1025192 - Better way for McAfee SiteAdvisor to deploy an enterprise plugin without using distribution/bundles

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Spinoff from bug 987057.

McAfee SiteAdvisor currently deploys its addon to enterprise customers using distribution/bundles. This makes it so the addon cannot be disabled, which is presumably an enterprise deployment policy, but it also means that the addon is not visible to the user at all nor is it part of about:support and all of the other addon-based stability metrics.

This deployment strategy may break in future versions of Firefox where distribution/bundles is disabled.

Jorge/Irving/Unfocused, do you know what the current recommended deployment strategy is for this case? IIRC they should be deploying the addon using the windows registry and then using preference locking(?) with an autoconfig file to so that the addon is enabled by default as part of the enterprise deployment and cannot be disabled.

cc'ing mkaply because I know he's dealt with this problem as part of CCK.

Comment 1

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

The problem with deploying anywhere else is that you run into the Add-on Scopes issue. In theory, they could add AutoConfig to change the scopes values, but if the customer already has an AutoConfig, it might interfere with that.

This is the very reason I use distribution/bundles for all my stuff. It's the only place you can put stuff that integrates with Firefox and not have to mess around with the add-on scopes preferences.

Comment 2

[rajendra]

Thanks Benjamin and FF team working closely with us.

Does FF has any plan in future to disable plugin/extension deployed under distribution/bundles directory?
If yes , does FF has any time line for it ?
Before distribution/bundles gets disabled I would request FF team to suggest some alternate deployment strategy or workaround for enterprise customers.

Comment 3

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Yes, we are probably planning on removing distribution/bundles support for stock Firefox builds, perhaps as soon as this year. But I'm still working on the details and I haven't circled back on what that will mean for enterprise deployments.

Comment 4

[Benjamin Smedberg]

NI irving for detailed recommendations. mconnor because he should be aware.

Comment 5

[Blair McBride [:Unfocused] (UNAVAILABLE)]

(Irving asked me about this, so stealing the needinfo)

This largely depends on the requirements. I'm not really happy with the options we have available at the moment, but I generally advise to stay away from distribution/bundles for the reasons outlined in comment 0 - regardless of the issues mentioned in comment 1.

One option is what comment 0 mentions, installing globally via the Windows registry or placing the add-on in a known system-global folder. Unfortunately, this means the add-on is subject to the auto-disable scopes policy, which is typically not wanted in these situations (I've wondered about supporting a whitelist for this situation - can't find the bug ATM). The add-on will currently not be able to be uninstalled, but we're planning on fixing that. The add-on will be able to be disabled.

Another option is to install the add-on as a distro install (<app-install-dir>/distribution). This makes it to the add-on is auto-installed into the profile whenever the application is updated. After that, the add-on is able to be uninstalled (and it will stay uninstalled) or disabled.

Comment 6

[rajendra]

Thanks FF team , Is there any update on us ?

Comment 7

[rajendra]

Apologies for Typo.
Is there any update for us ?

Comment 8

[Benjamin Smedberg]

We will be removing support for distribution/bundles in Firefox 39. For consumer distribution I recommend using the normal prompts. For enterprise distribution, please see the autoconfig settings that Mike Kaply has developed as part of the CCK.

Comment 9

[rajendra]

Thanks for updates Benjamin.
Is autoconfig+CCK is only solution going forward for enterprise software to install their FF extension/plugins to automatic silent activate ?

Comment 10

[rajendra]

After going through following post I have couple of question 

https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/02/10/extension-signing-safer-experience/

	1. Does removal of distribution/bundle applicable for from ESR version as well ?
	2. Doubts related to distribution/bundle directory removal 
	•  Is there any documentation available for AutoConfig deployment ?
	•  I looked at CCK AutoConfig option of CCK , It also looks like requires deploying extension file in    distribution/bundle directory with extra AutoConfig.js in default/pref. 
	
	As AutoConfig option also using distribution/bundle directory so how it will solve
	Deployment option for enterprise software's. ?
	
	3. Doubts related to Extension signing 
	• What is timeline to upload extension for signing ?
	• By when signed extension policy will get enforced in 2015 ?
	• Is extension signing require for both consumer FF version and ESR FF to load extension?
	• Is signed extension can be used for both ESR and FF consumer version ? This is required in case when enterprise software support both ESR and consumer version.

	• To load extension on consumer FF version is always require to upload on AMO ? Or is there any other way to load signed extension on consumer FF ?

	• What is the extension deployment policy for ESR FF , given following option ?
		○ Is it only through AMO ?
                ○ By hosting signed extension on local server ?

As McAfee SiteAdvisor Enterprise supports both consumer and enterprise version of FF so we are looking for deployment option which can address both the FF version's

Thanks in advance.

Comment 11

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

1. I'm rewriting the CCK2 to not require distribution/bundles.

2. As I emailed separately, I have a solution for placing extensions in distribution/bundles (or anywhere for that matter) that I am not releasing publicly yet. This solution will also not require that the extension will be signed. It will only work for old style extensions, not bootstrapped or SDK.

I sincerely doubt you will find a method here that will work well for both enterprise and non enterprise.