1359347 - Failure to update safe browsing DB when safe browsing folder is opened on Windows

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Toolkit :: Safe Browsing, defect, P3)

Description

[Cynthia Tang [:cynthiatang]]

Steps to reproduce
 1. Open the safe browsing v4 folder 
    C:\Users\XXXX\AppData\Local\mozilla\firefox\profiles\XXXX\safebrowsing\google4 
 2. Delete all files in the folder "google4"
 3. Launch Firefox
 4. Enter "about:url-classifier" in URL bar
 5. Press "Trigger Update"
 6. Go back to the safe browsing v4 folder 

Expected result
 - Safe Browsing v4 DB can be updated. 

Actual result
 - Safe Browsing v4 DB cannot be updated. 
 - Last update status is "update error(2152857621)" in the about:url-classifier 
 - This issue cannot be reproduced on Mac and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Affected versions
 - 55.0a1 (2017-04-24) (64-bit)

Affected OS
 - Windows 7
 - Windows 10

Comment 1

[Ethan Tseng [:ethan]]

So this bug could not be reproduced if the folder is not opened?
The symptom sounds odd to me.  Why would opening the folder affect our behavior to update the database?

Thomas, please try to reproduce this bug and locate the root cause.

Comment 2

[Thomas Nguyen (:tnguyen)]

At the first glance, 2152857621 means NS_ERROR_FILE_ACCESS_DENIED and you somehow did not have permission to write to V4 file.

Comment 3

[Henry Chang [:hchang]]

That's because we have to "rename" the safebrowsing databases around for the 
"background update" purpose. I don't think this is something we can resolve.

Comment 4

[François Marier [:francois]]

Thanks for bringing that up Cynthia, I would have never thought about testing this!

(In reply to Henry Chang [:henry][:hchang] from comment #3)
> That's because we have to "rename" the safebrowsing databases around for the 
> "background update" purpose. I don't think this is something we can resolve.

I think Henry is right. This is a limitation we'll have to live with.

Of course, that means that the update will fail, but it will (I assume) start to work again shortly after you close the folder.