1178425 - Version information of plugins should be obvious for users in the Add-ons Manager

Status: RESOLVED INACTIVE

(Toolkit :: Add-ons Manager, defect)

Description

[[:philipp]]

Attachment: screenshot of missing flash version #.png

As we know unfortunately 0-days for common plugins are not uncommon and in those situations users often get advised to check that they are using the latest version already.
After the aesthetic fix for bug 1161183 has landed, this information for plugins is no longer readily available in the Add-ons Manager - because this information is important for keeping a system updated & secure and for the purposes of support, the version number of a plugin should be surfaced in the main view of the plugins interface again!

Although there is the plugin checker website, it may not always be fed with the latest information available and caused issues by mislabling known vulnerable plugins as up-to-date in the past already (bug 1084537)...

Comment 1

[Virtual_ManPL [:Virtual] 🇵🇱 - (please needinfo? me - so I will see your comment/reply/question/etc.)]

[Tracking Requested - why for this release]:

[Tracking Requested - why for this release]:

[Tracking Requested - why for this release]: Regression

Comment 2

[Virtual_ManPL [:Virtual] 🇵🇱 - (please needinfo? me - so I will see your comment/reply/question/etc.)]

Same as stated in bug #1175324 comment #7 or another approach will be for Plugins?

Comment 3

[Ritu Kothari (:ritu) (Inactive, please n-i to RyanVM, jcristau, or pascal)]

Is this bug a duplicate of bug 1175330? Dave, could you please confirm?

Comment 4

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

(In reply to Ritu Kothari (:ritu) from comment #3)
> Is this bug a duplicate of bug 1175330? Dave, could you please confirm?

No this is not a duplicate. It is basically bug 1175324 but arguing that plugins are a special case that need the version number. Given that they are updated manually that might be true.

Comment 5

[jen strickland :jenstrickland]

Tracked for 40, 41, 42, as Dave's point seems solid to me, as well. Plugin version numbers are useful to the users.

Comment 6

[Jefferson]

Users being able to easily determine version numbers will help them when they prefer to try posted directions, so I would love for those numbers to be retained.

For SuMo purposes, we really should gather the version numbers automatically so we do not need to ask users to check them. I filed bug 1182904 for that just now.

Comment 8

[[:philipp]]

any plans to rectify this before it will hit release versions?

Comment 9

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

This is too late for 40. Anyway, not sure it is a big deal as clicking on the module shows the detailed version number.

Comment 10

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

I don't have the time to work on this right now. I would review a patch to correct it though, should be fairly straightforward just for plugins.

Comment 11

[Ritu Kothari (:ritu) (Inactive, please n-i to RyanVM, jcristau, or pascal)]

Given that there is a workaround to get the version info, this is wontfix for FF41 as it's not a release blocker.

Comment 12

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

I will stop tracking it as we published two releases with this issue and it is indeed not a big issue.

Comment 13

[BMO Automation]

Per policy at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Bug_Triage/Projects/Bug_Handling/Bug_Husbandry#Inactive_Bugs. If this bug is not an enhancement request or a bug not present in a supported release of Firefox, then it may be reopened.