User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9pre) Gecko/2008051109 Minefield/3.0pre Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9pre) Gecko/2008051109 Minefield/3.0pre Firefox installer has an "Use Minefield as my default web browser" option, but when Firefox itself starts, yet a related question is asked: "Minefield is not currently set as your default browser. Would you like to make it your default browser?". I think the latter question should be asked only if the user chosen to use Minefield as his/her default Web browser, and Firefox is not set (maybe because the user mistakenly chosen other Web browser). Clearly, this can't be the case in the first run, since Firefox should set itself as the default Web browser using the mentioned option at installation time regardless if other browser is set (the user already said what he/she wants). I attach both windows. Reproducible: Always

Notice how I configured Firefox to not be my default Web browser.

Notice how Firefox ask, yet again, if it should be the default Web browser (with a different phrasing).

Nominating as blocking as this has place in the two most critical points at UI: installation/first run.

This is works for me after several tests with Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9pre) Gecko/2008050706 Minefield/3.0pre and SP3 - in custom and standard installation, Firefox (Minefield) is taking over as the Default Browser from Internet Explorer and i don't get any dialog after this is Firefox should be set as default browser. Don't think this is this a blocker...this is more wfm for me.

From my reading of the bug, I think what Andrés wants is for the installer to set browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser to false if the "set default browser" is unchecked during the install.

(In reply to comment #4) > This is works for me after several tests with Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows > NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9pre) Gecko/2008050706 Minefield/3.0pre and SP3 - in custom > and standard installation, Firefox (Minefield) is taking over as the Default > Browser from Internet Explorer and i don't get any dialog after this is Firefox > should be set as default browser. > > Don't think this is this a blocker...this is more wfm for me. > Whether if you activate "Use Minefield as my default web browser", or not, at installation time, "Minefield is not currently set as your default browser. Would you like to make it your default browser?" should NEVER be asked if you run Firefox after installing it. If you activate "Use Minefield as my default web browser", you are saying: I do want Minefield to be my default Web browser. No other question should be asked. If you don't activate "Use Minefield as my default web browser", you are saying: I don't want Minefield to be my default Web browser. No other question should be asked.

I guess to put it more clearly, Andrés, you are saying: Case 1) User selects "make default" during install, Firefox should not ask during startup (because it already is the default) Case 2) User UNselects "make default" during install, Firefox should not ask during startup (because a user should not have to say "no" twice) I think, from reading this bug, Tomcat has verified case #1 as working, but it's case #2 that Andrés really wants. Is that a correct assessment?

> Whether if you activate "Use Minefield as my default web browser", or not, at > installation time, "Minefield is not > currently set as your default browser. Would you like to make it your default > browser?" should NEVER be asked if you run Firefox after installing it. > This would interfere with the System Default Option "Always check to see if Minefield is the default browser on startup). I would say, this is a kind of reminder here, if you don't recognize this during the install. Even you can disable this Dialog by uncheck "always perform this check when starting Minefield)" > If you activate "Use Minefield as my default web browser", you are saying: I do > want Minefield to be my default Web browser. No other question should be asked. Yep thats Minefield does. > > If you don't activate "Use Minefield as my default web browser", you are > saying: I don't want Minefield to be my default Web browser. No other question > should be asked. > Well, i personally think that a lot of people don't read all the installer options and just do a "click through", also for the Option "Always check to see if Minefield is the default browser on startup), if you really don't want Firefox as default, users can disable the dialog by unchecking the "always perform this check when starting Minefield)

This will not block the final release of Firefox 3. Any patch will need unit tests in order to be approved.

(In reply to comment #8) > Well, i personally think that a lot of people don't read all the installer > options and just do a "click through", also for the Option "Always check to see > if Minefield is the default browser on startup), if you really don't want > Firefox as default, users can disable the dialog by unchecking the "always > perform this check when starting Minefield) Then the installer should change, instead of opening verbose windows asking users stuff they have already answered.

The installer does not and will never understand the Firefox profile system. At best the default pref for Windows can be set so it doesn't check if Firefox is the default browser so over to preferences.

(In reply to comment #8) > Well, i personally think that a lot of people don't read all the installer > options and just do a "click through" > Yep. I didn't notice that option until I saw this bug. :) (In reply to comment #10) > Then the installer should change > I am curious, though; why was the option added to the installer when there is already a mechanism to do that on startup? Especially since many people (like me) won't notice the checkbox in the installer anyway? (In reply to comment #11) > The installer does not and will never understand the Firefox profile system. At > best the default pref for Windows can be set so it doesn't check if Firefox is > the default browser so over to preferences. > The installer doesn't have to understand the profile system. All that it has to do is drop a file in defaults/pref in the program install directory (no need to get profile directories involved), and if that file alphabetically comes before firefox.js, then it can override the settings in firefox.js. So, if the user unchecks the checkbox, have the installer drop in a file named "default-browser.js" that contains pref("browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser", false); That's all it takes, and since this doesn't touch the profile, if the user had already set a different setting in an existing profile, that existing setting will be unaffected. -- I just ran the installer, and I noticed that it defaults to a checked state. Does it always do that? If so, then if it gets unchecked, then that represents the user taking an explicit, conscious action to not make Firefox the default browser, and to ask the user a second time after the user had made this decision is slightly disrespectful to the user and is the sort of thing (albeit on a much, much smaller scale) that helped win Real Player so many enemies. To be sure, this is a very minor issue (as I said, I didn't notice the installer's checkbox until now) and I don't think it's the sort of issue that should hold up the ship, but it is something that, IMHO, should be addressed at some point, especially since it would be an installer-only change requiring no changes in the Firefox source.

Good point but dropping the file off into the program files defaults/pref dir will also affect other users on the same system. I'm am very loathe to have the installer manage prefs especially for just the one OS and especially when the application can manage these same settings. There really isn't a good solution to this and I highly doubt that the installer is going to be the component where this gets fixed. Yes it does default to checked per the request of the team that worked on retention.

(In reply to comment #13) > Good point but dropping the file off into the program files defaults/pref dir > will also affect other users on the same system. > Just the act of installing a new version of Firefox would also affect other users on the same system. ;) But yea, there isn't a perfectly clean solution here. *reads bug 370571* Okay, I see the rationale now for adding the option. Anyway, if we want to fix this behavior (which of course is still an open question), then there needs to be some way for the browser to know that the box had been unchecked in the installer. I can see only two general possibilities: 1) The installer lets the browser know that the box was unchecked (dropping a file in defaults/pref would be, IMHO, the simplest way to send such a signal, but there could be other ways to skin this cat). 2) The browser uses a heuristic to guess what the installer had set, absent any signals from the installer (as that would fall under #1). One possible heuristic is for the browser to turn off checkDefaultBrowser in the profile if it is a first-run and if it is not already the default browser. The caveat with this heuristic (well, it *is* a heuristic, after all) is that there are other ways for the browser to enter such a state, such as if the user had downloaded a zip build or if the browser was installed by another user on the system. Is there a better heuristic? IMHO, the installer signaling to the browser what it had done looks like the best way to go, given the fragility of heuristics. And it won't really be a case of the installer managing the pref; the installer would only be setting the initial pref, after which point the preferences would be managed entirely by the user through the browser's pref system.

(In reply to comment #14) > (In reply to comment #13) > > Good point but dropping the file off into the program files defaults/pref dir > > will also affect other users on the same system. > > > Just the act of installing a new version of Firefox would also affect other > users on the same system. ;) But yea, there isn't a perfectly clean solution > here. True but it doesn't change settings for other users of the system which was my point. > *reads bug 370571* Okay, I see the rationale now for adding the option. > Anyway, if we want to fix this behavior (which of course is still an open > question), then there needs to be some way for the browser to know that the box > had been unchecked in the installer. I can see only two general possibilities: > > 1) The installer lets the browser know that the box was unchecked (dropping a > file in defaults/pref would be, IMHO, the simplest way to send such a signal, > but there could be other ways to skin this cat). As stated previously this would change it for all users.

(In reply to comment #15) > True but it doesn't change settings for other users of the system which was my > point. > It could if firefox.js contained new defaults. Having the installer pass a command line parameter when it launches Firefox for the first time is another possibility, I guess.

(In reply to comment #16) >... > It could if firefox.js contained new defaults. That would be the app supplying a new default and not the installer adding a new default. > Having the installer pass a command line parameter when it launches Firefox for > the first time is another possibility, I guess. The majority of work to accomplish this would be a change in command line handling.

What about something like this inside Firefox?: if (!check_if_default() && ! first_run && ask_if_not_default) ask(); check_if_default returns 1 if Firefox is the Web browser, otherwise, 0. first_run (this would be a new default) is 1 if it's the first run, otherwise, 0. ask_if_not_default is 1 if the user wants to be notified if Firefox is not the default Web browser, otherwise, 0.

(In reply to comment #18) > if (!check_if_default() && ! first_run && ask_if_not_default) > ask(); > That's the heuristic I described in comment 14, and it would run into problems if Firefox was installed on the system by user A but was being run for the first time by user B or if it was installed using a means other than the installer.

Perhaps the installer dropping off a file in the Firefox profiles directory which would also prevent this from being set for other users on the same system.

Jesse, I don't see how this is a regression... The problem was fixed, but then it came back (regressed) and this new bug was filed to track the regression. Also, for problems outside those identified in precheckin and smoke tests that were found in current builds that were known to be working in previous builds. Tracking these bugs will help us to identify areas that are fragile, prone to bustage and are good candidates for adding to smoke and pre-checkin tests. If I'm wrong, please add back the regression keyword

It's a regression because the annoyance of having to tell Firefox not set itself as your default browser twice didn't exist in Firefox 2.

(In reply to comment #22) > It's a regression because the annoyance of having to tell Firefox not set > itself as your default browser twice didn't exist in Firefox 2. > I agree.

That is not the definition of regression but whatever. So to fix this without actually regressing behavior for other users of the same system this is going to have to be done only for the user running the installer. Possible solution flow: 1. The installer could drop off a file in the Firefox profiles directory to inform Firefox to set browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser to false for newly profile for this user. 2. On profile creation Firefox would set browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser to false if the file exists. note: this would also affect new profiles this same user creates.

(In reply to comment #24) >... > note: this would also affect new profiles this same user creates. The file could be removed at the same time the pref is set.

The ability to set Firefox as the default browser is being removed in bug 1272162 so resolving as wontfix.