1105483 - Add a 'Generated' Date and Time stamp to the top of the 'Plugincheck JSON List'

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Plugin Check Graveyard :: General, defect)

Description

[DJ-Leith]

Assumptions:

1. You have read bug 956905 comment # 148.
For background and 'terms used' in this bug.

2. We saw in
bug 1084537 "Flash sometimes displayed as up to date whilst vulnerable, on Windows 7"

that the 'Plugincheck Service' - using plugin enumeration - still relies on
'dynamic URLs' that include
> https://plugins.mozilla.org/pfs/v2?appID={...  ...
These 'fetch' data from the 'Plugincheck Database',
DEPENDING on the 'detected by enumeration' plugin at the 'Plugincheck Website'.

This data can be 'out of date', i.e. it was "fetched" BEFORE the recent
update of the 'Plugincheck Database'!  


(Two examples, from bug 1084537 comment # 7)

So, Flash is being 'tested against' the data that was
>        'fetched': '2014-11-10T06:03:12-08:00
and we have the WRONG result for Flash Version 15.0.0.189

Reader, on 2014-10-22, WAS being 'tested against' the data that was
>        'fetched': '2014-10-01T12:45:31-07:00'
which was '3 weeks old' at the time of that plugincheck test!

There is more information in that bug.

The point is, a WRONG Report was given because 'out of date data' was used
to make the evaluation.

The cause is, I suspect, 'infrastructure' between the 'Plugincheck Database'
and the 'Plugincheck Website'.  The evidence is the 'fetched Date and Time stamp'.

The 'JSON List', on the other hand, does not have any indication in the
'JSON List' as to when the 'JSON List' was created.

So, for debugging the 'Plugincheck Service',
a single 'Date and Time this JSON List was generated' stamp would be very useful.
As the 'JSON List' is more than 5,000 lines long a single 'Date and Time' stamp
would not make it significantly bigger.

In bug 1084537 comment # 7 I said:
> For debugging, it might be an idea to have a Date and Time that
> the 'JSON List' was generated included in the JSON List, e.g. at the end.

I now think this would be better if it were in a 'known position',
so that 'code could find it' (e.g. JavaScript), near the beginning
of the 'JSON List'.

Additional uses for the 'Generated' Date and Time stamp include:

1.  The Data and Time could be displayed, near the bottom of the 'Plugincheck'
web page as:
e.g.
"Plugins were evaluated against the Database as at [Date, Time, Time Zone]"
So it could be:
"Plugins were evaluated against the Database as at 2014-10-01T12:45:31-07:00"

2.  Assume that the 'JSON List' is
'Generated fresh' when the 'Plugincheck Database' is Updated
or
a 'Generate a fresh JSON List' command (at the Database end) was issued
or
every 8 hours, if there has been no 'new data in the Database'.

An automated test could be run to 'spot any JSON List' that is more than
10 hours old and alert 'someone at Mozilla'.

This would prevent issues like bug 1084537 from going unnoticed.

DJ-Leith

Comment 1

[u597032]

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