285634 - Changing pref browser.bookmarks.file destroys existing bookmark file

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 259238

(Firefox :: Bookmarks & History, defect)

Description

[Joe Thompson]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050225 Firefox/1.0.1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050225 Firefox/1.0.1

When I change the browser.bookmarks.file preference to point to an existing
file, instead of using the indicated file as-is, Firefox overwrites it with a
copy of the bookmarks file it currently uses, then begins using it.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Create a copy of the bookmarks file in a new location.
2. Add or remove a bookmark from the existing bookmarks.
3. Change the browser.bookmarks.file preference to point to the location of the
copy from step 1.

Actual Results:  
Firefox overwrites the indicated file with a copy of its current bookmarks file.

Expected Results:  
Either used the existing file as-is, or (even better) asked "Would you like to
use this bookmarks file as-is, or change it to match the bookmarks you already
have?"

I'm marking this critical because it caused me to lose data (the bookmarks file
on my USB flash drive).

Comment 1

[Jesse Ruderman]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 259238 ***

Comment 2

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

sorry for bugspam, long-overdue mass reassign of ancient QA contact bugs, filter on "beltznerLovesGoats" to get rid of this mass change