Open Bug 1738303 Opened 3 years ago Updated 3 months ago

Ship Firefox Devedition and Firefox Nightly in the Microsoft Store

Categories

(Firefox :: Installer, enhancement, P2)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Installer
Type:
enhancement

Tracking

()

People

(Reporter: nalexander, Unassigned)

References

(Depends on 1 open bug, Blocks 1 open bug)

Details

(Whiteboard: [fidedi-tikka])

This ticket tracks shipping Firefox Beta and Firefox Devedition in the Microsoft Store. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1708830#c7 proposes unlisted listings in the Store, so that direct links are possible but the listings do not show up in search. It's a good idea.

This will depend on automation for publishing to the Microsoft Store, since the release management burden for manually publishing Beta alone is too high. I'm not aware of a ticket tracking this work yet.

(In reply to Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him] from comment #0)

This ticket tracks shipping Firefox Beta and Firefox Devedition in the Microsoft Store. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1708830#c7 proposes unlisted listings in the Store, so that direct links are possible but the listings do not show up in search. It's a good idea.

This will depend on automation for publishing to the Microsoft Store, since the release management burden for manually publishing Beta alone is too high. I'm not aware of a ticket tracking this work yet.

I'm not against the idea, but what is the advantage of doing so over simply just listing the MSIX package downloads for Beta/Dev on Mozilla's website? Unlisting it, in my personal opinion, defeats the point of putting it in the Microsoft Store in the first place.

No biggie though.

(In reply to Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him] from comment #0)

This ticket tracks shipping Firefox Beta and Firefox Devedition in the Microsoft Store. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1708830#c7 proposes unlisted listings in the Store, so that direct links are possible but the listings do not show up in search. It's a good idea.

This will depend on automation for publishing to the Microsoft Store, since the release management burden for manually publishing Beta alone is too high. I'm not aware of a ticket tracking this work yet.

Another possibility: Why not rely on WinGet (essentially the new back-end for the Microsoft Store) instead and just list Beta/Dev (and even Nightly for that matter) on the Microsoft Store as unpackaged applications? That wouldn't require any intervention by Mozilla and the whole process would essentially be automated.

Firefox Dev and Nightly are already listed in WinGet. I cannot find Beta though...

Out of curiosity, isn't it vise versa - Microsoft Store is the new backend for WinGet? That's what I understand from https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/issues/117 and the actual winget behavior.

(In reply to Kagami :saschanaz from comment #3)

Out of curiosity, isn't it vise versa - Microsoft Store is the new backend for WinGet? That's what I understand from https://github.com/microsoft/winget-cli/issues/117 and the actual winget behavior.

That's a heavily outdated GitHub thread.

Tsixovloyx is right. WinGet is the back-end for the Microsoft Store, not vice versa. Looking it up online seems to reveal the same thing.

Uploading the packages to winget would also be very sensible, but the packages are not ready for that. Attempt usage of your account for http://accounts.firefox.com via the most recent MSIX package that is available for Firefox Nightly (http://archive.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla-central/firefox-95.0a1.multi.win64.installer.msix): it is not operational for me, nor is it operational for me via the package that is available via the Microsoft Store (http://tlu.dl.delivery.mp.microsoft.com/filestreamingservice/files/36bd2307-852c-40f8-a7f3-e86dbd7e5744?P1=1635510446&P2=404&P3=2&P4=ijdvMAnTr1trlMB2oly4MQnaK19rCz4S9BUrZ1xGGTBW5uYdM3GyIAppe7mTYUHq1cRads5msE9QFbHbbZGDeA%3d%3d).

This is in response to Comment 13 of the meta bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1708830#c13. That ticket shouldn't collect such specific discussions; they're better here, where we may actually act on them.

(In reply to BEEDELL ROKE JULIAN LOCKHART from comment #12)

It would not. Did I not explain that?

Unlisted submission of them (which is what http://microsoft.com/store/productId/9NZVDKPMR9RD has been submitted as) shall ensure that technologically ignorant users do not use other versions of the browser, because they should not be anyway, yet if the hyperlink to the package shall be publically provided to people that are desiring evaluation of beta and developmental releases, it shall allow people that are technologically competent to test releases much more easily.

How does it allow testers to "test releases much more easily" though? If it's unlisted, I just don't see the benefit of putting it in the Microsoft Store compared to what we're already doing right now.

The Microsoft Store allows publicly accessible IDs (URLs) to not show up in search results. I interpreted the suggestion from BEEDELL ROKE JULIAN LOCKHART to mean that we'd list all of the following in the Store:

  • Release
  • Beta (not in search results)
  • Devedition (not in search results)

That means that the vast majority of users will get Firefox Release, which is what we want, while technically savvy users can get Beta and Devedition from direct links circulated in other forums. Eventually, after Release is established, we can put Beta in search results (and maybe Devedition).

That seems a good balance between the advantages of being in the store (automatic updates, easy uninstalls) while ensuring that Firefox users get the "real" Firefox (stable, well tested).

(In reply to Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him] from comment #6)

This is in response to Comment 13 of the meta bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1708830#c13. That ticket shouldn't collect such specific discussions; they're better here, where we may actually act on them.

(In reply to BEEDELL ROKE JULIAN LOCKHART from comment #12)

It would not. Did I not explain that?

Unlisted submission of them (which is what http://microsoft.com/store/productId/9NZVDKPMR9RD has been submitted as) shall ensure that technologically ignorant users do not use other versions of the browser, because they should not be anyway, yet if the hyperlink to the package shall be publically provided to people that are desiring evaluation of beta and developmental releases, it shall allow people that are technologically competent to test releases much more easily.

How does it allow testers to "test releases much more easily" though? If it's unlisted, I just don't see the benefit of putting it in the Microsoft Store compared to what we're already doing right now.

The Microsoft Store allows publicly accessible IDs (URLs) to not show up in search results. I interpreted the suggestion from BEEDELL ROKE JULIAN LOCKHART to mean that we'd list all of the following in the Store:

  • Release
  • Beta (not in search results)
  • Devedition (not in search results)

That means that the vast majority of users will get Firefox Release, which is what we want, while technically savvy users can get Beta and Devedition from direct links circulated in other forums. Eventually, after Release is established, we can put Beta in search results (and maybe Devedition).

That seems a good balance between the advantages of being in the store (automatic updates, easy uninstalls) while ensuring that Firefox users get the "real" Firefox (stable, well tested).

Fair enough. I assume that doesn't include Nightly?

I'm glad that Beta/Dev might eventually become publicly listed too.

Will future Firefox (ESR) builds and its testing channels still be downloadable from the Mozilla website and their archives?

Priority: -- → P2
Whiteboard: [fidedi-tikka]

(In reply to sxzcokaufi from comment #7)

(In reply to Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him] from comment #6)

This is in response to Comment 13 of the meta bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1708830#c13. That ticket shouldn't collect such specific discussions; they're better here, where we may actually act on them.

(In reply to BEEDELL ROKE JULIAN LOCKHART from comment #12)

It would not. Did I not explain that?

Unlisted submission of them (which is what http://microsoft.com/store/productId/9NZVDKPMR9RD has been submitted as) shall ensure that technologically ignorant users do not use other versions of the browser, because they should not be anyway, yet if the hyperlink to the package shall be publically provided to people that are desiring evaluation of beta and developmental releases, it shall allow people that are technologically competent to test releases much more easily.

How does it allow testers to "test releases much more easily" though? If it's unlisted, I just don't see the benefit of putting it in the Microsoft Store compared to what we're already doing right now.

The Microsoft Store allows publicly accessible IDs (URLs) to not show up in search results. I interpreted the suggestion from BEEDELL ROKE JULIAN LOCKHART to mean that we'd list all of the following in the Store:

  • Release
  • Beta (not in search results)
  • Devedition (not in search results)

That means that the vast majority of users will get Firefox Release, which is what we want, while technically savvy users can get Beta and Devedition from direct links circulated in other forums. Eventually, after Release is established, we can put Beta in search results (and maybe Devedition).

That seems a good balance between the advantages of being in the store (automatic updates, easy uninstalls) while ensuring that Firefox users get the "real" Firefox (stable, well tested).

Fair enough. I assume that doesn't include Nightly?

Yes, but not for policy reasons, for deeper technical reasons. The MSIX packages Mozilla produces pack ~100 langpacks into the package as distributed extensions. Langpacks are not officially supported on the Nightly channel, so this approach doesn't work for Nightly. I'm not sure if there is a way to address this now or in the future.

I'm glad that Beta/Dev might eventually become publicly listed too.

That's what this ticket is all about!

Will future Firefox (ESR) builds and its testing channels still be downloadable from the Mozilla website and their archives?

Yes. I have no authority in the matter, but I can confidently say that Mozilla is committed to keeping archive.mozilla.org available and updated.

(In reply to Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him] from comment #8)

(In reply to sxzcokaufi from comment #7)

(In reply to Nick Alexander :nalexander [he/him] from comment #6)

This is in response to Comment 13 of the meta bug: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1708830#c13. That ticket shouldn't collect such specific discussions; they're better here, where we may actually act on them.

(In reply to BEEDELL ROKE JULIAN LOCKHART from comment #12)

It would not. Did I not explain that?

Unlisted submission of them (which is what http://microsoft.com/store/productId/9NZVDKPMR9RD has been submitted as) shall ensure that technologically ignorant users do not use other versions of the browser, because they should not be anyway, yet if the hyperlink to the package shall be publically provided to people that are desiring evaluation of beta and developmental releases, it shall allow people that are technologically competent to test releases much more easily.

How does it allow testers to "test releases much more easily" though? If it's unlisted, I just don't see the benefit of putting it in the Microsoft Store compared to what we're already doing right now.

The Microsoft Store allows publicly accessible IDs (URLs) to not show up in search results. I interpreted the suggestion from BEEDELL ROKE JULIAN LOCKHART to mean that we'd list all of the following in the Store:

  • Release
  • Beta (not in search results)
  • Devedition (not in search results)

That means that the vast majority of users will get Firefox Release, which is what we want, while technically savvy users can get Beta and Devedition from direct links circulated in other forums. Eventually, after Release is established, we can put Beta in search results (and maybe Devedition).

That seems a good balance between the advantages of being in the store (automatic updates, easy uninstalls) while ensuring that Firefox users get the "real" Firefox (stable, well tested).

Fair enough. I assume that doesn't include Nightly?

Yes, but not for policy reasons, for deeper technical reasons. The MSIX packages Mozilla produces pack ~100 langpacks into the package as distributed extensions. Langpacks are not officially supported on the Nightly channel, so this approach doesn't work for Nightly. I'm not sure if there is a way to address this now or in the future.

I'm glad that Beta/Dev might eventually become publicly listed too.

That's what this ticket is all about!

Will future Firefox (ESR) builds and its testing channels still be downloadable from the Mozilla website and their archives?

Yes. I have no authority in the matter, but I can confidently say that Mozilla is committed to keeping archive.mozilla.org available and updated.

Hello,

Sir, is there a reason as to why language packs aren't officially supported on the Nightly channel?

Thank you in advance.

Depends on: 1737752

The rationale for that decision interests me additionally.

Firefox Beta is in the Microsoft Store now; this tracks shipping Firefox Nightly and potentially Firefox Devedition in the Microsoft Store.

Summary: Ship Firefox Beta and Firefox Devedition in the Microsoft Store → Ship Firefox Devedition and Firefox Nightly in the Microsoft Store
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