I have been having this issue since I was a kid. Why does this happen? Which part of Firefox changes that makes it "Uncompatible" with an add-on which is just 0.0.1 version older than the new one.
This is really bothering me as I am having to re-install all add-ons (about 40) again each time it (****ing) updates itself.
I have disabled update and shutted it off to not speak any more about update. Aside from above questions, Does chrome have this issue? If not I will love it and leave Firefox forever...!
Answer
This is because the old way of creating Firefox add-ons is quite complicated, but results more powerful and integrated add-ons. There was no well-defined add-ons API, and sometimes add-on developers were using the same code as the browser itself was using for rendering elements and UI.
Due to this dependency and lack of specific add-ons APIs, the developers need to verify working of their add-ons at every new release of Firefox. This used to be quite painful. On the other hand, (thankfully?) there were no frequent updates like the current release cycle.
Well, Chrome changed everything, from release cycle to add-on development process. Chrome introduced well-defined and simple extension APIs based on JavaScript & other open standards - and independent of the browser architecture and code-base. Most of the stable APIs hardly change with the time, and thus developers don't need to verify their add-ons on every new release.
Firefox team followed this, and introduced Jetpacks, which simplified the add-on development process. Now, Firefox team automatically checks for compatibility issues with the upcoming new releases and alerts add-on developers in advance if any issue is detected. This gives developers enough time to update their add-ons.
AFAIK, most of the add-on developers have migrated to the jetpacks, but some of them are still using the old way.
(PS: also read this article)
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