1840752 - Drop support for macOS < 10.15

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Core :: Widget: Cocoa, task)

Description

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #1634765 +++

Fx116+ is only going to support 10.15+. We should prevent it from installing/launching on earlier macOS versions.

Comment 1

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

Attachment: Bug 1840752: Drop support for (and prevent from running on) macOS versions below 10.15.

Comment 2

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f08f29616c92
Drop support for (and prevent from running on) macOS versions below 10.15. r=haik

Comment 3

[Serban Stanca [:SerbanS]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/f08f29616c92

Comment 4

[Mihai Boldan, Desktop QA [:mboldan]]

QA team managed to cover all affected OSs and seems that Latest Nightly build is not installed/opened.
More details can be found here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BOc-MxXe1vzFVE3vc18aUDJLIAI21dWK6hRnxEF_26w/edit#gid=142550933.

We encountered just one unusual process:

• When installing .pkg file on macOS, the installation starts and at the end 'The installation was successful' message is displayed, but the build seems not to be installed.
  This message can be misleading.

Comment 5

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

Comment on attachment 9341533 [details]
Bug 1840752: Drop support for (and prevent from running on) macOS versions below 10.15.

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: Users on unsupported operating systems will be able to install and run Firefox when they shouldn't.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: No
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: Yes
• Needs manual test from QE?: Yes
• If yes, steps to reproduce: Per test plan.
• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): We have safeguards in place to prevent new downloads from mozilla.org and are migrating Beta and Release users to the ESR channel for extended security updates.
• String changes made/needed:
• Is Android affected?: No

Comment 6

[Dianna Smith [:diannaS]]

Comment on attachment 9341533 [details]
Bug 1840752: Drop support for (and prevent from running on) macOS versions below 10.15.

Approved for 116.0b2

Comment 7

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl]]

(In reply to Mihai Boldan, Desktop QA [:mboldan] from comment #4)

QA team managed to cover all affected OSs and seems that Latest Nightly build is not installed/opened.
More details can be found here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BOc-MxXe1vzFVE3vc18aUDJLIAI21dWK6hRnxEF_26w/edit#gid=142550933.

We encountered just one unusual process:

• When installing .pkg file on macOS, the installation starts and at the end 'The installation was successful' message is displayed, but the build seems not to be installed.
  This message can be misleading.

Redirecting n-i.

Comment 8

[Dianna Smith [:diannaS]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/b2838888a0e8

Comment 9

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

(In reply to Mihai Boldan, Desktop QA [:mboldan] from comment #4)

We encountered just one unusual process:

• When installing .pkg file on macOS, the installation starts and at the end 'The installation was successful' message is displayed, but the build seems not to be installed.
  This message can be misleading.

I tried to reproduce this problem and I cannot. I used this installer on an up-to-date copy of macOS and the installer seemed to work normally. Firefox was successfully installed to Nightly.app.

More details can be found here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BOc-MxXe1vzFVE3vc18aUDJLIAI21dWK6hRnxEF_26w/edit#gid=142550933.

I looked there, but I cannot find whatever details you are referring to.

I can look into this further if you provide more details.

Comment 10

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

Oh, I didn't initially understand that this problem was being reported on out-of-date copies of Firefox. Let me consider this further tomorrow.

Comment 11

[Mihai Boldan, Desktop QA [:mboldan]]

QA team also managed to cover all affected OSs and seems that Firefox 116.0b2 DevEdition and Beta builds cannot be installed/opened.
More details can be found here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BOc-MxXe1vzFVE3vc18aUDJLIAI21dWK6hRnxEF_26w/edit#gid=142550933.

Comment 12

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

Poking around the codebase, it's not particularly clear to me that my team or I have ever had any involvement in the .pkg installer, so I don't really have much to draw from to speak to this issue. Some investigation reveals that a .pkg file is actually just a XAR archive which initially suggested to me that this is just Installer.app behavior that we can't change. But further investigation suggests that that isn't the case. There is a tool called PackageMaker that discusses features of the .pkgs it creates, including

InstallationCheck:

This script is launched at the beginning of the installation process (even before the Authentication step). It can be used to check that the package > can be installed on this computer.

But just after that, it says

Note: If you're building a package with the 10.1 version of PackageMaker, the names of the scripts are a bit different.

indicating that this is a PackageMaker feature, not an Installer.app feature.

It must be possible for the .pkg to indicate installation failure to the user, but I don't really have any idea how. All the information that I've been able to turn up about how .pkgs work just says that they are XAR archives with a specified file structure (none that I've found so far have indicated what this structure is). I'm assuming that part of that structure includes scripts or binaries that Installer.app will execute for us and from which we can indicate installation failure somehow. But I haven't been able to find documentation confirming or explaining this.

Let me know if I can be of further help.

Comment 13

[Haik Aftandilian [:haik]]

(In reply to Mihai Boldan, Desktop QA [:mboldan] from comment #4)

QA team managed to cover all affected OSs and seems that Latest Nightly build is not installed/opened.
More details can be found here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BOc-MxXe1vzFVE3vc18aUDJLIAI21dWK6hRnxEF_26w/edit#gid=142550933.

We encountered just one unusual process:

• When installing .pkg file on macOS, the installation starts and at the end 'The installation was successful' message is displayed, but the build seems not to be installed.
  This message can be misleading.

In case it's a factor here, the way the .pkg installer works is counterintuitive in that it overwrites the existing version of the .app on the system and doesn't install to a specific filesystem path.

For example, if you have Firefox.app moved somewhere out of /Applications (even to the Trash) and run the .pkg installer, it will overwrite Firefox.app wherever it is and report it installed successfully. Adding to the confusion, Firefox and Firefox Beta use the same bundle ID on macOS and (I think) this can cause the Beta .pkg installer to overwrite the release Firefox.app and vice versa.

To see what the installer is doing, you can enable the Installer Log window in the .pkg installer via (Window -> Installer Log) and then choose the Show All Logs option. That output might explain what is happening.

(I had assumed this was standard Mac behavior. Looking at the pkgbuild docs $ man pkgbuild, I think we might be able to improve this so I'll file a bug.)