How do I get Firefox to use the OSX Keychain?

February 7, 2007 7:35 AM

How do I get Firefox to use the OSX Keychain?

When I used a PC, I used Roboform. It not only remembered my password, but it was compatible with IE and Firefox, so I could switch back and forth between the browsers. Now I have a Powerbook, and I have passwords in the Keychain, for the occasions I use Safari, and passwords in Firefox. I primarily use Firefox, and I won't be switching to Safari full-time (or even a majority of the time).

I found software called 1Passwd. Does anyone have experience using that software extensively? Are there bettter alternatives? Something that works a lot like Roboform would be great. I don't mind paying for a license, so freeware isn't required.

posted by clearlynuts to computers & internet (6 answers total)

Oddly enough, I saw a demo at DemoCamp12 on Monday where a professor talked about his open-source dev class where one of the students is implementing Keychain support for Firefox on OSX.

So, it's not supported but someone is working on it.
posted by GuyZero at 7:45 AM on February 7, 2007

Camino (also Gecko rendering engine) uses the keychain, but not in a way that's compatible with Safari. Wonder if this project's output (if completed) will be any different?

I have to plug SafariStand here. I thought I would never be able to use Safari full time but stand does almost everything I want. (Not web dev stuff, but then you don't need all your passwords for that.) When you get used to WebKit's rendering, Gecko's looks kind of... ghetto.
posted by Doctor Barnett at 8:31 AM on February 7, 2007

I use 1Passwd. It seems to work fine. I think they have a demo version that allows you to have 10 saved forms or something like that, so you can see whether it will work for you.

I like that it generates passwords for you so there's less drive to use the same simple password with every site. That does mean it's almost impossible to access some of those sites from a computer that isn't running 1Passwd, but I don't have to do that very often anyway.

There are a few things I don't like about it. First, you have to manually choose to use a saved password. So, you go to a web page, then you have to go up to one of the 1Passwd interface widgets and chose the identity you want to use. With Firefox's built in password manager, it autofills the form and then it's just a simple button press. That seems a bet easier to me.

Second, you can store some sensitive information in the 1Passwd identities such as credit cards. I have a higher security threshold for those than I do for my web mail password. So it would be nice to have multiple security levels, but that isn't present in the application currently.

The developers are very responsive which is kind of cool.
posted by willnot at 8:39 AM on February 7, 2007

Is Firefox allowed to use Keychain entries created by Safari?
posted by smackfu at 8:59 AM on February 7, 2007

1Password works just fine. I recommend it.
posted by Mo Nickels at 9:14 AM on February 7, 2007

Here's a second recommendation to check out Camino. It uses the same HTML renderer as Firefox, but feels much more Mac-like.
posted by browse at 9:30 AM on February 7, 2007