233638 - certain preferences configured for all users are ignored in Mozilla 1.6/1.7a

Status: VERIFIED INVALID

(Core Graveyard :: Profile: BackEnd, defect)

Description

[Pete Boyd]

User-Agent:       
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040206 Firefox/0.8

With Mozilla 1.6 on Windows 2000, cetain preferences pre-configured for user
environments by putting them at the bottom of all.js
[%PROGRAMFILES%\mozilla\defaults\pref\all.js] so they're parsed last and should
then be set, have no effect. they are:

Navigator -> Tabbed Browsing -> Open tabs instead of windows for ->
Control+Enter in the URL bar - on
pref("browser.tabs.opentabfor.urlbar", true)
instead this is off (false)

Privacy & Security -> Popup Windows -> Popup Windows -> Block unrequested popup
windows - on
pref("dom.disable_open_during_load", true)
instead this is off (false)

Privacy & Security -> Cookies - Enable all cookies (0)
pref("network.cookie.cookieBehavior", 0)
instead this is 'enable cookies based on privacy settings' (3)

Privacy & Security -> Images -> Animated images should loop : Once
pref("image.animation_mode", "once")
instead this is 'as many times as the image specifies' (normal)

These have worked as expected in previous versions of Mozilla, including 1.5.
I haven't tested this in a more recent build and will do soon.

I'm pre-configuring a lot of other preferences in this way ( see
http://thegoldenear.org/toolbox/windows/docs/mozilla-pre-config.html for more
details of how) and they all work as expected, its just these few that have
stopped with 1.6.
I'm using a batch script, called TWEAK, to automate the process of inserting
these lines into all.js (see http://thegoldenear.org/tweak/ for details)

hopefully the next comment added to this bug won't be what i always get when
reporting bugs in this functionality: 'use user.js'. yes, the settings might
work in user.js, but where does that leave a system administrator who wants to
provide suggested configuration for their users rather than a dictation?

I'm holding off deployment of Mozilla 1.6 at a couple of sites I have previous
versions running as the time it takes to re-tool for this kindof change (either
manually configuring user profiles or editing TWEAK with some hack to make use
of user.js for just Mozilla 1.6) is too great for the benefits of the upgrade

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:

Comment 1

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

Is this actually in 1.6, or in FireFox 0.8?

Comment 2

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Couple comments... 

1) 1.6 was before my GRE prefs separation, so we can rule that out

2) the parser will stop at the first syntax error in a prefs file... are you
sure you didn't introduce a syntax error somehow? (you are welcome to attach
your edited all.js here for examination)

3) the "good" way to do what you're doing is to add another prefs file, instead
of editing an existing file. Files in defaults/pref/* are parsed in reverse
alphabetical order, so if you name a file "all-custom.js" it should be parsed
after all.js, and you don't have to manually edit all.js.

Comment 3

[Andreas Korthaus]

I have got the same problem using Mozilla Firefox 0.8. I am using the default
all.js.

It does not work if I put settings into all.js, using another file in
defaults/pref/ also does not have any effect on a new prefs.js.

Comment 4

[Benjamin Smedberg]

What do you mean "doesn't have any effect on a new prefs.js"? Default prefs
don't ever affect the contents of prefs.js.

Comment 5

[Pete Boyd]

> Is this actually in 1.6, or in FireFox 0.8?

Mozilla 1.6. the 'Build Identifier' says Firefox because I use Firefox, my users
use Mozilla

> 3) the "good" way to do what you're doing is to add another prefs file
> Files in defaults/pref/* are parsed

I'm happy to discover that. thats a much tidier way of doing it. what version of
Mozilla did this functionality first appear in? I'll change to this and update
my documentation and batch script accordingly

> 2) the parser will stop at the first syntax error in a prefs file

I'll check. I'll also attach my all.js (tho its also at
http://thegoldenear.org/toolbox/windows/docs/mozilla-pre-config.html)

Comment 6

[Pete Boyd]

Attachment: preferences for inserting into ALL.JS

Comment 7

[Pete Boyd]

I've implemented the tidier method of setting global preferences suggested by
Benjamin Smedberg (thanks for the tip) and tested some of this in Mozilla 1.7a
and am still seeing problems (I haven't checked all previously working
preferences). 

These 2 preferences now work as they should in Mozilla 1.7a:

Enable all cookies (0)
pref("network.cookie.cookieBehavior", 0)

Animated images should loop : Once
pref("image.animation_mode", "once")

Additionally these 2 preferences aren't working in 1.7a:

Composer -> When Saving or Publishing Pages -> Always show Publish dialog when
publishing pages - on
pref("editor.always_show_publish_dialog", true);

Composer -> When Saving or Publishing Pages -> Retain original source formatting
- on
pref("editor.prettyprint", false);

It seems to me that, in theory, partly contrary to what Benjamin Smedberg said,
all-custom.js comes before all.js in reverse alphabetical order. So my setting
of pref("network.cookie.cookieBehavior", 0) in all-custom.js should be
over-ridden by pref("network.cookie.cookieBehavior",       3) in all.js. But
this isn't happening, the '0' is the retained setting

(changed summary to reflect new information)

Comment 8

[Pete Boyd]

I tested this again in mozilla 1.6 and these settings actually worked ok:
Privacy & Security -> Cookies - Enable all cookies
Privacy & Security -> Images -> Animated images should loop : Once

I can't explain why they didn't before, I did everything I know for a clean test
environment

So to recap, its only these that don't seem to be working, atleast in Mozilla 1.6:
Navigator -> Tabbed Browsing -> Open tabs instead of windows for ->
Control+Enter in the URL bar - on
instead this is off (false)

Privacy & Security -> Popup Windows -> Popup Windows -> Block unrequested popup
windows - on
instead this is off (false)

Comment 9

[Pete Boyd]

my apologies to anyone who put any time into this bug. the problem was mine. as 
Benjamin Smedberg suggested, I had a syntax error in my configuration. the
'pref("browser.tabs.opentabfor.urlbar", true);' was missing its terminating ';'
(you can see it in the all.js I previously attached). I've had this syntax error
in my file for a long time. I think, but am not completely convinced yet, that I
didn't find it previosuly bcos versions of Mozilla prior to 1.6 were more
accepting of this syntax error. I don't know how Andreas Korthaus managed to
repeat this bug

the reason I got differing results with Mozilla 1.7a and the editor-custom.js
file is down to editor.js changing name to composer.js and the alphabetical
ordering changing.
I think I found the reverse alphabetical ordering isn't working prior to 1.7a
but if so I'll register that as another bug