Closed Bug 1263494 Opened 9 years ago Closed 4 years ago

Distribution system is an ineffective method in overwrite installation.

Categories

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: Android partner distribution, defect, P5)

Product:
Firefox for Android Graveyard
Component:
Android partner distribution
Type:
defect

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: dxue, Assigned: mkaply, NeedInfo)

References

Details

Attachments

(1 obsolete file)

Distribution system should update add-ons and preferences in overwrite installation. Suggested sites update is optional.
Blocks: 1093113
I don't think this is possible, is it? On Android, if you install an app with the same ID, it will wipe out the existing information. Can you be more specific as to what the requirement is here?
(In reply to DongShengXue from comment #0) > Distribution system should update add-ons and preferences in overwrite > installation. Suggested sites update is optional. Does "update" mean "set"? The bouncer APK unpacks a distribution, frozen at bouncer APK creation time. The installed Firefox then uses that distribution. So it does "update", meaning "set", a distribution. If you want "update" to mean "download the latest distribution", then it's not sufficient for the bouncer to do that, since there can be a delay between when the bouncer unpacks the distribution and when Firefox uses that distribution. In this situation, you should be able to arrange for the distribution to include an add-on, which is *then* updated around first run time.
The following is what we discuss in mail for this issue, it maybe helpful: >>3. The files in distribution are working only in a completely new setup, and it is an ineffective method in overwrite installation. >> >> >>This is another thing we have not considered with our distribution system. I agree we'd need to address this if we're going to try to move the custom China builds to distribution builds. We don't want to check for a distribution every time the app launches, but maybe there's something we can do when we package a distribution in an APK to signal that there's a distribution to install. Or we could do the check on app update. >> >> >>Bug 1182442 covers this concept. It's difficult: not only (as Margaret notes) does the code not expect to run more than once, and it's not obvious when to re-run it, but the changes themselves might conflict with the user's actions — a distribution normally runs against an empty profile. This will particularly impact default bookmarks and user-selected search engines. >> >> >>My recommended approach is to ship changes as new versions of an add-on. Add-ons can check current state and do the right thing, flipping prefs and writing files. >> >> >>If that's not enough for some reason, then we'd need to reopen that bug and prioritize the work. >> >> >>I agree distribution add-ons and preferences should support updates, suggested sites is optional. >>And I think we can control the update modules and version by the "Global" in preferences.json. We >>hope we can make some change on version 47. Do you think there is any chance to land this on 47?I >>mean just support addon update from distribution on 47. >> >> >>I believe add-on updates from a distribution should already "just work", but we should verify that. >>If it doesn't automatically work, and only a small change is required to fix it, we could uplift >>that to 47. >> >> >>Can you file bugs for the issues we've discussed here? It's easier to keep track of these things in >>Bugzilla than in an email thread :)
I have verified that on firefox 46 beta, and it didn't work. My steps are: 1, Install firefox 44 without distribution 2, Install firefox 46 with two addons in distribution 3, The result is no addon installed（We hope the result is the two addons will be installed） If I install the same firefox 46 (two addons in distribution) on a clean device, the addons are installed.
(In reply to DongShengXue from comment #4) > I have verified that on firefox 46 beta, and it didn't work. > My steps are: > 1, Install firefox 44 without distribution > 2, Install firefox 46 with two addons in distribution It's my understanding that installing a version with an in-APK distribution overtop of an older version should not do *any* distribution installation at all. No add-ons, no updated bookmarks, nothing. We check for a distribution only when the Gecko profile directory is created; once a version of Firefox is installed, that is done. > 3, The result is no addon installed（We hope the result is the two addons > will be installed） > If I install the same firefox 46 (two addons in distribution) on a clean > device, the addons are installed. This agrees with what I said above. If you want to handle upgrades in this way, install an add-on in your initial distribution, and use it to do upgrades.
> It's my understanding that installing a version with an in-APK distribution overtop of an older version should not do *any* distribution installation at all. No add-ons, no updated bookmarks, nothing. We check for a distribution only when the Gecko profile directory is created; once a version of Firefox is installed, that is done. FYI, this is different than desktop Firefox. That's probably why they expect the behavior. Firefox desktop checks everything in distribution.ini at every startup (since it's setting default preferences) and installs extensions if the version of Firefox has changed.
(In reply to Nick Alexander :nalexander from comment #5) > > 3, The result is no addon installed（We hope the result is the two addons > > will be installed） > > If I install the same firefox 46 (two addons in distribution) on a clean > > device, the addons are installed. > > This agrees with what I said above. If you want to handle upgrades in this > way, install an add-on in your initial distribution, and use it to do > upgrades. That's we are going to discuss. We'd need to address this if we're going to try to move the custom China builds to distribution builds. Now lots of Chinese users use the custom China builds, we hope they can change to distribution build through update，and don't need uninstall the old version.
Re-triaging per https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1473195 Needinfo :susheel if you think this bug should be re-triaged.
Priority: -- → P5
Attachment #9109339 - Flags: sec-approval?
Attachment #9109339 - Flags: review+
Attachment #9109339 - Flags: feedback+
Attachment #9109339 - Flags: data-review+
Attachment #9109339 - Flags: checkin+
Attachment #9109339 - Flags: approval-mozilla-release?
Attachment #9109339 - Flags: approval-mozilla-esr68?
Attachment #9109339 - Flags: approval-mozilla-beta?
Attachment #9109339 - Flags: a11y-review+
The content of attachment 9109339 [details] has been deleted for the following reason: Bad attachment

This was Fennec related.

Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 4 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
Product: Firefox for Android → Firefox for Android Graveyard
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