1093740 - Warn/refuse to launch Firefox/64 on older versions of Windows (pre-Win7)

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1094013

(Toolkit :: Startup and Profile System, defect)

Description

[Benjamin Smedberg]

From bug 604967, we are not going to support running Firefox/64 on versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista. We should add a check at startup and show the user a message asking them to switch to the 32-bit version of Firefox.

dmajor, can you mentor this? rstrong, can you point us at the existing strings the installer uses for the similar warning on install?

The check can be added at the top of http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/annotate/cadcd47db610/toolkit/xre/nsAppRunner.cpp#l4140 inside an ifdef like this:

#if defined(XP_WIN) && defined(HAVE_64BIT_BUILD)
Output(...);
return 1;
#endif

The message does not need to be localized (it's likely not even possible at this point of startup).

Comment 1

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Per bug 604967, this is now win7/64 as the minimum version.

Comment 2

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Strings used by the installer:
http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/locales/en-US/installer/nsisstrings.properties#28
WARN_MIN_SUPPORTED_OS_MSG=Sorry, $BrandShortName can't be installed. This version of $BrandShortName requires ${MinSupportedVer} or newer.

http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/installer/windows/nsis/defines.nsi.in#67
!define MinSupportedVer "Microsoft Windows Vista x64"

Comment 3

[(Away)]

Typically a benefit of raising a version requirement is that we can just assume newer APIs are available and not care what happens when they're not present.

If we want to show a warning, then we'll need to make sure we *can* still run on pre-Win7, just long enough to show a warning. Given our current setup with lightweight firefox.exe, it should be easily doable, but it's an extra thing to keep track of and guard against future regressions. It's kinda funny to have test coverage for an unsupported platform :)

Comment 4

[mockingbird]

Would you like me to post a screenshot of it working on XP x64 SP2?  Remember, there's two versions of Firefox in the nightly builds, ZIP for portable use and an installer.  It can be launched no problem from the ZIP.

What I was asking for in 604967 was to replace the outright refusal of the program to install with a warning message saying that only 7 and higher were supported, but informing the user that he may proceed at his own risk.

I know you do this for free, so I'm appreciative of any attention you give this.  Long live Netscape!

Comment 5

[Benjamin Smedberg]

No. Working on XP64 isn't a criterion here, it's about support and product requirements.

Comment 6

[Masatoshi Kimura [:emk]]

Fixed by bug 1094013. Firefox/64 will refuse to run on pre-Win7.