1363969 - Changing blocklist requires a restart

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Protections UI, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Hazel Ward]

I was investigating these settings and found that there's no way to change your blocklist choice without resetting the browser. Selecting 'cancel' brings the user back to the choice list, where they can only save or cancel (either prompting the restart or cancelling entirely) 

It'd be nice if this setting displayed the same "will apply after firefox is restarted" behavior similar to other areas of the browser and offered to restart in the preferences UI somewhere relevant (perhaps next to the 'Change Block List' button)

Comment 1

[François Marier [:francois]]

This is no longer required at the platform level.

If a user changes the value of urlclassifier.trackingTable, it takes effect immediately.

So all that's left is to remove the restart prompt in the UI.

Comment 2

[François Marier [:francois]]

CCing Johann in case getting rid of this annoyance is not much work.

Comment 3

[Johann Hofmann [:johannh]]

Remove some code? Where do I sign up? While I don't think I have the cycles to work on this, I'm CCing Prathiksha since this looks like something she might be interested in tackling in the near/mid- future.

Comment 4

[:prathiksha]

Attachment: Bug 1363969 - Remove prompt action that asks to restart the browser when we change TP blocklists.

Review commit: https://reviewboard.mozilla.org/r/180236/diff/#index_header
See other reviews: https://reviewboard.mozilla.org/r/180236/

Comment 5

[:prathiksha]

Comment on attachment 8908562 [details]
Bug 1363969 - Remove prompt action that asks to restart the browser when we change TP blocklists.

Please ignore this attachment. It was meant for another bug.

Comment 6

[:prathiksha]

Comment on attachment 8908562 [details]
Bug 1363969 - Remove prompt action that asks to restart the browser when we change TP blocklists.

Review request updated; see interdiff: https://reviewboard.mozilla.org/r/180236/diff/1-2/

Comment 7

[François Marier [:francois]]

Comment on attachment 8908562 [details]
Bug 1363969 - Remove prompt action that asks to restart the browser when we change TP blocklists.

https://reviewboard.mozilla.org/r/180236/#review201124

That looks fine to me.

In order to test it, use https://mozilla.github.io/tracking-test/full.html. When the strict list is enabled, you should see a Firefox with a stop sign. When the standard list is enabled, you should see the black cat instead.

Comment 8

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/68850c2bf7bb
Remove prompt action that asks to restart the browser when we change TP blocklists. r=francois

Comment 9

[Natalia Csoregi [:nataliaCs]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/68850c2bf7bb

Comment 10

[:prathiksha]

To verify:

- There is no prompt asking to restart the browser when we change the TP Blocklist in Preferences -> Privacy.
- Changing the TP Blocklist works as expected (see comment 7).

Comment 11

[roxleitan]

Verified using the latest Nightly 58.0a1 (2017-11-12)on Windows 10 x64, Ubuntu 16.04 x64 and Mac OS X 10.12.

-There is no prompt asking to restart the browser when we change the TP Blocklist in Preferences -> Privacy.
-using the link https://mozilla.github.io/tracking-test/full.html from comment 7, I observed that Firefox with a stop sign appears when the strict list is enabled but only after I manually restart the browser

prathiksha, this is the expected behaviour?

Comment 12

[:prathiksha]

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #11)

> -using the link https://mozilla.github.io/tracking-test/full.html from
> comment 7, I observed that Firefox with a stop sign appears when the strict
> list is enabled but only after I manually restart the browser
> 
> prathiksha, this is the expected behaviour?

No, this is not the expected behavior. Firefox with a stop sign should appear without the manual restart after enabling the strict list. I'm sorry for not mentioning this earlier, you need to select the "Always" radio button under Preferences -> Privacy -> Tracking Protection before enabling the strict list and testing the link from comment 7 if you want to test on normal windows (not private browsing).

Can you verify this fix again, please ? Thanks. :)

Comment 13

[roxleitan]

Tested with the STR:
1.Go to about:preferences#privacy 
2.Select "Always" radio button under Preferences -> Privacy -> Tracking Protection
3.Click "Change Block List" button and select Disconnect.me strict protection option
4.Click "Save changes"
5.Open https://mozilla.github.io/tracking-test/full.html

Expected result:
Firefox with a stop sign should be displayed 

Actual result:
The page with black cat is displayed

Should I log a new bug for this? Or reopen this one?

Comment 14

[:prathiksha]

Francois, this change does not work as expected on the first try (the black cat is seen no matter what TP blocklist is enabled) but after a single restart we can switch between the blocklists seamlessly and it starts to work like we expect it to. Are the preferences getting cached somewhere? Would you know what is happening here ? Should we file a separate bug for it ?

Comment 15

[Darkspirit]

Nightly 59 x64 20171113100232 de_DE fc194660762d1b92e1679d860a8bf41116d0f54f @ Debian Testing
main profile: privacy.trackingprotection.enabled (basic list)

1. open https://mozilla.github.io/tracking-test/full.html (= black cat)
2. activate the strict blocklist on about:preferences#privacy and reload the github tab: orange fox with stop sign
3. switch back to the basic blocklist and reload the github tab: black cat

fresh profile:
Doing steps from comment 13: black cat

another fresh profile:
1. Enable Basic TP (by clicking on "Always") at first, restart, and do steps from comment 13: black cat
2. restart (you still have selected the strict list): orange fox with stop sign
3. you can switch between those blocklists and reload the testcase afterwards and it works as expected (black cat/orange fox).

summary: You need to restart only once to make a blocklist work. If both blocklists have witnessed a restart, both work and you can switch without restarting between them.

Comment 16

[François Marier [:francois]]

(In reply to :prathiksha from comment #14)
> Francois, this change does not work as expected on the first try (the black
> cat is seen no matter what TP blocklist is enabled) but after a single
> restart we can switch between the blocklists seamlessly and it starts to
> work like we expect it to. Are the preferences getting cached somewhere?
> Would you know what is happening here ? Should we file a separate bug for it
> ?

What is happening is that while the preferences are being reloaded correctly, the strict list needs to be downloaded before it starts to work. Unless we force the list to be updated immediately, it may take up to one hour before the update timer is triggered. Restarting will also trigger the update so that's why it works immediately.

I will file a bug to get this fixed in the list manager.

Comment 17

[Timea Zsoldos [:zstimi/tzsoldos], Desktop QA]

I have reproduced this issue using Firefox  55.0a1 (2017.05.10) on Win 8.1 x64.
I can confirm this issue is fixed, I verified using Firefox 58.0b3 (build ID=20171114032831), on Windows 8.1 x64, Ubuntu 14.04 x64 and Mac OS X 10.12.6.