1473799 - Disabling last extension using containers resets Firefox containers to factory defaults

Status: NEW

(WebExtensions :: General, enhancement, P5)

Description

[smartfon.reddit]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:62.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/62.0
Build ID: 20180702164905

Steps to reproduce:

Install the Cookie AutoDelete extension and use it briefly: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-autodelete/

Long press the new tab "+" button and click "Manage Containers" (I do _not_  have the Multi-Account Container extension from AMO). Remove and add some containers, customize it to your liking.

Disable the Cookie AutoDelete extension. The Containers functionality is also disabled. Re-enable Cookie AutoDelete. The Container functionality returns, but all the customization disappear. It's at the default state.

If this is by design, meaning the built-in Containers feature is no longer supported and it's only enabled for that one extension to work, then the user-facing Containers functionality should be disabled to avoid confusion, and the user should be advised to install the dedicated Containers extension from AMO in order to configure Containers settings.

The way it works now is the user spends time customizing Containers just to find out this wasn't the "real" containers feature, and he needs to install a dedicated extension and customize it all over again.

It's also possible this is not by design and is a bug, hence the report.

Comment 1

[Rares Doghi, Desktop QA]

Hi, I tried to reproduce this issue in the latest version of Firefox Nightly 63.0a1 (2018-07-10) without success, after I disable the AutoDelete extension the Containers functionality is still working as expected, can you please try the latest version of Nightly you can find here: https://nightly.mozilla.org/ 

Also in case this issue still occurs can you create a new profile, you have the steps here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profile-manager-create-and-remove-firefox-profiles?redirectlocale=en-US&redirectslug=Managing-profiles#w_starting-the-profile-manager

and try it again.

Comment 2

[smartfon.reddit]

Nightly + new profile = Everything works great

Nightly + old profile = Release + old profile = Release + new profile =  Containers feature is no available while CAD is disabled. Upon re-enabling CAD, the Containers is available but is reset to factory state.



Right now I'm using the Firefox Multi-Account Container (MAC) extension from AMO, and that remedied the problem. 
There is still a bug that requires there to be at least one extension that forcefully requires Containers feature to be enabled, in order for it to be available at all. Without CAD or MAC, there is no trace of Containers under Settings>General>Tabs either.
With only CAD installed, a message says Containers is forcefully enabled because CAD requires Containers. With CAD and MAC both isntalled, when I disable either one, the message still says Containers is force enabled because the other extension is requiring it. As long as something requires it, the Containers feature is available upon long-pressing "+" and its customizations aren't reset to factory conditions.

Comment 3

[Andrew Swan [:aswan]]

This is basically working at intended, but it is a lousy experience and we ought to be able to do better.

We could try to prompt when the last container extension is disabled/uninstalled but that could get tricky (eg what if a user just deletes a container extension from their profile)  Or if there were plans to turn on containers on by default, extensions wouldn't have to enable/disable containers and this would become irrelevant.

Bouncing this to product to consider.

Comment 4

[Mike Conca [:mconca]]

Not a bug, but definitely not the greatest experience, either. I like the suggestion of prompting on last disable/uninstall, and if it happens outside the browser, just leave containers enabled.  Or maybe, once containers are enabled, just leave them enabled from that point forward until the user disables (should they choose to do so).

I'm accepting this as a P5 enhancement, for now, just to get it on the radar. WebExtensions will need to coordinate with Firefox product management (and UX) to figure out a better approach.

Comment 5

[ariasuni]

I can still reproduce this bug with Firefox 69b15.

It’s annoying if a user has a bug/weird behavior and tries to disable extensions to look for the culprit. A user can also disable an extension (Firefox multi-account containers, Tree Style Tab, Tab Center Redux/Reborn, etc.) by mistake and lose a lot of their tabs.

The last comment has been posted one year ago, maybe you should consider a higher priority?

Comment 6

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The bug has a release status flag that shows some version of Firefox is affected, thus it will be considered confirmed.