Hot on the heels of version 0.8, I’m pleased to say I found a quick fix for the problems causing Firefox to fail to shutdown under certain circumstances and have released version 0.8.1 straight to the main download page so please upgrade to the version now available on http://keefox.org/download
There is a remaining issue related to this same underlying problem but I don’t anticipate it causing anyone a significant problem in practice.
Edit: Just to clarify, this is still Beta software – fixing this one bug, while important, is not enough in my opinion to result in a finished product!
A new experimental development snapshot has recently been uploaded. If we can’t find too many serious problems compared to version 0.7 then this should become version 0.8 in a week or two.
Some (of many) improvements since 0.7.3 include extra security layers, password generation from within Firefox, a “getting started” tutorial (needs special entries in your password database), logins listed alphabetically and NTLM dialog autofill support.
Most of those features were available in 0.7.6 (released a couple of months ago); 0.7.7 also has all the improvements since 0.7 including lots of options to fine tune KeeFox behaviour with specific entries (albeit mostly through “advanced” strings rather than a pretty user interface, which will hopefully be coming in an experimental version soon after 0.8).
If you’re comfortable with experimental software and can spare some time to test it out, that would be very helpful. Please see the new experimental download page for important upgrade instructions and a summary of any known issues.
Firefox 3.0 will not be officially supported by Mozilla for much longer and some planned KeeFox features will be easier to implement if I concentrate on version 3.5+ only. For these reasons, KeeFox version 0.8 will require Firefox 3.5+.
I don’t plan to drop support for 3.5 until after the release of KeeFox version 1.0 unless Mozilla officially withdraws support in the mean-time. However, to ensure you’re getting the fastest and most secure browsing experience, it is always advisable to upgrade to the latest Firefox version as soon as possible.
You can download Firefox from the official site.
Who doesn’t prefer the simple option? Software developers are no different and security software is generally better the simpler it is so a sensible rule-of-thumb is to always KISS whenever possible, that’s Keep It Simple, Stupid! Therefore, I am pleased that in the past few weeks I’ve been able to simplify the most crucial aspect of the way KeeFox communicates with KeePass.
The key change is that KeeFox now requires a new KeePass plugin called KeePassRPC instead of the (now retired) KeeICE plugin. This new plugin allows KeeFox and KeePass to communicate using a simpler language than was previously possible and makes some features much easier to implement. Most people won’t notice any difference but there are a number of benefits:
- Simplicity (ICE is complicated, making connection problems difficult to fix)
- Modifications to enable KeeFox to work in different environments should be easier (e.g. JetPack add-ons, other Mozilla applications, non-Windows operating systems)
- A secure communications channel between KeeFox and KeePass should now be possible (this communication never leaves your computer so the practical risks of using unsecured communication are not as high as might be feared but extra layers of security can only help)
- KeeFox can continue to work with .NET version 2.0 (the new version of ICE requires .NET 3.5 SP1 which is currently installed on about 25% fewer machines than version 2.0)
- The Mozilla add-ons review team will be able to scrutinise KeeFox faster and/or in more depth.
Of course, choosing to abandon the KeeICE plugin was a painful decision because it will delay the release of KeeFox version 0.8 and a large proportion of the time I have spent getting KeeFox 0.7 working reliably has been at least indirectly related to work on the KeeICE plugin. However, I think that the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks so ultimately the decision was the only sensible one I could take.
There will still be a bit of a wait before the new KeeFox development snapshot is ready, while I finish the migration to KeePassRPC and run some basic functionality tests to reduce the chances of new bugs creeping in.
I think that in future, other applications will easily be able to take advantage of the features that KeePassRPC offers. Look out for more technical details on this website if you are interested in adding further functionality to KeePass.
PS: Just in case anyone was developing with the KeeICE server plugin, let me know and I’ll help you either take on ownership of the KeeICE source code or migrate your project to KeePassRPC
Version 0.7.3 is ready for testing by anyone feeling brave enough. Grab it from the “very latest” link towards the bottom of the download page.
This version includes the bug fixes from version 0.7.1 and adds these new features:
- Allow opt-in/opt-out on an entry-by-entry basis for auto-fill and auto-submit
- New option to turn password save prompts off entirely
- New KeeFox Options Menu added to KeePass, including an option to not save the KeePass database automatically
- Right-clicking on a group in KeePass now offers the ability to restrict KeeFox to only entries within that group and its sub-groups (setting the option on the root group will reset it to default behaviour)
- Entries can be given priority weightings (use this feature to better manage sites where more than one matching entry is found)
- Entries without URLs are no longer displayed on the Logins toolbar menu
Understanding how to use some of these new features will require reading about advanced strings.
The download page now contains a link to the very latest add-on XPI. As I warn on the page itself, this will often be untested and may not be as stable as the latest official version. At time of writing, the latest official version is still 0.7 (beta) but 0.71 is available for download if you’re brave enough.
The test version will be updated occasionally, usually when new features are ready for testing or bugs have been fixed but not every change to the development version of KeeFox will be packaged in this way and not every change to this XPI will be assigned a new version number.
Some new test version releases will be announced on this website, usually when an important bug affecting the latest official version has been fixed or a major piece of new functionality is ready for testing.
If you want to stay even more up to date, try looking at the Trac activity timeline. It’s possible to customise it using the checkboxes on the right so you see only those updates you’re interested in and then you can subscribe to the RSS feed to stay abreast of KeeFox development.
Version 0.71 should fix intermittent problems with toolbar button layout and a black background on the logins menu as well as improving the accuracy of the “advanced form detection” option and the manually operated “detect forms” menu button.
KeeFox 0.7 has been released; this is the first Beta release of KeeFox. “Beta” means that this release is ready for wider testing by advanced KeePass users or other people with reasonable technical skills. While the majority of major features are complete, there are a number of important usability features that are incomplete and this may lead to confusion for less experienced users. I hope that KeeFox is simple enough that you will get by without documentation but I do intend to provide some before the 1.0 release and you can of course post your queries or comments in the forum.
If you identify a missing feature or possible bug, please search the tracker before beginning a discussion in the forum.
All offers to help with items on the tracker are welcome. I would prefer it if we could concentrate on the items slated for the 0.8 release but that’s not a strict rule so just get in touch if you think you can help in any way. Some features may be dependant on other tasks being completed first (this is less likely for 0.8 features).
Download KeeFox 0.7 here
Key changes since 0.6
- Added support for multiple URL matches with one login – manually add an “Alternative URLs” advanced string to an existing KeePass entry to make it work
- Multiple page logins
- Multiple passwords per form
- Multiple other fields per form (text, radio, checkbox)
- HTTP(S) protocol and NTLM proxy authentication dialog boxes can be filled (no password saving yet – manually add a “Form HTTP realm” advanced string to an existing KeePass entry to make it work, and make sure the URL field is correct too)
- Form submissions now simulate a “click” on the form’s submit button (if one can be found)
- Added button to manually detect forms on the current page (useful on pages such as live.com)
- Favicons automatically added to KeePass entry when a new entry is saved
- KeePass icons now displayed alongside login and group titles
- Installer now looks pretty
- New icons
- Simplified and improved the text for some parts of the install process
- Delete from Firefox option removed due to interface imperfections – can’t risk confusion with something like this.
- Active database can be changed from within Firefox (choose from any of KeePass’ most recently used databases)
- Fixed several stability bugs
- KeeICE now uses the .plgx plugin format, permitting simpler upgrade procedures
All changes since 0.6 can be found in the changelog
