[OTHER] About PHOENIX_OVERRIDES_CFG_FILE and how to confgure #297

fossil535 commented 2026年05月26日 07:01:10 +02:00

Please explain your inquiry.

I go through all the code commits just to understand how you approach configuring a browser to be more private as well as secure.

I came across this commit regarding PHOENIX_OVERRIDES_CFG_FILE which can be used to override Phoneix default configurations.
a546b10efc

But I am not sure how to configure it or make it work.

Can you please add a note to the documentation for the same?

### Please explain your inquiry. I go through all the code commits just to understand how you approach configuring a browser to be more private as well as secure. I came across this commit regarding PHOENIX_OVERRIDES_CFG_FILE which can be used to override Phoneix default configurations. https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/commit/a546b10efc2773dae1a406a0a40b343c01618e97 But I am not sure how to configure it or make it work. Can you please add a note to the documentation for the same?

celenity commented 2026年05月27日 10:48:25 +02:00

@fossil535 wrote in #297 (comment):

I go through all the code commits just to understand how you approach configuring a browser to be more private as well as secure.

Nice to hear that! Appreciate having another set of eyes on things.

I came across this commit regarding PHOENIX_OVERRIDES_CFG_FILE which can be used to override Phoneix default configurations. a546b10efc

But I am not sure how to configure it or make it work.

Basically, it’s a mechanism to allow downstream projects utilizing Phoenix (ex. Dove, IronFox) to override the new Phoenix-specific (browser.phoenix.*) preferences. For it to work, it needs to be pointed to the full path of a .cfg file in the same format as the Phoenix configs themselves. For reference, you can see what this looks like with Dove’s phoenix-overrides.cfg file here and IronFox’s phoenix-overrides.cfg file here (The name of the file doesn’t matter - I just chose to use phoenix-overrides.cfg for both Dove and IronFox for consistency/clarity).

For overriding preferences, it’s preferable to use PHOENIX_EXTRA_CFG instead - the reason there’s the separate PHOENIX_OVERRIDES_CFG variable only for Phoenix-specific preferences is due to how early they have to be processed.

But, to clarify, both PHOENIX_EXTRA_CFG and PHOENIX_OVERRIDES_CFG are only parsed at build-time.

Can you please add a note to the documentation for the same?

Definitely!

@fossil535 wrote in https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/issues/297#issue-5336513: > I go through all the code commits just to understand how you approach configuring a browser to be more private as well as secure. Nice to hear that! Appreciate having another set of eyes on things. > I came across this commit regarding PHOENIX_OVERRIDES_CFG_FILE which can be used to override Phoneix default configurations. [`a546b10efc`](https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/commit/a546b10efc2773dae1a406a0a40b343c01618e97) > > But I am not sure how to configure it or make it work. Basically, it’s a mechanism to allow downstream projects utilizing Phoenix *(ex. Dove, IronFox)* to override the new [Phoenix-specific *(`browser.phoenix.*`)* preferences](https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/src/branch/dev/docs/preferences.md). For it to work, it needs to be pointed to the full path of a `.cfg` file in the same format as the Phoenix configs themselves. For reference, you can see what this looks like with [Dove’s `phoenix-overrides.cfg` file here](https://codeberg.org/celenity/Dove/src/branch/dev/phoenix-overrides.cfg) and [IronFox’s `phoenix-overrides.cfg` file here](https://codeberg.org/ironfox-oss/IronFox/src/branch/dev/templates/phoenix/phoenix-overrides.cfg) *(The name of the file doesn’t matter - I just chose to use `phoenix-overrides.cfg` for both Dove and IronFox for consistency/clarity)*. For overriding preferences, it’s preferable to use [`PHOENIX_EXTRA_CFG`](https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/src/commit/ea0ce4dfb0908b2b4bf7002cde1638b40a9c5e87/scripts/env_common.sh#L559) instead - the reason there’s the separate `PHOENIX_OVERRIDES_CFG` variable only for Phoenix-specific preferences is due to how early they have to be processed. But, to clarify, both `PHOENIX_EXTRA_CFG` and `PHOENIX_OVERRIDES_CFG` are only parsed at build-time. > Can you please add a note to the documentation for the same? Definitely!

fossil535 commented 2026年05月27日 13:07:43 +02:00

Got it.

I was hoping that instead of using a user.js, I could use a pref file to override some settings as required. For example, maintain additional parameters for privacy.query_stripping.strip_list as I and when I find them when navigating the Internet. Would make my life easier to edit just the extended pref instead of editing the core Phoenix pref file itself.

Got it. I was hoping that instead of using a user.js, I could use a pref file to override some settings as required. For example, maintain additional parameters for privacy.query_stripping.strip_list as I and when I find them when navigating the Internet. Would make my life easier to edit just the extended pref instead of editing the core Phoenix pref file itself.

celenity commented 2026年05月27日 19:41:32 +02:00

@fossil535 wrote in #297 (comment):

I was hoping that instead of using a user.js, I could use a pref file to override some settings as required.

Do you mean a way to override preferences for all profiles?

For example, maintain additional parameters for privacy.query_stripping.strip_list as I and when I find them when navigating the Internet. Would make my life easier to edit just the extended pref instead of editing the core Phoenix pref file itself.

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on something: do you think it’d help if we add a Phoenix-specific preference for adding custom/user-specified entries to the query stripping list? I could see that being beneficial mainly because it’d allow you to add your own params without overriding our default ones (unless desired - we could add a separate preference to enable/disable our default parameters as well) - similar to how we now handle FPP overrides.

I’m not sure if that would help with this specific issue though, but something I’ve been thinking about anyways.

(Btw, please do be sure to report the parameters/potential additions you find - I see you already filed an issue for some which I appreciate, haven’t had a chance to look at yet but will when I can).

@fossil535 wrote in https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/issues/297#issuecomment-15955106: > I was hoping that instead of using a user.js, I could use a pref file to override some settings as required. Do you mean a way to override preferences for all profiles? > For example, maintain additional parameters for privacy.query_stripping.strip_list as I and when I find them when navigating the Internet. Would make my life easier to edit just the extended pref instead of editing the core Phoenix pref file itself. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on something: do you think it’d help if we add a Phoenix-specific preference for adding custom/user-specified entries to the query stripping list? I could see that being beneficial mainly because it’d allow you to add your own params without overriding our default ones *(unless desired - we could add a separate preference to enable/disable our default parameters as well)* - similar to how we now handle FPP overrides. I’m not sure if that would help with this specific issue though, but something I’ve been thinking about anyways. *(Btw, please do be sure to report the parameters/potential additions you find - I see you already filed an issue for some which I appreciate, haven’t had a chance to look at yet but will when I can)*.

celenity commented 2026年05月28日 11:10:45 +02:00

@celenity wrote in #297 (comment):

I’m curious to hear your thoughts on something: do you think it’d help if we add a Phoenix-specific preference for adding custom/user-specified entries to the query stripping list? I could see that being beneficial mainly because it’d allow you to add your own params without overriding our default ones (unless desired - we could add a separate preference to enable/disable our default parameters as well) - similar to how we now handle FPP overrides.

FYI: You can see how I decided to implement this here.

@celenity wrote in https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/issues/297#issuecomment-15968165: > I’m curious to hear your thoughts on something: do you think it’d help if we add a Phoenix-specific preference for adding custom/user-specified entries to the query stripping list? I could see that being beneficial mainly because it’d allow you to add your own params without overriding our default ones _(unless desired - we could add a separate preference to enable/disable our default parameters as well)_ - similar to how we now handle FPP overrides. FYI: You can see [how I decided to implement this here](https://codeberg.org/celenity/Phoenix/commit/1c97778909017d4085e4cd1f8fc650f6290c55dc).

fossil535 commented 2026年05月28日 16:41:47 +02:00

Thank you for this.

Give me sometime to understand and then share the config that I would like to extend and test on the Internet to check for any breakage before sharing here.

Thank you for this. Give me sometime to understand and then share the config that I would like to extend and test on the Internet to check for any breakage before sharing here.