1179779 - Neither XRE_START_OFFLINE nor -offline work any more

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core :: Networking, defect)

Description

[[e-mail]]

It's no longer possible to start Thunderbird, SeaMonkey or Firefox offline. Neither the -offline startup switch nor the XRE_START_OFFLINE environment variable used by the Profile Manager work any more.

Comment 1

[[e-mail]]

(Thunderbird and SeaMonkey's offline.startup_state preference still seems to work.)

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

-offline is needed to facilitate debugging

Comment 3

[Valentin Gosu [:valentin] (he/him)]

This is probably caused by either bug 1134596 or bug 654579 or most likely a combination of the two.
Does setting network.manage-offline-status to false fix the issue ? If so, we can just revert https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/fc9297fa66aa and all should be well.

Comment 4

[[e-mail]]

(In reply to Valentin Gosu from comment #3)
> Does setting network.manage-offline-status to false fix the issue ?

Sorry, but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

Comment 5

[Valentin Gosu [:valentin] (he/him)]

Attachment: Neither XRE_START_OFFLINE nor -offline work any more

I shouldn't have added this part. SetOffline(false) is first called from nsIOService::Init, which is enough. Optionally, XREMain::XRE_mainRun will also call SetOffline(true) if the -offline flag is passed. We don't call it for the do-profile-change notification as well.

Comment 6

[Honza Bambas (:mayhemer)]

Comment on attachment 8631032 [details] [diff] [review]
Neither XRE_START_OFFLINE nor -offline work any more

Review of attachment 8631032 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Good! (untested)

Comment 7

[[e-mail]]

This works in Firefox but Thunderbird and SeaMonkey seem to expect network.manage-offline-status to be false, which was changed in all.js recently (previously it was only set in firefox.js). Please let me know whether this change is intentional so that Thunderbird and SeaMonkey can override it if necessary.

Comment 8

[Valentin Gosu [:valentin] (he/him)]

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #7)
> This works in Firefox but Thunderbird and SeaMonkey seem to expect
> network.manage-offline-status to be false, which was changed in all.js
> recently (previously it was only set in firefox.js). Please let me know
> whether this change is intentional so that Thunderbird and SeaMonkey can
> override it if necessary.

That change was intentional. We can flip it back if necessary, but overriding it is preferable.

Comment 9

[[e-mail]]

(In reply to Valentin Gosu from comment #8)
> (In reply to comment #7)
> > This works in Firefox but Thunderbird and SeaMonkey seem to expect
> > network.manage-offline-status to be false, which was changed in all.js
> > recently (previously it was only set in firefox.js). Please let me know
> > whether this change is intentional so that Thunderbird and SeaMonkey can
> > override it if necessary.
> 
> That change was intentional. We can flip it back if necessary, but
> overriding it is preferable.

Actually, perhaps the -offline startup switch should call SetManageOfflineStatus(false)?

Comment 10

[[e-mail]]

Forget that, it wouldn't work, because the preferences get loaded too late.

Comment 11

[Pulsebot]

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/mozilla-inbound/rev/48fd33776581

Comment 12

[Wes Kocher (:KWierso) (Not reading bugmail; email directly if needed)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/48fd33776581

Comment 14

[Tobias B. Besemer [:BesTo] (QA)]

Release Note Request (optional, but appreciated)
[Why is this notable]: IMHO major feature for people like me.
[Suggested wording]: Starting in Offline Mode doesn't work.
[Links (documentation, blog post, etc)]: -

Comment 15

[Tobias B. Besemer [:BesTo] (QA)]

Landing fix in 41.0a2, too?

Comment 16

[Tobias B. Besemer [:BesTo] (QA)]

Sorry, for reopening the bug!

I just guess that my question for FF 40 & 41 and the release notes was getting lost ...

Comment 17

[Valentin Gosu [:valentin] (he/him)]

Comment on attachment 8631032 [details] [diff] [review]
Neither XRE_START_OFFLINE nor -offline work any more

Approval Request Comment
[Feature/regressing bug #]:
bug 1134596
[User impact if declined]:
Not able to start the browser in offline
[Describe test coverage new/current, TreeHerder]:
We don't have any automated tests for offline features. We rely on manual QA.
[Risks and why]:
Low risk. This has been on nightly for two weeks with no ill effects. 
[String/UUID change made/needed]:
None

Comment 18

[Honza Bambas (:mayhemer)]

The patch has landed on m-c.  It means the bug is fixed.  To ask for an approval to branches you don't need to reopen a bug.


Personally I'm not a big fan to land this on Beta a week before merge to Release.  Changes to this code are sensitive.

Comment 19

[Honza Bambas (:mayhemer)]

Comment on attachment 8631032 [details] [diff] [review]
Neither XRE_START_OFFLINE nor -offline work any more

Dropping the request unless this is critical - which is not.

Comment 20

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

Tracked for FF41.

Comment 21

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

Comment on attachment 8631032 [details] [diff] [review]
Neither XRE_START_OFFLINE nor -offline work any more

Offline mode is not working. Yikes! Let's uplift to Aurora soon.

Comment 22

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

Valentin, this is such a basic thing that we should be thinking about adding an automated test. Who should I discuss it with?

Comment 23

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

Requesting QE team to verify this fix on nightly and Aurora when possible.

Comment 24

[Valentin Gosu [:valentin] (he/him)]

(In reply to Ritu Kothari (:ritu) from comment #22)
> Valentin, this is such a basic thing that we should be thinking about adding
> an automated test. Who should I discuss it with?

The problem with tests is that our frameworks usually expect connectivity to persist at all times (for logs and etc).
We probably need some help from the Automation team. Even basic support for online/offline tests would be great.

Comment 25

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

Florin, just wondering, if this is already part of SV test plan. If not, can we add it? Thanks!

Comment 26

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-aurora/rev/da438ed6da6f

Comment 27

[[SV Manager] Florin Mezei, QA (:FlorinMezei)]

(In reply to Ritu Kothari (:ritu) from comment #25)
> Florin, just wondering, if this is already part of SV test plan. If not, can
> we add it? Thanks!

There was no plan to test this (most likely would have been picked up 1-2 weeks after 41 reached Beta, during the Firefox 41 Beta triage, where we review all fixes in Core, Platform, and Firefox for the new Beta, and decide what needs verification with higher priority). I'm keeping the needinfo so we have a look when time allows - likely next week due to higher priority work on Beta 40 and Windows 10.

Comment 28

[Tobias B. Besemer [:BesTo] (QA)]

Not fixed with Win7, 64bit and FF41.0a2, Build, 2015-07-29, 64bit, e10s.
I tested it a day to early?

Comment 29

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

(In reply to Tobias B. Besemer [:BesTo] from comment #28)
> Not fixed with Win7, 64bit and FF41.0a2, Build, 2015-07-29, 64bit, e10s.
> I tested it a day to early?

Yes I believe so. Can you please check with 07-30 build as this was checked into Aurora (FF41) channel 07-29 am PST. If it still does not work for you with 07-30 build of Aurora or later, please re-open.

Comment 30

[Tobias B. Besemer [:BesTo] (QA)]

(In reply to Ritu Kothari (:ritu) from comment #29)
> Can you please check with 07-30 build as this was checked
> into Aurora (FF41) channel 07-29 am PST. If it still does not work for you
> with 07-30 build of Aurora or later, please re-open.

Tested with:
Win7, 64bit and FF41.0a2, Build, 2015-07-30, 64bit, e10s.
All works now fine!

Question: Why is this fix "Target Milestone: mozilla42", when it is already in mozilla41?

Comment 31

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

Thanks Tobias. This was first fixed in Nightly (FF42) which is mozilla-central aka trunk. See comment 12. The target milestone typically reflects the trunk version i.e. FF42 in this case. FF41 status is reflected in flag status-firefox41. Hope that helps!

Comment 32

[Sylvestre Ledru [:Sylvestre]]

Added to the 40 release notes as a known issue with "Starting in offline mode does not work (1179779)" as wording.

Comment 33

[[SV Manager] Florin Mezei, QA (:FlorinMezei)]

Removing the needinfo on me since this was verified in comment 30. Thanks Tobias!