142253 - Social engineering enhancement: poor messaging on installation failure/success

Status: VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 126242

(SeaMonkey :: Installer, enhancement)

Description

[Dave Owen]

From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.0rc1) Gecko/20020417
BuildID:    2002041711

These are social engineering enhancements:

INSTALLATION FAILURE ISSUE

If Mozilla is installed in a directory that requires root to write files (as
some distributions do), users can automatically download the java applet plugin,
but installation will fail.

Upon failure, the user is given two dialogue boxes: "Access Denied" and a long
explanation that the installation failed and that the plugin can be downloaded
from a specific ftp site.

Unfortunately, this leaves the newbie non-root user wondering why the
installation failed, and thinking that Mozilla is not a very good browser. It
leaves the experienced non-root user annoyed that they cannot su root to
complete the installation.

The ideal solution would be to offer the user an opportunity to enter the root
password, with messaging that stated "In order to install this plugin, you need
to be an administrator of this machine. Please enter the administrator password
below:"

Newbie users would understand that they were forbidden from installing the
plugin, instead of thinking Mozilla was broken. Experienced users would
appreciate the convenience vs. logging out and in as root.

The secondary solution is to replace (or follow) the "access denied" message
with "Access Denied: you must be logged in as administrator to install this plugin".

INSTALLATION SUCCESS ISSUE:

Upon successful installation of the plugin, reloading the page that required the
java plugin does not use the java plugin. It is necessary to restart Mozilla,
then return to the page, at which point the java plugin is used.

Windows users are used to plugins such as Flash loading and becoming effective
automatically when possible, and receiving instructions to restart the
application when necessary. If Mozilla does not offer the same functionality
and/or instructions, newbie users will think that the plugin installation did
not work and will assume that Mozilla is broken.

The ideal solutions is to have the plugin recognized automatically. This is
probably not possible at this stage.

The secondary solution is to have the plugin announce that the application needs
to be restarted in order to activate the plugin, along with an offer to "restart
now" or "restart later". 

NOTE

I have only seen this with the java 2 plugin, and have not attempted any other
automatic plugin installations.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
Pre. Make sure Mozilla is installed in a restricted directory, such as /usr/bin
(as it is in some distributions).

For Failure:
1.Log in as non-root.
2.Surf to a URL that requires the Java plugin (I recommend
http://www.asciimation.co.nz/)
3.Follow the onscreen instructions to download and install the linux plugin for
java 2.
4. Grant the installer permission.

For Success:
1. Log in as root.
2. Surf to a URL that requires the Java plugin (I recommend
http://www.asciimation.co.nz/)
3.Follow the onscreen instructions to download and install the linux plugin for
java 2.
4. Grant the installer permission.
5. After the installation is successful, reload the page.
 

Actual Results:  For Failure:
"Access Denied" dialog box, and vague description of failure.

For Success:
The plugin was not used to display content, and no suggestion to restart Mozilla
was given.

Expected Results:  For Failure:
Offered an opportunity to enter the root password, or offered a better
explanation of why the installation failed.

For Success:
Activated the plugin immediately for displaying content, or offered an
opportunity to restart Mozilla now or later.

I realize that this is not a black and white issue; Unfortunately, the most
stable and wonderful code in the world won't make a difference to a user that
doesn't understand the legitimate reason for a plugin installation failure. If
they decide the fault lies with Mozilla, rather than themselves, then the
Mozilla project will suffer.

Comment 1

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

This is an installer issue... (and a duplicate)

Comment 2

[Kai Lahmann (is there, where MNG is)]

this?

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 126242 ***

Comment 3

[K'Trina Medina]

Verified as a dupe of bug 126242