734848 - extensions.checkCompatibility.* prefs don't work as expected in ESR releases

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Toolkit :: Add-ons Manager, defect)

Description

[Marc Meltzer]

I know in version 9.0.1, setting

   lockPref("extensions.checkCompatibility.9.0", false)

would disable checking addons during the first launch of the product after upgrading from a previous version.

The same does not appear to be true in 10.0.2, though.  Based on the documentation, I assumed the setting should be

   lockPref("extensions.checkCompatibility.10.0", false);

but when I launch FF 10 after upgrading from version 9.0.1, I am still prompted to check addons compatibility, nor do I see that compatibility checking is disabled when I go into the Add-ons manager, extensions section.

Is anyone aware of this, or is there an alternative setting?

Comment 1

[Jorge Villalobos [:jorgev] (he/him)]

I think it only would work if you set Firefox to use strict compatibility checking (the boolean preference is extensions.strictCompatibility).

I see you asked the same question in the Enterprise Group. That's the right place to ask, not Bugzilla. If necessary, ask the question again or reformulate it with the new information you have.

Comment 2

[Marc Meltzer]

I still believe this is either a bug, or at the very least, a missing preference.

I have checked every version back to 3.6.16, and the extensions.checkCompatibility.x.y preference is there and works as documented.  With every upgrade (I tested 5.0, 6.0.2, and 9.0.1), I launch FF and see the checking compatibilty dialog box, but I'm not prompted to actually do anything, because I've set the prefs to disable that.  When I upgrade to version 10, however, the preference doesn't do anything.

I've tried extensions.strictCompatibility as you suggested (using both false and true), but neither option worked.

Comment 3

[Marc Meltzer]

Attachment: screen shot of add-ons manager

This screen shot shows that compatibility checking is disabled for extensions.

Comment 4

[Marc Meltzer]

Attachment: compatibility check dialog 1

After upgrading FF, first launch runs that compatibility checker.

Comment 5

[Marc Meltzer]

Attachment: compatibility check dialog 2

If extensions.checkCompatibility.x.y is not set, the user sees this dialog.

Comment 6

[Marc Meltzer]

By the way, the reason I posted here is I wasn't getting much response from the EWG.

Comment 7

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

Jorge,

With the move to "always compatible" did anything change about the extensions.checkCompatibility preference?

Comment 8

[Jorge Villalobos [:jorgev] (he/him)]

(In reply to Michael Kaply (mkaply) from comment #7)
> With the move to "always compatible" did anything change about the
> extensions.checkCompatibility preference?

My knowledge on the matter goes as far as what I said on comment #1. Copying Blair for a more definitive answer.

Comment 9

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

I assume you're running a 10.0 ESR release? 

It's *meant* to work.... but it seems there's a bug in the way ESR releases are built. Specifically, they're built with MOZ_COMPATIBILITY_NIGHTLY defined - which means the Add-ons Manager uses the extensions.checkCompatibility.nightly pref instead.

Comment 10

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

To clarify: As a work-around until this is fixed, you can use extensions.checkCompatibility.nightly instead of extensions.checkCompatibility.10.0

However, that will stop working once this bug is fixed.

Comment 11

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

Attachment: Patch v1

Short-term solution. Long-tern, I wonder about just using something like --enable-extension-compatibility=branch (defaulting to nightly).

Comment 12

[Lukas Blakk [:lsblakk] use ?needinfo]

[Triage Comment]
If the reviewed patch makes this issue resolved, please go ahead and nominate for approval-esr10, see https://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/ESR_Landing_Process for details.

Comment 13

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/rev/6a8e6cb42afa

Comment 14

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

Comment on attachment 606081 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch v1

Not much risk here - it's just a build configuration change, no code change, everything is already tested.

Comment 15

[Sridhar]

Just wondering if I'm missing anything here or is it really a bug. Here is a brief description of the issue that I'm facing-

I'm trying to upgrade Firefox from v3.6.13 to v11.0 (non-ESR version) with the help of complete/partial .mar files and updater.exe on Windows platform. Immediately after the upgrade is complete, the prefs.js under userprofile folder is updated with the following two entries-
user_pref("extensions.checkCompatibility.11.0", false);
user_pref("extensions.checkUpdateSecurity", false);
Upon first launching the browser, the add-ons compatibility check runs. I was under the impression that this issue has been fixed with 11.0 and would basically supresses the compatiblity check by silently disabling the incompatible addons. Has anyone seen this before or am I missing anything here?

Comment 16

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

(In reply to Sridhar from comment #15)
> Upon first launching the browser, the add-ons compatibility check runs. I
> was under the impression that this issue has been fixed with 11.0 and would
> basically supresses the compatiblity check by silently disabling the
> incompatible addons. Has anyone seen this before or am I missing anything
> here?

(This isn't related to this bug, but...)

The extensions.checkCompatibility pref means that addons won't be disabled if they're not marked as compatible (but, as of Firefox 10, most addons are compatible by default anyway). That dialog is an addon update check - it's not affected by either of those prefs. If you want to disable it, set extensions.showMismatchUI to false.

If you have further questions, the dev-apps-firefox mailing list is more appropriate: 
https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-apps-firefox
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox

Comment 17

[Lukas Blakk [:lsblakk] use ?needinfo]

Comment on attachment 606081 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch v1

[Triage Comment]
Thanks for nominating, please go ahead and land.

Comment 18

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/6a8e6cb42afa

Comment 19

[Sridhar]

Thanks Blair, that works!!

Comment 20

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-esr10/rev/2a79682152cc

Comment 21

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

(In reply to Blair McBride (:Unfocused) from comment #11)
> Short-term solution. Long-tern, I wonder about just using something like
> --enable-extension-compatibility=branch (defaulting to nightly).

Filed bug 742132.

Comment 22

[Virgil Dicu [:virgil] [QA]]

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:10.0.4esrpre) Gecko/20120416 Firefox/10.0.4esrpre

I'm still seeing the Check Compatibility dialog and no notification in Add-ons Manager for compatibility checking disabled. 

STR used:

1. Installed Firefox 9.
2. Installed Grafx bot (compatible up to F9-bianry)
3. Set the following prefs in about:config
             extensions.checkCompatibility;false
             extensions.checkCompatibility.10.0;false
4. Manually upgrade to Firefox 10.0.4 Nightly ESR. 
5. Start Firefox using the same profile.

Did I misunderstand in any way?

Comment 23

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

(In reply to Virgil Dicu [:virgil] [QA] from comment #22)
> I'm still seeing the Check Compatibility dialog

That dialog is unrelated.

> and no notification in
> Add-ons Manager for compatibility checking disabled. 

This bug only affects release builds, so 10.0.4 Nightly ESR (10.0.4esrpre) is unaffected by this bug/fix.

Mote specifically, it affects builds compiled with --enable-update-channel=esr.

>              extensions.checkCompatibility;false

This pref isn't used anymore, and doesn't do anything. The Add-ons Manager only uses the pref with the matching version in the pref name.

Comment 24

[Virgil Dicu [:virgil] [QA]]

Thanks. Will wait for the official candidate to verify this with "extensions.checkCompatibility.10.0;false".

Comment 25

[Virgil Dicu [:virgil] [QA]]

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:10.0.4) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/10.0.4

Verified with Windows 7, Ubuntu 11.10 and Mac OS 10.6.
The add-on compatibility checking is disabled notification is now displayed in Add-ons manager after the update.