1827826 - Unable to turn off auto updates in Firefox on ubuntu

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1705217

(Toolkit :: Application Update, defect)

Description

[mustafa.mujahid]

Attachment: image (3).png

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/112.0

Steps to reproduce:

The firefox version for Ubuntu does not support turning Auto updates off, which makes it unusable every time an update happens in the background. This occurs quite often now and it happened today during my presentation. This issue is absolutely infuriating. This one thing makes your entire browser unusable. I've seen many people complain about this in forums but it still has not been addressed. What is the point of building this browser when it has such a terrible user experience on updates it renders everything else useless?

P.S
I've tried everything to disable this, but I think it has been compiled into the binary and cannot be turned off.

Actual results:

Firefox (Ubuntu) forces restart every time it updates in the background. No way to turn it off!!

Expected results:

ability to turn off Auto updates resulting in no force restarts for Firefox.

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Toolkit::Application Update' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please correct in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 2

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

You are most likely hitting Bug 1705217, where the package manager that installs updates to applications, typically including Firefox, doesn't really care whether or not Firefox is currently running when it updates Firefox. We are working on a solution for this, but Firefox is currently unable to start new processes when all of its files are removed and replaced with different versions of those files. This eventually renders Firefox unable to run properly.

If this is the case, it is your package manager that is updating Firefox, so you should look there to change settings involving when automatic updates happen. Firefox has no control over the update process in that case.

It is possible that you are instead hitting Bug 1480452, wherein Firefox is managing its own updates and applies them when it is launched with a new profile, even if another profile is still running (possibly on the same user account, or possibly on another user account).

If you are in the former situation, the only thing that you can really do is to change the settings for your package manager. If you are in the latter situation, you have a couple of options such as a) using containers instead of multiple profiles, b) having separate installations for separate profiles/users, c) using settings that allow more control over when updates happen to ensure that there is no update downloaded when you launch another profile.

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(In reply to mustafa.mujahid from comment #0)

What is the point of building this browser when it has such a terrible user experience on updates it renders everything else useless?

This is unnecessarily rude and I do not appreciate it.

I've tried everything to disable this, but I think it has been compiled into the binary and cannot be turned off.

If you want help with this, I am going to need to know specifically what you tried and what did and didn't happen. As-is, this is simply not enough information to be actionable in any way.

Expected results:

ability to turn off Auto updates resulting in no force restarts for Firefox.

This ability does exist. You can do any one of these things:

• Go to the "Update" section of about:preferences and select "Check for updates but let you choose to install them".
• Use the ManualAppUpdateOnly enterprise policy.
• Use the DisableAppUpdate enterprise policy.
• Write protect the Firefox installation directory and update Firefox via manually re-downloading and installing it at regular intervals.
• Manage the Firefox installation with a package manager and turning off automatic updating.

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Since this appears identical to a known bug, I'm going to go ahead and close this as a duplicate. If you feel that this is not a duplicate of that bug or you need further information about your mitigation options, feel free to politely respond to this comment and I'll be happy to reopen this bug or otherwise help.