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How to fully separate Firefox instances on MacOs (lemmy.ml)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by cloudwanderer@lemmy.ml to c/firefox@lemmy.ml

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Hello!

Quick question: How do i completely separate (also with distinct names) Firefox instances?

What i mean by that:

On my old Intel Mac, i've made 4 copies of Firefox, one for work, safe browsing, and apps. I've renamed each with FF-name so i can quickly open them with spotlight. Each has it's own profile.

For that i "only" need to edit the Info.plist and all worked.

However since then i migrated to Apple Silicon and MacOs Ventura, which seems to interfere with my approach.

Do you guys have an alternative idea or better approach? Maybe docker containers or anything?

My main intent is that i have them as separate applications, so i can open them with spotlight and also do not accidentally share the wrong instance in a conference call.

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[–] Lemmchen@feddit.de 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

firefox --Profile /path/to/separate/folder

[–] mumblerfish@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

This is the answer. I use firefox profiles a lot. They do not only give you the separation of the profiles, but also makes it easier to manage. Want a profile for work? Make one, sign up for firefox sync with your work e-mail, now log in also on your work phone, and your profile is there too. Do the same thing for your personal profile/e-mail/phone.

[–] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 1 points 11 months ago

I think it should also be possible to use named profiles

[–] moreeni@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

Would FF Profiles work? https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data

[–] misophist@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

This doesn't answer your question, since it already seems answered, but an additional step that may be helpful is to use a completely separate firefox derivative browser for one of those tasks.

I personally use Firefox for most of my daily browsing, but I have LibreWolf installed with separate configuration options (different proxy, etc). I could do the same with multiple Firefox profiles, but I prefer the separate icon as a reminder that my workflow is different in this particular browser.

[–] cloudwanderer@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I thought about this solution, as it is the "cleanest", however I need on total 4 firefox derivatives. Unfortunately, when looking deeply into the options, i haven't found 4 that are similarly trustworthy, well maintained etc. Also i have my firefox config fully figured out, it works and is as private as i want them, without some maintainer forcing their opinion on my use cases. Plain firefox is the easiest to configure, as it's like a blank start. However i might be wrong here and am open to suggestions :D

[–] auf@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago

That's prolly the dirtiest solution