR /F "tokens=2 delims=?" %%t IN ("%ReplacedResult%") DO SET "%~1=%%t"

rem trim tabs and spaces from the left (note: there's a literal tab in next line)
FOR /F "tokens=* delims=     " %%v IN ("%PYTHONINSTALL%") DO SET PYTHONINSTALL=%%v

if exist "%PYTHONINSTALL%\python.exe" goto :EOF
rem It may be a 32bit Python directory built from source, in which case the
rem executable is in the PCBuild directory.
if exist "%PYTHONINSTALL%\PCBuild\python.exe" (set "PYTHONINSTALL=%PYTHONINSTALL%\PCBuild" & goto :EOF)
rem Or maybe a 64bit build directory.
if exist "%PYTHONINSTALL%\PCBuild\amd64\python.exe" (set "PYTHONINSTALL=%PYTHONINSTALL%\PCBuild\amd64" & goto :EOF)

Please have a look at this Github commit to see the actual diff.