2043190 - [MacOS] Update is not triggered with user feedback while FxE is open, ends up applied

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Enterprise Products :: Firefox, defect, P1)

Description

[lburuian]

Found in

• FxE 151.1.0 (20260521133807)

Affected environment

• Staging

Tested platforms

• Affected platforms: MacOS
• Unaffected platforms: Windows and Ubuntu (On Ubuntu, automatic updates are not working yet)

Preconditions

• Have an update available/set up.
• Perform a profile cleanup on the machine to have a clean install.
• [Optional] Have the RelaunchRequired policy set up in the Admin Console.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install the older build on the machine.
2. Make sure to turn off the internet before starting FELT.
3. After FELT starts up and updates fail (see error in FELT), turn on the internet and log in.
4. Wait for a few seconds for the update to be triggered.

Expected result

• The update is triggered, and a green dot is displayed in the hamburger menu, letting the user know there is a new version of FxE.

Actual result

• The update is NOT being triggered on MacOS.
• See screen record here.
• Closing the browser and reopening FELT, triggers the automatic build update as expected.

Notes:

• After the update gets triggered like this once, the regular Firefox profiles need to be deleted for this to work again.
• This works as expected on Windows (please see video here)

Comment 1

[:gerard-majax]

• STRs
  1. Disable network
     2. Start FELT
     1. Update check error
     2. Re-enable network
     3. Login, start browser
     4. Close browser
     5. Start FELT
        1. No update check shown
        2. Version still 151.1.0
     6. Close FELT
     7. Start FELT
        1. No update application screen
        2. FELT says update applied
        3. Version is 151.2.0
  • Couldn’t repro so far
  • Could step 5 mean: there is a “non window browser” running?
  • Could step 6 mean: “Updates.sys.mjs code executes, and an update is already happening in background so we say nothing”
  • Could step 7 mean: “Background update applied properly so now you see it”

Comment 2

[:gerard-majax]

Luminita, we fixed bug 2046862 and I am wondering if it not related

Comment 3

[lburuian]

Hello Alex,
As I currently do not have an ARM MacBook and Miruna is in PTO, I asked Peter to look into this when he can.
Thank you for the headsup.

Comment 4

[Peter Magyari (Desktop QA)]

Attachment: update-greendot-not-there.png

Hi, I have tried with a build that has the fix from Bug 2046862 but the green dot still does not appear although an update is available. (Restart to update Firefox appears in the about Firefox window)

Comment 5

[:gerard-majax]

(In reply to Peter Magyari (Desktop QA) from comment #4)

Created attachment 9598701 [details]
update-greendot-not-there.png

Hi, I have tried with a build that has the fix from Bug 2046862 but the green dot still does not appear although an update is available. (Restart to update Firefox appears in the about Firefox window)

OK, but did you experience all the weird behavior from above ? There may still be a race somehow, but updates gets applied properly, that is not worrysome.

Comment 6

[Peter Magyari (Desktop QA)]

I did not run into any of those behaviors, the [Restart to Update Firefox] button appeared consistently on my end and the updates get applied after restarting the browser properly.

Comment 7

[Miruna Curtean]

Attachment: FF about update.png

Confirming that while the green dot update from the hamburger menu does not show after installing an older build version (using the WIFI off workaround when launching Felt to avoid Felt update checks), the Update through FF about is available and working as intended. (app is closed, user is signed out and Felt screen update message shows up + latest version showing as expected)
Tested on macOS Tahoe 26.3 with 151.3 (20260601182644).

Comment 8

[Miruna Curtean]

Update: The option to update from the Hamburger menu was available after a data cleanup and a fresh install of 151.3.0 (20260601182644) enterprise release build on macOS Tahoe 26.3. Bypassed the Felt update using the WIFI OFF>WIFI ON method and as it happened I had the RelaunchRequired policy scheduled to perform an update and a recently approved newer build version in the console. The green dot indicator was available along with the scheduled update info bar.
See the video

Comment 9

[Miruna Curtean]

This ticket was created to signal the problem with updating FxE while open on macOS, but in the meantime we figured it was possible to do so while setting the RelaunchRequired policy in the console, bypassing Felt updates by temporarily turning of WIFI when it is initially launched, signing in and then using the update button from the Firefox About section to restart and update FxE.
However, the usual hamburger menu green dot method of update is still not available on macOS. From a product perspective, should we update the expected behavior of this ticket to require that the hamburger menu type of update is also working using our workarounds, or is that not a goal at this point?
Thank you

Comment 10

[Brian Thomas Smith [:bsmth]]

Thanks a lot. It's a little tricky to follow the status, but it seems like we can close this bug as fixed and file a lower-severity follow-up for the missing hamburger menu notification, is that correct? Miruna, you mentioned in C8 that this is visible:

The green dot indicator was available along with the scheduled update info bar.

I presume "green dot indicator " is the same as the hamburger menu? Is this still an issue?

Comment 11

[Peter Magyari (Desktop QA)]

Attachment: FxEupdate.png

As discussed, I'm closing this bug since updating FxE works properly using the Update button from the Firefox About section. I'll file a new bug for the issue with the green dot indicator not appearing.