Programmatically enabling extensions

[Sebastian M.D.]

I've managed to install an extension automatically by adding the following 

snippet to "chrome\browser\chrome_browser_main.cc":

void InstallMyExtension () {

  LOG(INFO) << "InstallMyExtension():";

  base::FilePath path(

      L"C:\\my_extension_dir\");

  LOG(INFO) << "InstallMyExtension(): Installing extension from path"

            << path;

  base::FilePath kiwi_extension_crx_name(L"my_extension.crx");

  scoped_refptr<extensions::CrxInstaller> crx_installer(

      extensions::CrxInstaller::CreateSilent(extension_service));

  crx_installer->set_install_immediately(true);

    LOG(INFO) << "InstallMyExtension(): Installing from path: "

              << path.Append(kiwi_extension_crx_name);

    crx_installer->InstallCrx(path.Append(kiwi_extension_crx_name));

}

Profile* CreatePrimaryProfile(...) {

 ...

 InstallMyExtension(profile);

return profile;

}

This works nicely; the extension is installed but not enabled. 

I tried enabling it by changing: "chrome\browser\extensions\crx_installer.cc":

in the last step (intuitively since the extension is assumed installed):

void CrxInstaller::CleanupTempFiles() {

ExtensionService* service = service_weak_.get();

      if (!service || service->browser_terminating())

        return;

service->GrantPermissionsAndEnableExtension(extension());

...

}

but I get an error like:

[ERROR:socket_posix.cc(144)] bind() returned an error, errno=98: Address already in use (98)

 [ERROR:unix_domain_server_socket_posix.cc(98)] Could not bind unix domain socket to chrome_devtools_remote (with abstract namespace): Address already in use (98)

 [ERROR:devtools_http_handler.cc(292)] Cannot start http server for devtools. Stop devtools.

I'm not exactly sure what address is already in use. Is there any other way of enabling extensions programmatically?

I also tried setting the completion callback:

  scoped_refptr<extensions::CrxInstaller> crx_installer(

      extensions::CrxInstaller::CreateSilent(extension_service));

  crx_installer->set_install_immediately(true);

  crx_installer->set_installer_callback(

      base::BindOnce([](const base::Optional<extensions::CrxInstallError>&

      error) {

  

      }));

but I can't send parameters to it; it needs a browser context/profile in order to get the extension service.

Any thoughts?

[Simeon Vincent]

To my knowledge there are 2 main classes you'll want to look at

• ComponentLoader for component extensions. These are extension that are bundled with the browser and cannot be uninstalled by the user. They're effectively part of the browser.
  
• ExternalProviderImpl for default-installed extensions. These are effectively "normal" extensions that ship with the browser and can be removed by the user. 
  

Simeon - @dotproto

Chrome Extensions DevRel