1666956 - Add printing preferences to about:support

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Toolkit :: General, enhancement, P2)

Description

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

It's quite a pain troubleshooting printing issues with users when about:support doesn't include the printing prefs. I don't think these will contain any private information, but CC'ing a bunch of people in case there's any disagreement on that.

Comment 1

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Hmm, I was going to add "print." to PREFS_WHITELIST in toolkit/modules/Troubleshoot.jsm, but it's already there and has been since at least 2012. I'm at a bit of a loss then as to why the about:support attached to bug 1666935, for example, does not contain any print. prefs.

Checking my own about:config on macOS, it does list some print. prefs, but not any of the print.printer_ prefs. Since PREFS_BLACKLIST doesn't contain anything that would filter them out, it's not immediately obvious to me what's causing these prefs to be missing.

Comment 2

[Jared Wein [:jaws] (please needinfo? me)]

Actually it does look like print.printer_ would get filtered out:
https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/rev/3d53187b90605ccef321c9cadbba762ad06a6381/toolkit/modules/Troubleshoot.jsm#116-118

Specifically this regular expression, /^print[.]printer/

I've confirmed that removing line 118 shows the prefs. See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1286428 for why they were removed. If they are helpful we can add them back, they weren't removed for a PII reason.

Comment 3

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

My inner dialog after reading that for anyone who wants a laugh at my expense: "Err, WTAF, the searchfox copy of Troubleshoot.jsm that I have open...literally does not have that line! Is the permalink jaws gave me out of date?!" <more seconds pass than I'm going to admit> "Oh...it's because you were looking at old printing code earlier in https://searchfox.org/mozilla-esr60/ and just reused that tab like an idiot... Maybe I should call it quits before 2am..."

sigh Thanks for looking, Jared!

Comment 4

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Attachment: Bug 1666956. Add back the printing preferences to about:support. r=Gijs

Comment 5

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Bob has suggested considering adding a Printing section to about:support instead of including the modified prefs in the Important Modified Preferences section. That would provide us with printer information, but without cluttering up Important Modified Preferences and simply making it more difficult for the majority of people looking at that section to read. Thoughts?

Comment 6

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Hmm, although adding a new section would require adding localization text it seems, and I want to uplift this to Beta. Maybe I could do this in two steps - the current patch (to be uplifted to beta) and then a follow-up to restore the filter for Important Modified Preferences and add a new Printing section containing the print prefs.

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/543ae9f021d0
Add back the printing preferences to about:support. r=Gijs

Comment 8

[Andreea Pavel [:apavel]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/543ae9f021d0

Comment 9

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Comment on attachment 9177574 [details]
Bug 1666956. Add back the printing preferences to about:support. r=Gijs

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: It will be more difficult to troubleshoot printing issues with non-technical users. I'd very much like this to assist with the new issues users are encountering due to the printing code churn.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: No
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: Yes
• Needs manual test from QE?: No
• If yes, steps to reproduce:
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): It simply whitelists some more prefs to be included in the "Important Modified Preferences" section in "about:config"
• String changes made/needed:

Comment 10

[Julien Cristau [:jcristau]]

Comment on attachment 9177574 [details]
Bug 1666956. Add back the printing preferences to about:support. r=Gijs

approved for 82.0b9

Comment 11

[Julien Cristau [:jcristau]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/8da6d7630041