1496535 - Add-on install/update failure - "<addon> could not be installed because it is not compatible with Thunderbird 60.2.1"

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Add-Ons: General, defect)

Description

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

This is effectively blocking release 60.2.1.  So we need to quickly determine the cause and fix it.

Some support reports today of incompatible addons when updating from version 60.0 to 60.2.1.  Two examples, where both add-ons have MaxVersion 60.0 and in all other respects the .rdf configuration of these two addons is similar:
* https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/theme-font-size-changer-fixed/ failed to install per https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1235630#answer-116
* https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/unread-badge/ failed to install per https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1236088#answer-1161116

However, the results for other users are mixed. Myself and at least one other person successfully installed these add-ons in 60.2.1. On the other hand, in a totally NEW profile, a) unread-badge consistently fails to install b) heme-font-size-changer-fixed consistently installs. If I bump unread-badge maxversion to 60.* then it installs.

No attempt has been made to determine how badly users are affected.

Perhaps we are seeing bug 505167 - maxversion x.y should be interpreted as x.y.* not x.y.0.  But I don't understand why the add-on with MaxVersion 60.0 succeeds in installing in 60.2.1.

Is the solution a fix in add-ons manager?  
Or must we bump maxversion for version 60 compatible addons to be 60.* ?

Comment 1

[Andrei Hajdukewycz [:sancus]]

There's no 60.* because historically we haven't allowed .* for Thunderbird add-ons.

Comment 2

[Andrei Hajdukewycz [:sancus]]

Well, apparently I'm wrong, and .* was added, maybe by the automated update process? Idk. Philipp had asked me to remove it but it's clearly there so shrug: https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/pages/appversions/

OK, so first of all, https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/theme-font-size-changer-fixed/ is compatible up to TB64, so it should DEFINITELY ALWAYS INSTALL. If it doesn't, something weird is going on. But the referenced forum post is not talking about that addon, it's talking about https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/theme-font-size-changer-for-tb/ which is a different addon that is only compatible with TB60.

As far as I can tell, it is true that addons marked 60.0 will not install in Thunderbird, nor will they show as compatible on ATN when viewed via the Add-ons Manager.

Also, the functionality that allowed us to do addon validation and compat bumps seems to have been removed from addons-server at some point, so we cannot do that.

It may be possible to write a command line task that does it though.

Comment 3

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Andrei Hajdukewycz [:sancus] from comment #2)
> https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/theme-font-size-
> changer-fixed/ is compatible up to TB64, so it should DEFINITELY ALWAYS
> INSTALL. 

How does that square with install.rdf ?

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<RDF xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:em="http://www.mozilla.org/2004/em-rdf#">
	<Description about="urn:mozilla:install-manifest">
		<em:id>[e-mail]</em:id>
		<em:type>2</em:type>
		<em:name>Theme Font &amp; Size Changer for Thunderbird</em:name>
		<em:version>64.4</em:version>
		<em:bootstrap>true</em:bootstrap>
		<em:unpack>false</em:unpack>	
		<em:creator>Bzzz</em:creator>
		<em:multiprocessCompatible>true</em:multiprocessCompatible>
		<em:iconURL>chrome://themefontsizechangertb/skin/addonicon.png</em:iconURL>
		<em:homepageURL>http://www.wanhunglo.com/2018/theme-font-size-changer-for-thunderbird-e6</em:homepageURL>
		<em:optionsURL>chrome://themefontsizechangertb/content/addonoptions.xul</em:optionsURL>
		<em:targetApplication>
			<Description>
				<em:id>{3550f703-e582-4d05-9a08-453d09bdfdc6}</em:id><!-- thunderbird -->
				<em:minVersion>58.0</em:minVersion>
				<em:maxVersion>60.0</em:maxVersion>
			</Description>
		</em:targetApplication>		
	</Description>
</RDF>

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Looking at first 10 page of https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/extensions/?sort=updated maybe 10% have 60.0 as max version.  (

https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/kmaleon-extension/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/grammar-checker/ (which has also been reported in SUMO)
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/thunderbird-addons-test/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/gantt-view/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/remove-duplicate-messages-alte/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/quickfilters/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/disable-draganddrop-tb/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/bitmask/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/torbirdy/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/bugmail-fixed-version/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/sortcustomizationdialog/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/unread-badge/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/gmailui/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/tiny-javascript-debugger/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/theme-font-size-changer-for-tb/?src=cb-dl-updated
https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/tb_email_grabber/?src=cb-dl-updated

Comment 5

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

Pretty unfortunate, and I'm one of the unfortunate ones with Bugmail :-(

Comment 6

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

I went as far as https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/extensions/?sort=updated&page=17 and found one more ... https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/zoiper-thunderbird-plugin/?src=cb-dl-updated

Comment 7

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

How do we go about contacting these folks?   And who does it?

Comment 8

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

We have admin rights, we can just change the compatibility of the "font size changer" or any other add-on to 60.*. That function is there, I've just fixed my bugmail add-on that way.

Comment 9

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

How many are there? The one you listed can be "force-managed" in less than an hour.

Comment 10

[Andrei Hajdukewycz [:sancus]]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #3)
> (In reply to Andrei Hajdukewycz [:sancus] from comment #2)
> > https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/theme-font-size-
> > changer-fixed/ is compatible up to TB64, so it should DEFINITELY ALWAYS
> > INSTALL. 
> 
> How does that square with install.rdf ?

I dunno. It's actually marked compatible up to TB65 on ATN. I also see 60.0 in install.rdf, but it installs fine in 60.2.1. When you change compatibility on the website, it doesn't magically modify the install.rdf. install.rdf stays the same.

I can confirm that there is no way to make https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/theme-font-size-changer-for-tb/ install in TB60.2.1 no matter what the website's compat settings for that version are changed to, and no matter whether you install in Thunderbird or by downloading the XPI.

Something seems Very Broken with add-on maxversion checks in TB60.2.1.

Comment 11

[Jorg K (CEST = GMT+2)]

OK, "Theme Font & Size Changer for ThunderBird" goes to 60.* now, I hope I don't get fired ;-)

Comment 12

[Andrei Hajdukewycz [:sancus]]

I figured out why it wasn't working for me, and how exactly TB handles this. install.rdfs are never modified. Thunderbird hits https://versioncheck.addons.thunderbird.net/ *even if you install the addon with a downloaded XPI*. If versioncheck's maxversion response is OK, then it installs.

Now, there is a 1-hour Cloudfront cache on versioncheck, so if you are testing this and you previously got an incompatible response from it, you'll need to wait at least an hour before you can successfully install an addon that has had its maxversion changed on the website.

So this explains how addons with 60.0 in their install.rdf install OK. To fix this problem, we need to change all add-ons with 60.0 compatibility to 60.*. I think I can do this by writing a new admin task.

Comment 13

[Andrei Hajdukewycz [:sancus]]

This is fixed. 49 addons were set to 60.0 compatibility, they have all been changed to 60.* - list follows:

[<Addon: 71: Enigmail>, <Addon: 902: Get/Send-Button>, <Addon: 1339: Expression Search / GMailUI>, <Addon: 1556: Allow HTML Temp>, <Addon: 2548: Sieve>, <Addon: 2947: AVIM>, <Addon: 3554: Diccionario de Español/España>, <Addon: 4591: Disable DragAndDrop (Thunderbird)>, <Addon: 4654: Remove Duplicate Messages (Alternate)>, <Addon: 5878: CuteButtons>, <Addon: 9289: Phoenity Shredder>, <Addon: 12514: Gantt View>, <Addon: 12802: Phoenity Buttons>, <Addon: 13564: CompactHeader>, <Addon: 14781: Grammar Checker>, <Addon: 195275: Send Later>, <Addon: 331319: Folder Pane View Switcher>, <Addon: 353047: Classic Toolbar Buttons [Tb24-58] (discontinued)>, <Addon: 372603: Enhanced Priority Display>, <Addon: 372870: quickFilters>, <Addon: 372945: Sort and Search Customization Dialogs>, <Addon: 381417: TorBirdy>, <Addon: 427201: Tiny JavaScript Debugger>, <Addon: 461570: British English Dictionary (Marco Pinto)>, <Addon: 466796: Kmaleon Extension>, <Addon: 470121: Bitmask Thunderbird Extension>, <Addon: 476761: Windows Taskbar Unread Badge>, <Addon: 523378: Metal Lion Sea Monkey>, <Addon: 523394: Metal Lion Silver Sea Monkey>, <Addon: 546538: Single Domain>, <Addon: 584002: Auto Zoomer>, <Addon: 585884: Русский словарь для проверки правописания (Ё)(АОТ)>, <Addon: 602486: Dorando keyconfig>, <Addon: 743926: Zoiper Thunderbird Plugin>, <Addon: 745143: CustomizeMyBird>, <Addon: 818635: Reply to Multiple Messages>, <Addon: 833906: Tagalog/Filipino Dictionary>, <Addon: 852623: Remote Content By Folder>, <Addon: 900252: ქართული ორთოგრაფიული ლექსიკონი>, <Addon: 914599: tb_email_grabber>, <Addon: 920208: Diccionario Ortográfico de Español Colombia>, <Addon: 960552: Esign>, <Addon: 962584: Theme Font & Size Changer (fixed)>, <Addon: 985672: Events spanning multiple days>, <Addon: 986223: Thunderbird Addons Test>, <Addon: 986230: Mailing list filter>, <Addon: 986270: Kmaleon Thunderbird Extension>]

There are 222 add-ons with 60.* compatibility.

Comment 14

[Andrei Hajdukewycz [:sancus]]

Do note that there are some weird cases like <Addon: 353047: Classic Toolbar Buttons [Tb24-58] (discontinued)> where the version set with 60.0 compatibility was a disabled beta version, so not all these addons necessarily have a public, approved compatible version.

Comment 15

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Thanks Andre. I tested with https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/unread-badge/ (installed via previously downloaded file) and all is well!  Updates will be turned back on