268794 - OSX Disk image should be marked Internet-Enabled

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox Build System :: General, enhancement)

Description

[Andy Lyttle]

Firefox is currently distributed in a disk image (.dmg), and the user is expected to copy the application 
icon to their Applications folder to install it.  This is fine, but as of Mac OS X 10.2.3, there's a better 
way:  mark the disk image as "Internet-Enabled", and the Firefox application will be automatically 
copied to the Desktop and the disk image unmounted and moved to the Trash (and the Internet-
Enabled flag is cleared, so if the user drags the disk image back out of the Trash, it will behave 
normally).

This is explained at the URL above.  To set the Internet-Enabled flag, run this:
hdiutil internet-enable -yes /path/to/Firefox-1.x.dmg
just before gzipping.

See bug 257854, which is still legitimate for users of older versions of Mac OS X.

Comment 1

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

Agree.

Should be easy as internet-enabled images behave as normal ones on os 10.2.2 
and earlier http://www.c-command.com/dropdmg/manual.shtml#x1-240006.7

Comment 2

[Peter da Silva]

Disagree. "Internet Enabled" disk images add a very very small amount of
convenience for users who don't want to save the original image, cause confusion
because some "dmg" images just mount while others unpack themselves *and*
vanish, and add extra work for users who don't want their files automatically
unpacked, and finally open up a mechanism that can be used by malicious
applications in setting the user up for a variety of "social engineering"
attacks. For the same reason that Firefox doesn't (and shouldn't) automatically
launch helper applications by default, it shouldn't use nor encourage mechanisms
like this.

Comment 3

[Andy Lyttle]

The operating system vendor recommends that all applications do this.

As you say, the inconvenience for users who do wand to keep the original disk image is very very small 
(drag it out of the Trash), and they'll be used to dealing with this same inconvenience because most 
other applications will follow Apple's recommendation in this matter.  However, this would *reduce* 
inconvenience for the *majority* of users who don't want to keep the disk image.

Apple isn't going to take this feature away because Mozilla refuses to implement it, so that refusal will 
do nothing to prevent the social engineering attacks you suggest.

If you think the feature is dangerous, talk to Apple and show them why.  If you think the feature is 
personally undesirable, figure out how to hack your system so that the Internet-Enabled flag will be 
ignored (and then package up your hack in a nice friendly GUI so others like you can easily disable it as 
well).

Comment 4

[Asaf Romano (gone)]

Can anyone point me to an internet-enabled dmg that DOES work on 10.3.6? My 
firefox dmg is now marked as internet-enabled but behaves as a normal one.

Comment 5

[Andy Lyttle]

Hmm.  Interesting.  Although Apple's documentation says Disk Copy is what respects the Internet-
Enabled flag, I am also not able to make it work any other way than by downloading the disk image in 
Safari.

I believe a change was made in the way disk images are mounted between 10.2 and 10.3 so that 
documentation is probably valid for 10.2, but it appears that in 10.3, only Safari respects the Internet-
Enabled flag.  The Disk Copy application from 10.2 has been replaced by Disk Utility, but disk images 
are actually mounted by the Finder or other applications directly via an API call instead of by launching 
an app.  Although Safari respects the Internet-Enabled flag, the Finder and StuffIt Expander apparently 
do not.

We should still set it, since many people will be using Safari to download Firefox, or using OSX 10.2.

Comment 6

[u49640]

btw: (dont know if i should file a new bug, or append it here)

Currently (Mac) Firefox ships as Firefox 1.0.dmg.gz
the linked Apple page said
"Because read-only .dmg files use a flat file format and Disk Copy can create
compressed disk images, it is unnecessary to convert a .dmg file to either
StuffIt format or MacBinary format."
so gz-ing the dmg shouldnt be necessary if i read the apple page correctly

Comment 7

[Andy Lyttle]

Yes, that's a completely unrelated issue.  By a "flat file format" they mean a format that doesn't use Mac 
resource forks which can't be transferred over the Internet and must be encoded as MacBinary or 
BinHex, or compressed with a format like StuffIt that can handle resource forks properly and will 
produce a flat file.  Since .dmg files are flat, that's a non-issue.  The compression issue is, if a .dmg file 
can be compressed, why bother gzipping it?  I think the answer is, gzip compression still yields a 
slightly smaller file.  If you find otherwise and think we shouldn't bother using gzip, file a separate bug.

Comment 8

[Tom Hessman]

I am against this being implemented.  It is confusing for a disk image to act
like a compressed file; when I open a disk image, I expect it to mount as a
disk, not to dump it's contents on my desktop.  Firefox doesn't automatically do
things like this (i.e. passing things to helper applications) without the user
first telling it to, so the "installer" shouldn't behave like that either.

There is a good discussion of this in bug 242845 comment 17, as well as the
other comments.  That bug is supposed to be about using internel zlib
compression, but this issue came up...

Comment 9

[Andy Lyttle]

As I said in comment 5, it appears that Apple has already addressed your concerns by making the 
Finder ignore the internet-enabled bit.  So, apparently, if Mozilla sets the internet-enabled bit on disk 
images (as most other vendors do, as officially recommended by the platform vendor, and as users 
have come to expect), they will still behave as normal disk images UNLESS they were downloaded in 
Safari (in which case they will behave in a manner consistent with internet-enabled disk images from 
other software vendors).

Notice bug 242845 comment 18:  "We should try and adhere to platform standards as much as 
possible."

Comment 10

[Martin Creutziger [:MMx]]

I also disagree with this being implemented. The behaviour of a diskimage
vanishing is really confusing and the user still has to move the application
into the appropriate folder, as most won't download the image to the folder they
want the application installed in.
So the amount of hassle reduced for the few people who do not want to keep the
image is not as much as the amount of hassle *introduced* to those who want to
keep it. And, lets face it: with Apple shipping 160Gig-harddrives in the
PowerMacs, which user will care about an 8Meg diskimage?

Comment 11

[u49640]

i just wanted to add this quote from a new Mac user:
"I don't get the installing and uninstalling of programs. Take Firefox for example. I downloaded the .dmg file, clicked it and it mounted a disk image on the desktop. I then clicked the disk image and firefox runs, but where is the actual program? WHen I restart its gone. I have to remount the image and run from that. My bookmarks are staying, but I don't get how some programs install themselves and some just seem not to."
(from http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8300945231/m/582009830831 )

Having the .dmg internet-enabled would helped him quite a lot. no more "the app is gone when i restart".

And Firefox does not have to be moved to /Applications. it works just fine if the user keeps it in ~/Desktop (or wherever else)

but IMO it would be even better to use a .tbz2 instead of a "self-extracting" dmg.

Comment 12

[Chris L]

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/DeveloperTools/Conceptual/SoftwareDistribution/Containers/chapter_3_section_3.html

Comment 13

[u49640]

Are we doing this or not?

requesting blocking ff3.

Comment 14

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

This is the wrong way to solve this problem.  We're going to tweak the image to have a nice pretty symlink to Applications, like more and more apps are doing.  This on the other hand feels like it'd cause just as much confusion.  Comment 11 would be solved better for that user by a pkg installer anyway...

Marking WONTFIX.

Comment 15

[Andy Lyttle]

If we're adding a pretty symlink to /Applications, and maybe a README or two, then yeah, we shouldn't set the Internet-Enabled bit.  I sorta liked the simplicity of that approach, but I guess this is OK too.

Comment 16

[u49640]

Its OK, but adds two unnecessary Steps for the user. (Copying and unmounting)

And the Symlink is always called "Applications" and not the localized name. (at least I havent seen it localized anywhere)

Comment 17

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

We're going to make it localized.  And IMO, unless you download it to Applications directly, its only adding one step (unmounting) but I'm not of the opinion that clicking the eject button is so very difficult.

This also avoids the "show the EULA once the file downloads" which seems like an annoyance to me...

Comment 18

[u49640]

No, the App does not have to be in /Applications to run. Most/Some users will move it there, but there is not really a reason to do so. It will work just fine in ~/Desktop.

And this doesnt affect the (annoying) EULA at all. Safari will mount both .dmgs and therefore show the EULA.

I still dont get, whats so bad about internet-enabling it, to be worth extra hassles for the user. 
Especially when you want to improve Retention according to http://wiki.mozilla.org/Retention.

But its not my decision, do as you like.