1791615 - Pocket newtab cache time update experiment

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox :: Pocket, enhancement)

Description

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

We want to run an experiment that reduces the cache time for sponsored content from 30 mins to something lower, like 10 minutes.

The goal is to fix pacing issues and find any potential negative impact with this change.

Comment 1

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

Attachment: Bug 1791615 - Pocket newtab configurable cache time.

Comment 2

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/98461e4a690c
Pocket newtab configurable cache time. r=gvn

Comment 3

[Atila Butkovits]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/98461e4a690c

Comment 4

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

[Tracking Requested - why for this release]: Ideally, we want this for an experiment in ff106.

Comment 5

[Scott [:thecount] Downe]

Comment on attachment 9296032 [details]
Bug 1791615 - Pocket newtab configurable cache time.

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: Experiment that changes how long a user sees certain content before seeing fresh content.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: Yes
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: 1. Set browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.asrouter.devtoolsEnabled to true.

2. Ensure you can see spocs.

3. Open about:newtab#devtools-ds

4. Scroll down to the spocs section, and find "Data last fetched 30 minutes ago"

5. It should be around 40 minutes or less.

6. Leave it on until it has been fetched greater than 40 minutes.

7. Expected: It should never get above 40 minutes (you might have to refresh the devtools page)

8. New test, create the pref browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.discoverystream.spocs.cacheTimeout with the string value of 5.

9. Go through steps 3-4 again.

10. Expected: If you leave it now, it should never go above 10 minutes. (cache times are usually 5-30 minutes, but there is a system tick that's another 5 minutes, so in practice the expire time can have another 5 minutes added onto it.)

• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): I think it's a small patch, but more than a 1 liner, and it has been on nightly for a week. We've looked at nightly telemetry and it looks like nothing has changed. I have also done extensive QA locally.

I think though the biggest risk isn't something that would come by landing it sooner or later. The primary risks for a change like this are likely to not be noticed until it hits release/has been on release for a bit.

• String changes made/needed: None
• Is Android affected?: No

Comment 6

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc (PTO until April 26)]

Comment on attachment 9296032 [details]
Bug 1791615 - Pocket newtab configurable cache time.

Approved for 106.0b8, thanks.

Comment 7

[Pascal Chevrel:pascalc (PTO until April 26)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/8faf480bef7b

Comment 8

[Ciprian Georgiu, Desktop QA]

I've managed to verify this issue on Beta 106.0b8 with macOS 11 and Win 10 x64, but I've encountered some potential issues regarding the data last fetched time, which is exceeding 10 minutes after modifying the pref browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.discoverystream.spocs.cacheTimeout.

I've pinged Scott on slack regarding this, and he will look into it as well.

Comment 9

[Ciprian Georgiu, Desktop QA]

I was able to properly verify this on Beta 106.0b9, after bug 1792735 landed as well. I've checked this on Nightly 107.0a1 too, using Win 11 x64, macOS 11 and Ubuntu 18.04 x64.

Thanks Scott, for the extra details provided on slack.