1301288 - Firefox post update actions are no longer performed due to post update processing happening later in startup

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Toolkit :: Application Update, defect, P1)

Comment 1

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

Firefox reads the properties of the first update in the updates.xml file to determine if there are post update actions to perform such as opening a what's new page. Since bug 311614 landed the updates.xml file is updated later during startup along with the app.update.postupdate pref being set.

Comment 2

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

This caused bug 1292637

Comment 3

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

Attachment: patch rev1

I tried a couple of other fixes but they all ended up with some fairly major changes. I ended up going with just updating the updates.xml with the active update so the changes would be safer for uplifting. I will file a bug for a cleaner fix if this approach is acceptable.

Pushed to try
https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=try&revision=538721b6ded1

Comment 4

[Molly Howell (she/her) (mostly inactive)]

Comment on attachment 8789212 [details] [diff] [review]
patch rev1

Review of attachment 8789212 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

A cleaner fix would definitely be preferred, but this should work fine for now.

Comment 5

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

I was able to verify this locally. For QA to verify this it will require the following steps:

1. install and then launch a build that has an update to a build that has this patch.
2. open the about window to download the update.
3. in the browser console run the following code to open the updates directory
var fileLocator = Cc["@mozilla.org/file/directory_service;1"].getService(Ci.nsIProperties); var dir = fileLocator.get("UpdRootD", Ci.nsIFile); dir.reveal();
4. exit Firefox.
5. open  the active-update.xml file in an editor
6. adding the following to <update of the active-update.xml
actions="showURL" openURL="https://www.mozilla.org/zh-TW/firefox/49.0/whatsnew/"
7. launch Firefox

Alternatively, if releng can create a test update xml with the actions and openURL values you can add a string pref with the name app.update.url.override and a value of the url to the test update xml.

Comment 6

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

[Tracking Requested - why for this release]:
This is a regression caused by bug 311614 which prevented showing the what's new page in bug 1292637.

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/rev/c518337a8da2
set post update values earlier in startup so Firefox post update actions can be performed. r=mhowell

Comment 8

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

Filed bug 1301517 for the cleanup

Comment 9

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/c518337a8da2

Comment 10

[Liz Henry (:lizzard) (relman/hg->git project)]

Is this something you intend to uplift for 50? I assume not for 49. Thanks!

Comment 11

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

Yes

Comment 12

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

Hi Robert, could you please nominate a patch for uplift to Fx50? Thanks!

Comment 13

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

Comment on attachment 8789212 [details] [diff] [review]
patch rev1

Approval Request Comment
[Feature/regressing bug #]: Bug 311614
[User impact if declined]: We won't be able to show the What's New page by configuring the update advertisement. See 1292637 for one instance.
[Describe test coverage new/current, TreeHerder]: Landed on nightly and I manually verified this patch fixes this bug
[Risks and why]: Minimal since this code only runs after an update has been applied, it has landed on Nightly, and I've tested this locally.
[String/UUID change made/needed]: None

Comment 14

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

Comment on attachment 8789212 [details] [diff] [review]
patch rev1

Recent regression, Aurora50+

Comment 15

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

Pushed to mozilla-aurora
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-aurora/rev/79429ecdadfa79a101cff2add3d5c1eac5b07e7f

Comment 16

[Cornel Ionce [:noni] [Hubs QA]]

Using the STR provided in comment 5 I was able to confirm this fix on Windows 10 x64, the "whats new page" is correctly displayed after updating from an older version.

Verified on latest 50.0a2 Aurora, build ID 20160914004005 and latest 51.0a1 Nightly, build ID 20160914030200.