1657568 - Sync more preferences in Privacy & Security

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Sync, enhancement, P3)

Description

[Artem Polivanchuk]

Some preferences in the Privacy & Security section of Firefox settings are not synchronized by default.
1. Enable HTTPS-Only Mode in all windows
data-l10n-id="httpsonly-radio-enabled"
2. Enable HTTPS-Only Mode in private windows only
data-l10n-id="httpsonly-radio-enabled-pbm"
3. Don’t enable HTTPS-Only Mode
data-l10n-id="httpsonly-radio-disabled"

preference="dom.security.https_only_mode"

Add new strings to the section // Preferences to be synced by default:
mozilla-central/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.dom.security.https_only_mode", true);
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.dom.security.https_only_mode_ever_enabled", true);
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.dom.security.https_only_mode_ever_enabled_pbm", true);
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.dom.security.https_only_mode_pbm", true);

 4. Query OCSP responder servers to confirm the current validity of certificates
     data-l10n-id="certs-enable-ocsp"
     preference="security.OCSP.enabled"

Add new strings to the section // Preferences to be synced by default:
mozilla-central/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.security.OCSP.enabled", true);

 5. Prevent accessibility services from accessing your browser (requires browser restart)
     data-l10n-id="permissions-a11y-privacy-checkbox"
     checkbox id="a11yPrivacyCheckbox"
     preference="accessibility.force_disabled"

Add new strings to the section // Preferences to be synced by default:
mozilla-central/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.accessibility.force_disabled", true);

 6. Warn you about unwanted and uncommon software
     data-l10n-id="security-block-uncommon-software"
     checkbox id="blockUncommonUnwanted"
     preference="browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_potentially_unwanted"

Add new strings to the section // Preferences to be synced by default:
mozilla-central/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.safebrowsing.downloads.remote.block_potentially_unwanted", true);

 7. Block dangerous downloads
     data-l10n-id="security-block-downloads"
     checkbox id="blockDownloads"
     preference="browser.safebrowsing.downloads.enabled"

Add new strings to the section // Preferences to be synced by default:
mozilla-central/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.safebrowsing.downloads.enabled", true);

 8. Block dangerous and deceptive content
     data-l10n-id="security-enable-safe-browsing"
     checkbox id="enableSafeBrowsing"
     preference="browser.safebrowsing.phishing.enabled"
     preference="browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled"

Add new strings to the section // Preferences to be synced by default:
mozilla-central/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.safebrowsing.phishing.enabled", true);
pref("services.sync.prefs.sync.browser.safebrowsing.malware.enabled", true);

Please review my proposed changes for further file modification in the repo.

Comment 1

[Lina Butler (ex-Mozilla)]

Sure, we could definitely do 1-3 and 6-8!

I'm less sure about 4 and 5, though. Syncing the OCSP checkbox should be safe in theory, but I'm worried that a misconfigured proxy or other settings might interact badly with it. At one time, we used to sync the TLS version, and stopped because accidentally setting the wrong thing on one device would spread to the others, making it so Firefox couldn't connect to most sites at all. With 5, a11y software is different between systems, and I'd be cautious of the same thing happening—we don't want to make someone's Firefox unusable everywhere.

Comment 2

[Artem Polivanchuk]

Attachment: Bug 1657568 - Sync more preferences in Privacy & Security

Comment 3

[Artem Polivanchuk]

I've submitted a patch with new lines for all proposed preferences excluding steps 4 and 5.
Should we take a closer look at the possible issues 4 and 5 might cause? Or just not include them to the default sync?

Comment 4

[Lina Butler (ex-Mozilla)]

(In reply to Artem Polivanchuk from comment #3)

Should we take a closer look at the possible issues 4 and 5 might cause? Or just not include them to the default sync?

Yeah, would you mind filing another bug for those, so we can discuss more? Meanwhile, we can land the patch you just uploaded. Thanks! 😊

Comment 5

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/6c39cafd999e
Sync more preferences in Privacy & Security r=lina DONTBUILD

Comment 6

[Bogdan Tara[:bogdan_tara | bogdant]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/6c39cafd999e

Comment 7

[Artem Polivanchuk]

During my test on the latest nightly, synchronization of preferences 6, 7 and 8 was failed.
Could you please take a closer look at the prefs? Maybe there's something more complicated than just adding new lines...

Comment 8

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

(In reply to Artem Polivanchuk from comment #7)

During my test on the latest nightly, synchronization of preferences 6, 7 and 8 was failed.
Could you please take a closer look at the prefs? Maybe there's something more complicated than just adding new lines...

I think you can probably do some diagnosis of that. If you manually change those preferences, does the feature toggle as expected? If not, then it's not as simple as just syncing prefs and we'll need to rethink. If it does work manually, then you can check whether the preference syncing worked by checking if the preference changes values after a sync. You can use the about:sync addon to see what the value for the pref is on the server.

Comment 9

[Artem Polivanchuk]

I've tested in the latest Nightly as you suggested.
When I change the preference in the Privacy & Security section of the Settings menu it reflects in about:config
When I change the preference in about:config it doesn't reflect the change in the Settings menu.

Switching the preferences in about:config successfully synced and reflected on the other Nightly instance but nothing changed in the Settings menu as well.

Comment 10

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Was anything fixed here, should this bug be re-marked as fixed and a new issue filed for the remaining parts?

Comment 11

[Artem Polivanchuk]

Thank you Mark for following up on this bug!
I carefully tested steps 6, 7, 8 again and now I can confirm that the related parameters are successfully synced between different Nightly instances.
The synchronization works both ways whatever I change, either in about:config or in Settings.