247362 - u.m.o/update.rdf: file not found

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(addons.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Public Pages, defect)

Description

[Steffen Wilberg]

The url http://update.mozilla.org/update.rdf is specified by the pref
"update.app.url" for the Software Update of Firefox.

But opening this file results in an 404 Not Found error. Firefox displays a (way
too generic) error messages when clicking on "Update" in the extensions manager
because of that.

Maybe we can upload a dummy file until we have a proper feed?

Comment 1

[Wolf [:wolf]]

I tried having a blank file there (to stop the apache error_log from filling
with 404s), but I suspect it may be the cause of the recent firefox crashes WRT
update.

I do need to know what's supposed to happen with this file though. Going to
attempt to find out from Ben.

Comment 2

[alanjstr]

Um, Ben's webservice isn't running on port 80, so I think this default needs to
change.  

Comment 3

[Steffen Wilberg]

alanjstr, you don't happen to know the right port? Or is the webservice not
running yet?

Comment 4

[alanjstr]

Last I saw it was 8080, with some weird path.

Comment 5

[PikeUK]

Goats:

http://lxr.mozilla.org/seamonkey/source/toolkit/mozapps/update/src/nsBackgroundUpdateService.js#197

Comment 6

[alanjstr]

http://lxr.mozilla.org/aviarybranch/source/toolkit/mozapps/extensions/locale/extensions.properties#15

Comment 7

[Steffen Wilberg]

Attachment: update.rdf for Firefox 0.9

This is taken from the "goat" version, but it's for Firefox 0.9 instead of 1.2.
It has to be served as text/rdf, as Ben explains in his doc:
http://www.bengoodger.com/software/mb/extensions/packaging/extensions.html

It's also available on http://www.steffen-wilberg.de/update.rdf (as text/rdf)
right now. If you want to try it, set the pref "update.app.url" to that
location.

The benefit is that Software Update doesn't time out and the u.m.o server log
isn't filled with 404s. Beware, an empty file served as text/rdf crashes
Firefox.

Comment 8

[Wolf [:wolf]]

(In reply to comment #7)
> Created an attachment (id=151067)
> The benefit is that Software Update doesn't time out and the u.m.o server log
> isn't filled with 404s. Beware, an empty file served as text/rdf crashes
> Firefox.
heh, the UMO error log is 140mb ;-) already... I tried an empty text/rdf file
already to stop that, unaware it caused a crash. (whoops)

Reassigning to the right owners for this component, instead of update. (Always
Reassign to default when moving. :-) )

Does this file need to posted on update?

Comment 9

[Steffen Wilberg]

> Does this file need to posted on update?
Yes, to http://update.mozilla.org/update.rdf.

Make sure it is served as text/rdf. Adding "AddType text/rdf;charset=UTF-8 .rdf"
to the .htaccess file should do the trick.

Comment 10

[Steffen Wilberg]

Let's toss this bug around a bit...

Comment 11

[Steffen Wilberg]

...back to mozilla.org/update...

Comment 12

[Steffen Wilberg]

...and marking fixed.

Comment 13

[alanjstr]

How is this not a bug in the application if it points to a bogus URL?

Comment 14

[Michael Lefevre]

The URL was only bogus because the file was missing from the server. That was
solved by putting the right file on the server, which makes it a server-side issue.

Comment 15

[alanjstr]

Ok, so Firefox is going to call update.rdf, which does nothing.  Unless we do
browser sniffing to redirect it to a update.php?firefox or some such.  In which
case, that forces us to detect what application is calling the url instead of
the application telling us what it needs.  

I think we're trying to solve this "problem" from the wrong way.  Fix the
application to point to the right url, instead of making the website cope.

Comment 16

[Steffen Wilberg]

Who says the file does nothing? It tells Software Update that version 0.9 of
Firefox is the recent version. Other products, like Thunderbird, and localized
products can be added to that file as additional RDF entries. No need to do
browser sniffing.

Comment 17

[Steffen Wilberg]

I forgot to add that the file itself provides the necessary link. The url for
the product Firefox, version 0.9, is http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/.

Comment 18

[alanjstr]

So it can have multiple RDF:Descriptions?  If so, then ok.

Comment 19

[Wolf [:wolf]]

Update.rdf is the smartupdate datasource... I know it works properly for Firefox
because I tested it. :-)

This is not an application bug, it belongs in update.
You'd have to ask Ben if it can support multiple RDF:Descriptions or not.. my
understanding is it can. Though the current one doesn't include the data for
Thunderbird. Hopefully by the time Tbird hits 0.8, mscott or ben will provide that.