237137 - Prefs defined via general.config.filename or autoadmin.global_config_url clobber user prefs

Status: RESOLVED EXPIRED

(Core :: Preferences: Backend, defect)

Description

[Cory Jaeger]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040207 Firefox/0.8
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.6) Gecko/20040207 Firefox/0.8

If custom prefs are defined in a config file or via an URL, they clobber any
pref changes the user has made.  This would be fine (even desireable) for
lockPref, but pref configs also override user's choices.

This happens in Firebird (0.7) and Firefox (0.8).  This appears to be a change
from prior versions of Mozilla and Pheonix/Firebird.  pref() settings should not
override user preferences.  That is what lockpref is for.  Either that, or a
default_pref should be added to allow administrators to set reasonable defaults
which can be overidden.

This is happening with home page, but it may be true of all prefs.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Add following line to all.js
   pref("general.config.filename", "mozilla.cfg");

2. Create mozilla.cfg in program directory with following contents:
   # Mozilla User Preferences
   pref("browser.startup.homepage", "http://mozilla.org/");

3. Launch Firebird/Firefox

4. Home page will be http://mozilla.org/

5. Go into Tools-Options and change home page.

6. Click "Home" button and correct page will appear.

7. Exit Firebird/Firefox (all windows)

8. Launch Firebird/Firefox again 

9. Home page selected by user is lost and setting is changed back to pref set in
the .cfg file.
Actual Results:  
User home page and home page preference in their profile is changed to match the
pref() setting.

Expected Results:  
User home page should be set only on initial run (when profile is created or if
there is no matching pref in the user's pref file.)  If an administrator wants
to force a specific setting they can use the lockPref option.

Comment 1

[Frank Wein [:mcsmurf]]

Related: Bug 109932

Comment 2

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
Firefox:     http://www.mozilla.org/projects/firefox/
Thunderbird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/releases/1.5beta1.html
Seamonkey:   http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.