Spun off from a discussion in Bug 232638: When search plugins are made per-user, as well as global (like extensions), there should be a pref to disable the installation of search plugins, just as the installation of extensions can be disabled. This is valuable for locked down installations such as public terminals and some corporate deployments (when a common configuration across all machines and users is desired).

This shouldn't be very hard: just add a pref check in http://bonsai.mozilla.org/cvsblame.cgi?file=mozilla/browser/components/sidebar/src/nsSidebar.js&rev=1.12#125 .

Per policy at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Bug_Triage/Projects/Bug_Handling/Bug_Husbandry#Inactive_Bugs. If this bug is not an enhancement request or a bug not present in a supported release of Firefox, then it may be reopened.

This was added as part of our policy work.