1438247 - AutoConfig (MCD) broken on Windows 10 Pro. "Netscape.cfg/AutoConfig failed ... Error: about:preferences failed: content ...Failed to read the configuration file."

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Thunderbird :: Preferences, defect)

Description

[ruga]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0
Build ID: 20100101

Steps to reproduce:

I installed the autoconfiguration files as follows.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\autoconfig.cfg
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\defaults\pref\autoconfig.js

where autoconfig.js contains the following:

pref("general.config.obscure_value", 0); // plain text
pref("general.config.filename", "autoconfig.cfg");



Actual results:

When Thunderbird starts, it shows the following error:

> Netscape.cfg/AutoConfig failed. Please contact your system administrator. 
> Error: about:preferences failed: content

After confirming, it shows this second error:

> Failed to read the configuration file. Please contact your system administrator. 



Expected results:

I think it is reading autoconfig.js correctly, but it does not find autoconfig.conf. 

Firefox autoconfiguration works when using the similar paths: 
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\autoconfig.cfg
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\pref\autoconfig.js

Comment 1

[ruga]

Note: ignore my Firefox banner. It is spoofed. I am using 58.0.2 under MacOS.

Comment 2

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

I've never heard of such a configuration option. I don't think it's supported, especially since you're modifying the installed program in C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird.

The only thing we support for additional preferences is user.js.

Right, Aceman? I'd close this as INVALID.

Comment 3

[:aceman]

I think this is valid, there was some way to put config stuff in a similar way.
I don't think I ever got this working right, so I don't know if the syntax is correct or not, but this method is real.
Unless m-c dropped this already. We could ask around.

Comment 4

[ruga]

Re: aceman

It is valid. Thunderbird autoconfiguration of about:config settings with locks works perfectly on MacOS. These are the default paths:

/Applications/Thunderbird/Contents/Resources/defaults/pref/autoconfig.js
/Applications/Thunderbird/Contents/Resources/autoconfig.cfg

I am surprised it fails on Windows. 

Re: jorg

Educate yourself and ask for consensus *before* closing other people's bugs.

Comment 5

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

(In reply to ruga from comment #4)
> Educate yourself and ask for consensus *before* closing other people's bugs.
I did. Where do you see a closed bug?

Comment 6

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to :aceman from comment #3)
> I think this is valid, there was some way to put config stuff in a similar
> way.
> I don't think I ever got this working right, so I don't know if the syntax
> is correct or not, but this method is real.
> Unless m-c dropped this already. We could ask around.

Comment 7

[Masatoshi Kimura [:emk]]

This is MCD (a.k.a. AutoConfig).
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Archive/Misc_top_level/MCD,_Mission_Control_Desktop_AKA_AutoConfig

MCD is supposed to work with all Mozilla applications including Thunderbird. MCD even has a Thunderbird-specific API (getLDAPAttributes and getLDAPValue).

AutoConfig will be limited to ESR since version 60 and will be completely removed in the future.

Comment 8

[Masatoshi Kimura [:emk]]

Ah, I forgot to ask a question. Piro, do you know if MCD works with Thunderbird on Windows at the moment?

Comment 9

[YUKI "Piro" Hiroshi]

AutoConfig works for me on both Firefox Nightly 60.0a1 and Thunderbird Daily 60.0a1.
Steps:

 1. Install Nightly (or Daily.)
 2. Put "autoconfig.js" to the location:
    C:\Program Files\Firefox Nightly\defaults\pref\autoconfig.js
    C:\Program Files\Thunderbird Daily\defaults\pref\autoconfig.js
 3. Put "autoconfig.cfg" to the location:
    C:\Program Files\Firefox Nightly\autoconfig.cfg
    C:\Program Files\Thunderbird Daily\autoconfig.cfg
 4. Start Nightly (or Daily).
 5. Hit Alt-H and choose "About Nightly" (or "About Thunderbird Daily".)
 6. It says "Updates disabled by your system administrator". (expected result)

autoconfig.js:
---
pref("general.config.obscure_value", 0);
pref("general.config.filename", "autoconfig.cfg");
pref("general.config.vendor", "autoconfig");
---

autoconfig.cfg:
---
// the first line is always ignored by Thunderbird itself
lockPref("app.update.auto", false);
lockPref("app.update.enabled", false);
---

Comment 10

[YUKI "Piro" Hiroshi]

Environment:

 * Build ID: 20180219220041(Nightly) / 20180219030201(Daily)
 * OS: Windows 10 Home Insider Preview, version 1709 (build 17074.1002)

Comment 11

[YUKI "Piro" Hiroshi]

> Failed to read the configuration file. Please contact your system administrator. 

The error will appear by various reasons. For example:

 * syntax error
 * runtime error from missing symbol (from typo)
 * runtime error from missing function (some methods of XPCOM components are already removed on lately builds)
 * runtime error from missing modules (some XPCOM components are already removed on lately builds)

Comment 12

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

See:

https://mike.kaply.com/2016/09/08/debugging-firefox-autoconfig-problems/

This definitely sounds like a problem with the autoconfig file.

Comment 13

[ruga]

The files are not broken. 

I am using the same Thunderbird .cnf and .js auto-configuration files on MacOS, and they work very well. 

Furthermore, the same files work on windows *only if* I translate them into registry keys and load them from Thunderbird with the gpo extension. This "solution" is faulty, because individual users can disable the extension. 

What seems to be broken, in Thunderbird for Windows, is its ability to read the .cnf file. It definitely reads the .js file, but fails to find the .cnf, hence the loading error.

Comment 14

[ruga]

> AutoConfig will be limited to ESR since version 60 and will be completely
> removed in the future.

Is it a unilateral decision from the Mozilla organization, 
or you have evidence of consensus in support of your claim? 

Will there be a new technology for the same functionality? 

If the answer to the above question is "no", 
then both Firefox and Thunderbird will be deprecated in our 
enterprise environments, both our own and those of our clients.

Comment 15

[ruga]

(In reply to YUKI "Piro" Hiroshi from comment #9)
> AutoConfig works for me on both Firefox Nightly 60.0a1 and Thunderbird Daily 60.0a1.

It does not work on TB 52 for windows.

Comment 16

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

> AutoConfig will be limited to ESR since version 60 and will be completely removed in the future.

Please don't make blanket statements on behalf of Mozilla.

We have not made any final decisions as to the future of Autoconfig, and anything we do shouldn't affect Thunderbird.

We are currently working on a policy engine for Firefox customization that should replace many of the ways Autoconfig was being used (especially the CCK2)

Comment 17

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

Is it possible there was a line ending problem? Were you able to get this working on Windows?

Note that now when we show the autoconfig error, thunderbird/firefox still starts and you can check the javascript console to see what the error was.

Comment 18

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Need more info, but Ruga seems to be gone