1451670 - "about:addons" and "about:support" report incorrect version number for sideloading WebExtensions addon, after it is updated

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Toolkit :: Add-ons Manager, defect)

Description

[YUKI "Piro" Hiroshi]

Firefox allows to install an addon globally for all users on the computer as a "sideloading" addon. On Windows, when you put a XPI file to the location:
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\browser\extensions\<addon-id>.xpi
, then the file will be loaded at the next startup of Firefox.
(For other platforms, see also https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Alternative_distribution_options/Sideloading_add-ons )
However, after I replaced the file to the new one, about:addons and about:support still reports old number of the version.

Steps to reproduce:
Assume that you're trying to install Tree Style Tab addon. Note that this is just an example and you can reproduce this problem with any addon.

 1. Install Firefox.
 2. Download XPI file of the Tree Style Tab 2.4.17 from:
    https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/versions/
 3. Rename the file to "[e-mail]" and
    put it at C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\browser\extensions\[e-mail]
 4. Start Firefox.
 5. Allow to install the addon.
 6. Go to "about:support". The page says that Tree Style Tab 2.4.17 is installed.
 7. Quit Firefox.
 8. Download XPI file of the Tree Style Tab 2.4.18 from:
    https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/versions/
 9. Rename the file to "[e-mail]" and
    put it at C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\browser\extensions\[e-mail]
    (overwrite the old file)
 10. Start Firefox.
 11. Go to "about:support".
 12. Go to "about:treestyletab-startup".

Actual result:
At the step 11, about:support says that Tree Style Tab *2.4.17* is installed.
At the step 12, the page says that Tree Style Tab 2.4.18 is installed.

Expected result:
At the step 11, about:support says that Tree Style Tab 2.4.18 is installed.
At the step 12, the page says that Tree Style Tab 2.4.18 is installed.

Comment 1

[Kris Maglione [:kmag]]

Attachment: Bug 1451670: Read the changed flag from startup JSON location data.

Review commit: https://reviewboard.mozilla.org/r/234226/diff/#index_header
See other reviews: https://reviewboard.mozilla.org/r/234226/

Comment 2

[Andrew Swan [:aswan]]

Comment on attachment 8965471 [details]
Bug 1451670: Read the changed flag from startup JSON location data.

https://reviewboard.mozilla.org/r/234226/#review239952

Comment 3

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/96f5608910e2
Read the changed flag from startup JSON location data. r=aswan

Comment 4

[Eliza Balazs [:ebalazs_]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/96f5608910e2

Comment 5

[Victor Carciu]

Verified as fixed using latest Nightly on Windows 10x64 and MacOS 10.13. Also, I can confirm that I was able to reproduce it in Firefox 59.0.2 .

I will attach a postfix video with results after step 11 and 12.

Comment 6

[Victor Carciu]

Attachment: Postfix video