Cookies in Firefox
==================

Author: Momchil Ivanov <momchil@xaxo.eu>
Date  : 2014.02.02

Introduction
------------

  This article contains notes on the web browser Firefox. The
  following applies to Firefox as of ESR Version 17.0.8.

Database
--------

  The cookies database is a SQLite database located in the directory
  of the Firefox profile. The location of the file is:

    $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/<profile>/cookies.sqlite

  The profile id usually ends with ".default", therefore the file can
  be accessed using shell expansion:

    $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/cookies.sqlite

  The contents of the database can be accessed using SQLite:

    $ sqlite3 $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/*.default/cookies.sqlite
      sqlite> .tables
      moz_cookies
      sqlite> .schema moz_cookies
      CREATE TABLE moz_cookies (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT,
      value TEXT, host TEXT, path TEXT,expiry INTEGER, lastAccessed
      INTEGER, isSecure INTEGER, isHttpOnly INTEGER, baseDomain TEXT,
      creationTime INTEGER);
      CREATE INDEX moz_basedomain ON moz_cookies (baseDomain);
      CREATE UNIQUE INDEX moz_uniqueid ON moz_cookies (name, host,
      path);
      sqlite> .exit

  There is one table calles "moz_cookies" that contains all the
  cookies. The information contained for each cookies is:

    - id
    - name
    - value
    - host
    - path
    - expiry
    - lastAccessed
    - isSecure
    - isHttpOnly
    - baseDomain
    - creationTime

How to copy cookies
-------------------

  One can use sqlite to copy cookies accross different Firefox
  profiles or different instances of Firefox. To copy the cookies from
  the domain "xaxo.eu" you can use:

    $ sqlite3 <path1>/cookies.sqlite <<EOF > /tmp/dump.sql
    .mode insert
    select * from moz_cookies where baseDomain='xaxo.eu';
    EOF

  Delete the cookies from the other profile:

    $ sqlite3 <path2>/cookies.sqlite 'delete from moz_cookies where baseDomain="xaxo.eu";'

  Insert the cookies in the other profile:

    $ sqlite3 <path2> < /tmp/dump.sql

How to backup cookies
---------------------

  See "How to copy cookies".