Closed Bug 1225293 Opened 9 years ago Closed 8 years ago

Support Silverlight for Win64 Firefox

Categories

(Core Graveyard :: Plug-ins, defect)

43 Branch
defect
Not set
normal

Tracking

(firefox42 wontfix, firefox43+ verified, firefox44+ verified, firefox45+ fixed, b2g-v2.5 fixed)

RESOLVED FIXED
Tracking Status
firefox42 --- wontfix
firefox43 + verified
firefox44 + verified
firefox45 + fixed
b2g-v2.5 --- fixed

People

(Reporter: elan, Assigned: qdot)

References

Details

Attachments

(2 files, 1 obsolete file)

We need people to be able to use Win64 as their everyday browser. The reality is that we need Silverlight to work with Win64 for a time. I don't have a deprecation plan, this resides on progress made with partners. This has been approved by :osunick, :jst, :bsmedberg, :javaun, :dcamp

For now, please provide support for Silverlight. If the the level of effort is friendly and this is low-risk, we'd like to shoot for 43.0 which is in mid-beta. If this is mid-risk, Firefox 44.0 is fine.

The GoLive looks like this:

- There is a blog post from our Games team about what's happening with the games stack and Win64 is one of those things, this will be going out on Thursday, Nov 18th
- There is a meeting with a partner on Friday, Nov 19th
- A Win64 option appears on this page: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/, this would go live on Dec 15th along with the other Fx43.0 binaries
Summary: Support Silverlight for Win64 version of Firefox → Support Silverlight for Win64 Firefox
This fix will be similar to bug 1165981, which whitelisted 64-bit Flash and reconfigured the plugin tests.

Bob Owen will need to verify that 64-bit Silverlight still works in the latest version of our 64-bit NPAPI sandbox. Because Silverlight has been blocked since FF 42, we have been making changes to the NPAPI sandbox for Flash without testing Silverlight. We should at least test Amazon Video and Netflix (which will likely need a fake UA).
AIUI it's just Amazon and Netflix that are an issue here, and not a broad "the web still needs Silverlight" requirement... Can we whitelist Silverlight for _only_ those sites? That would go a long ways towards making easy to turn off Silverlight in the future, when Amazon and Netflix have moved to web-based technologies.
There are many smaller regional services that use Silverlight DRM besides Amazon and Netflix. I don't think we need to worry about new services launching in 2016 that rely on Silverlight, given that neither Chrome nor Edge support Silverlight. I think the overhead of dealing with user bug reports and services' requests to be whitelisted is greater than the value of a Silverlight whitelist (that doesn't affect 32-bit Firefox).

katsomo.fi
ViaPlay[.se|.fi|.dk|.no]
CMore[.se|.fi|.dk|.no]
Eurosport Player
Orange Cinema Series (OCS Go)
Magine TV (Germany, Sweden, Spain)
Maxdome VOD (Germany and Austria)
Canal+ (Poland)
Videoload
Sonpo-Japan
DMM FX
NET-TV
Takarazuka e-tix
IPLA TV
HBO GO PL
Player .pl
Sky Go
dTV
アニメ放題
Videopass
WOWOWメンバーズオンデマンド
楽天 ShowTime
DMM 動画
U-NEXT
Amazonプライムビデオ
NET-TV
SHIONOGI.tv
大塚製薬
VIDEX
レコチョク
mora
松井証券
DMM 証券
SBI証券
WebMAX
Yahoo!ファインナンス
ルートラボ
KDDI Video Pass

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/156hS5R42R8evZlMKIwnliNWidJpqH2HDINvrjyqMVFE/
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XSad5xsnxY9p0jBIN1zfUXZyXgQnMmrykt1gIELHHYs/
This patch adds the x64 silverlight plugin to our whitelist on win64. I did a quick test with it, silverlight shows up in the add-on list, and a couple of silverlight demos seemed to run ok.

We still need a mochitest for this, will hopefully get that together tomorrow.
Attachment #8688209 - Flags: review?(benjamin)
(In reply to Chris Peterson [:cpeterson] from comment #1)
> This fix will be similar to bug 1165981, which whitelisted 64-bit Flash and
> reconfigured the plugin tests.
> 
> Bob Owen will need to verify that 64-bit Silverlight still works in the
> latest version of our 64-bit NPAPI sandbox. Because Silverlight has been
> blocked since FF 42, we have been making changes to the NPAPI sandbox for
> Flash without testing Silverlight. We should at least test Amazon Video and
> Netflix (which will likely need a fake UA).

As it stands the sandbox is only turned on for flash (on 64-bit), so it shouldn't affect Silverlight.
Comment on attachment 8688209 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch 1 (v1) - Add Microsoft Silverlight to Win64 Plugin Whitelist

Review of attachment 8688209 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

::: dom/plugins/base/nsPluginHost.cpp
@@ +2046,5 @@
>      return true;
>    }
> +  // Microsoft Silverlight Tests
> +  if (StringBeginsWith(aPluginTag->FileName(), NS_LITERAL_CSTRING("npctrl"), nsCaseInsensitiveCStringComparator()) &&
> +      (aPluginTag->HasMimeType(NS_LITERAL_CSTRING("application/x-silverlight-app")) ||

The Silverlight plugin I have on Win32 and OS X does not claim to handle the "application/x-silverlight-app" MIME type (in about:plugins). Wikipedia says this MIME type is used for Silverlight XAP files, a Windows Phone 7/8 app package type. We can probably omit this XAP check on Win64. :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XAP_%28file_format%29
Attachment #8688209 - Flags: review?(benjamin) → review+
Assignee: overholt → kyle
Fixed mimetype to be for our test plugin instead of for silverlight-app
Attachment #8688209 - Attachment is obsolete: true
Added new test plugin for silverlight whitelist testing.
Attachment #8689255 - Flags: review?(benjamin)
Attachment #8689252 - Attachment description: Patch 1 (v1) - Add Microsoft Silverlight to Win64 Plugin Whitelist; r=bsmedberg → Patch 1 (v2) - Add Microsoft Silverlight to Win64 Plugin Whitelist; r=bsmedberg
Flags: needinfo?(andrei.vaida)
Andrei, we are looking at possibly releasing this for 43. Can your team do some testing in the next couple of weeks? How is your testing schedule looking ? Thanks.
(In reply to Liz Henry (:lizzard) (needinfo? me) from comment #10)
> Andrei, we are looking at possibly releasing this for 43. Can your team do
> some testing in the next couple of weeks? How is your testing schedule
> looking ? Thanks.

I think we'll be able to accommodate this. I've already started working on a tracking doc for the testing required here, using Comment 3 as our main source of test data.

When can we expect to start testing this on 43? I noticed that the 43 flag in this bug is still showing the affected status.
Flags: needinfo?(andrei.vaida) → needinfo?(lhenry)
Do I need to make a special 43 build to start testing on now, before this is landed to m-c? If so, I can do that on try, just let me know. I don't think this should require its own branch to test, as it's a fairly small change in the plugin whitelisting, which has already been in/tested for a while.
(In reply to Erin Lancaster [:elan] from comment #0)
> The GoLive looks like this:
> 
> - There is a blog post from our Games team about what's happening with the
> games stack and Win64 is one of those things, this will be going out on
> Thursday, Nov 18th
> - There is a meeting with a partner on Friday, Nov 19th

Erin: was the games stack blog post published? Is there any need to keep this Silverlight bug confidential once the blog post has been published?
Flags: needinfo?(elancaster)
Tracking for all current branches since this is a new feature we may want to uplift.
Flags: needinfo?(lhenry)
I don't see the blog post, but I think landing this on nightly sounds ok. We won't be promising to release it in 43, just testing things out for 45. Javaun is this your call here on landing on nightly (and making this bug public)  vs. creating a new branch?
Flags: needinfo?(jmoradi)
(In reply to Kyle Machulis [:kmachulis] [:qdot] (USE NEEDINFO?) from comment #12)
> Do I need to make a special 43 build to start testing on now, before this is
> landed to m-c? If so, I can do that on try, just let me know. I don't think
> this should require its own branch to test, as it's a fairly small change in
> the plugin whitelisting, which has already been in/tested for a while.

You *should* be good to go on mainline but can you hold off until 8AM on 11/24? If you don't have a request for a branch by then, we don't need it and can stay status quo.
Flags: needinfo?(elancaster)
Sounds good to me. I'm still waiting on my mochitest review from :bsmedberg anyways.
Group: mozilla-employee-confidential
Comment on attachment 8689255 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch 2 (v1) - Mochitests for Silverlight Whitelisting on Win64

ugh
Attachment #8689255 - Flags: review?(benjamin) → review+
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/21d5fede3c77
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/874206a798d6
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 8 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Target Milestone: --- → Firefox 45
Comment on attachment 8689252 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch 1 (v2) - Add Microsoft Silverlight to Win64 Plugin Whitelist; r=bsmedberg

Approval Request Comment
[Feature/regressing bug #]: Bug 1165981
[User impact if declined]: Win64 users can't use silverlight
[Describe test coverage new/current, TreeHerder]: Mochitests landed, will have manual testing
[Risks and why]: None other than landing late in the beta cycle
[String/UUID change made/needed]: None
Attachment #8689252 - Flags: approval-mozilla-beta?
Attachment #8689252 - Flags: approval-mozilla-aurora?
Comment on attachment 8689252 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch 1 (v2) - Add Microsoft Silverlight to Win64 Plugin Whitelist; r=bsmedberg

Has new test coverage, enables Silverlight, please uplift to aurora and beta.
Attachment #8689252 - Flags: approval-mozilla-beta?
Attachment #8689252 - Flags: approval-mozilla-beta+
Attachment #8689252 - Flags: approval-mozilla-aurora?
Attachment #8689252 - Flags: approval-mozilla-aurora+
Comment on attachment 8689255 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch 2 (v1) - Mochitests for Silverlight Whitelisting on Win64

See prior approval comments
Attachment #8689255 - Flags: approval-mozilla-beta?
Attachment #8689255 - Flags: approval-mozilla-aurora?
Comment on attachment 8689255 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch 2 (v1) - Mochitests for Silverlight Whitelisting on Win64

Please uplift the tests too, good for new feature coverage.
Attachment #8689255 - Flags: approval-mozilla-beta?
Attachment #8689255 - Flags: approval-mozilla-beta+
Attachment #8689255 - Flags: approval-mozilla-aurora?
Attachment #8689255 - Flags: approval-mozilla-aurora+
Flags: qe-verify+
We tested today the Silverlight plugin using Firefox 43 beta 7 (64-bit build) under Win 7, Win 8.1 and Win 10 - details on https://goo.gl/175pYB

Although the plugin works fine on most websites, we encountered some potential issues with Amazon and Neflix. Please take a look and advise:

 1. Amazon trailers are not played, the following message is displayed:
"Unsupported Browser
Amazon Video isn’t supported on the 64-bit version of Firefox. We recommend using our HTML5 video player on Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 8.1 or later, Microsoft Edge, or Opera."

On Firefox 32-bit builds, it works fine. Video samples: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L83TQR6/ref=pd_sim__6/185-7797293-5364105 , http://goo.gl/gKtyx7 , http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ZQJ1G4/ref=pd_cbs__7 .

 2. Netflix doesn't fallback to Silverlight if Adobe Primetime CDM is not installed (set to Never Activate before it is downloaded and installed). In this case the bellow message is shown:
"Whoops, something went wrong...
Missing Component

We cannot find all the required components to play Netflix on this device. Please visit https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-drm for additional information.

For additional assistance resolving this issue, please visit our Help Center.
https://help.netflix.com/support/32661"

When the same settings are in place for 32-bit builds, Netflix redirects to a system requirements page: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23742?tnid=23742
Flags: needinfo?(kyle)
(In reply to Petruta Rasa [QA] [:petruta] from comment #27)
> We tested today the Silverlight plugin using Firefox 43 beta 7 (64-bit
> build) under Win 7, Win 8.1 and Win 10 - details on https://goo.gl/175pYB
> 
> Although the plugin works fine on most websites, we encountered some
> potential issues with Amazon and Neflix. Please take a look and advise:
> 
>  1. Amazon trailers are not played, the following message is displayed:
> "Unsupported Browser
> Amazon Video isn’t supported on the 64-bit version of Firefox. We recommend
> using our HTML5 video player on Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 11 on
> Windows 8.1 or later, Microsoft Edge, or Opera."
> 
> On Firefox 32-bit builds, it works fine. Video samples:
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L83TQR6/ref=pd_sim__6/185-7797293-
> 5364105 , http://goo.gl/gKtyx7 ,
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009ZQJ1G4/ref=pd_cbs__7 .
> 
>  2. Netflix doesn't fallback to Silverlight if Adobe Primetime CDM is not
> installed (set to Never Activate before it is downloaded and installed). In
> this case the bellow message is shown:
> "Whoops, something went wrong...
> Missing Component
> 
> We cannot find all the required components to play Netflix on this device.
> Please visit https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-drm for additional
> information.
> 
> For additional assistance resolving this issue, please visit our Help Center.
> https://help.netflix.com/support/32661"
> 
> When the same settings are in place for 32-bit builds, Netflix redirects to
> a system requirements page: https://help.netflix.com/en/node/23742?tnid=23742

You need a 32-bit (WOW64) user agent override to get it to work on Amazon.  For Netflix, a UA of an earlier version of Firefox that does not support the Adobe cdm.
(In reply to Chris Stinson from comment #28)
> You need a 32-bit (WOW64) user agent override to get it to work on Amazon. 
> For Netflix, a UA of an earlier version of Firefox that does not support the
> Adobe cdm.

Thank you, I used User Agent Overrider add-on (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/user-agent-overrider/) and managed to watch videos on both Amazon and Netflix.
Will this work for normal users?
Component: General → Plug-ins
Product: Firefox → Core
Target Milestone: Firefox 45 → ---
(In reply to Petruta Rasa [QA] [:petruta] from comment #30)
> Thank you, I used User Agent Overrider add-on
> (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/user-agent-overrider/) and
> managed to watch videos on both Amazon and Netflix.
> Will this work for normal users?

Thanks for testing, Petruta. Normal users should not need to use an add-on like User-Agent Overrider. I will follow up with Amazon about allowing 64-bit Silverlight with 64-bit Firefox. We have already told them we are re-enabling 64-bit Silverlight.

(In reply to Petruta Rasa [QA] [:petruta] from comment #27)
>  2. Netflix doesn't fallback to Silverlight if Adobe Primetime CDM is not
> installed (set to Never Activate before it is downloaded and installed).

This Netflix error is expected. Netflix does not want to support 64-bit Silverlight because they can use the Adobe Primetime CDM on 64-bit Firefox.
Flags: needinfo?(petruta.rasa)
Flags: needinfo?(kyle)
Thank you, Chris! Marking 43 as verified. I'm not sure what's the need-info for.

I accidentally modified the status-b2g-v2.5 flag, correcting.
Flags: needinfo?(petruta.rasa)
We also verified using Firefox 44 beta 4 that Silverlight runs nicely on 64bit build on the same platforms mentioned in comment 27. Still Amazon does not support 64bit plugin, but as mentioned in comment 31 that is a problem on their end.
Flags: qe-verify+
Flags: needinfo?(jmoradi)
Depends on: 1318833
Silverlight is not just for video, it's a RIA platform that just happened to be good choice for video too since it contained the codecs needed. e.g. you just killed my ClipFlair Studio educational app (http://studio.clipflair.net) usage in Firefox

of course you also don't care that you kill educational content published using Microworlds Pro and other software that was using plugins

some people seem to think the web content is maintained by big corporations with armies of webdevs
Product: Core → Core Graveyard
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