1797529 - FF stops functioning and requires reload for updates despite "let you choose when to install them"

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1705217

(Toolkit :: Application Update, defect)

Description

[Chris Konger - NOAA]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:106.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/106.0

Steps to reproduce:

Pop-up occurs saying an update is available. Browser is in use, so hit Ignore. Shortly thereafter, when doing something that opens a new Tab a message pops up saying that nothing can happen until the Browser is reloaded. All current work in all Tabs is disrupted (cannot proceed without the reload ... despite the "let you choose when to install". Everyone in my group using Firefox is about ready to switch because of how disruptive this bug is!!

Actual results:

Forced browser reloads ... inability to continue work without the reload ... lost open sessions and work. Completely ignores User setting "let you choose when to install".

Expected results:

If Users choose "let you choose when to install" it's perfectly okay to have reminders. FF should NOT stop working for all open Tabs until a reload happens (that's the antithesis of "let you choose"!)

Looking at app.update settings, it looks like it should be waiting for at least 25200 seconds (not within a few minutes of regular usage!)

As a workaround, I did the following as described on the following web link ...

• Open Terminal
• cd /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/Resources
• sudo mkdir distribution
• cd distribution
• sudo vi policies.json
• paste the code

{
“policies”: {
“DisableAppUpdate”: true
}
}

• save the json file and exit vi (i.e., <Esc> :wq!)

source:
https://www.technipages.com/enable-disable-automatic-updates-in-firefox

Problem is seen in both 106.0.1 and 106.0.2

Comment 1

[Chris Konger - NOAA]

Our Security folks are also double-checking that our Enterprise policy-enforcement tools aren't somehow overwriting the FF Prefs. If they find anything, I will relay that onward (pasting in here). Thanks!

Comment 2

[Punam Dahiya [:pdahiya]]

Update Pop-up is not handled as part of Messaging System, unassigning component for triage

Comment 3

[Punam Dahiya [:pdahiya]]

Should be handled as part of Installer, please feel free to update if not the correct component, thanks

Comment 4

[Robin Steuber (she/her) [:bytesized]]

The message that you are describing doesn't mean that an update is ready to be installed. It means that you have to restart because an update has already been installed, and now the files on disk don't match the code in memory.

But when Firefox updates itself, it only prepares the update for installation so that it can be installed on the next Firefox startup. Even assuming that it gets permission to download the update, it doesn't immediately install it because that would prevent the browser from working properly.

Generally, when we see this bug occur, it is because either:

• Some external software updated Firefox while it was running (Bug 1705217), or
• A second instance of Firefox prepared an update. Then it either restarted to install the update, or another Firefox instance started, which installed the update (Bug 1480452).

Could either of these things have happened to you?

Are you using any kind of software manager to keep Firefox up to date?
Is your computer managed by an organization that might be using a software manager?
Is your computer used by multiple users? Is it possible that another user updated Firefox?
Do you ever run multiple instances of Firefox simultaneously? If so, do the profiles for all instances have the "let you choose" update option selected? Could any of the other instances have installed an update?

Comment 5

[Chris Konger - NOAA]

Thanks for the quick response ... I'll relay this to our Desktop/Laptop management group (they would know). I'll paste their responses back here. :)

Comment 6

[Chris Konger - NOAA]

Initial investigation by our Desktop/Laptop team confirms your suspicion. Apparently JAMF currently pushes things even tho FF is running, leading to the behaviors we are seeing.

They said they are investigating how to make the software update more "running aware" to avoid this snag.

Thanks for the details. I think you've correctly fingered the underlying issue.

Regards,

Chris Konger