294967 - 1.1 uses extensions.rdf in <profile>/extensions.rdf, but doesn't delete <profile>/extensions/extensions.rdf, confusing savvy users

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Toolkit :: Add-ons Manager, defect)

Description

[Mark Dionne]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050520 Firefox/1.0+
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050520 Firefox/1.0+

Using 20050520 build, install Adblock or ForecastFox extension and restart
browser. Examine extensions/extensions.RDF file in user's profile. It is still
the default version (dated May 11), nothing has been added. Same thing for
installed-extensions.txt. Adblock at least seems to work anyway.

Reproducible: Always



Expected Results:  
extensions.RDF should be updated. If it is no longer in use, then the default
file should never be installed at all.

Comment 1

[PikeUK]

On the trunk extensions.rdf lives directly inside the profile folder. I'm unable
to reproduce the creation of an "extensions\extensions.rdf" file, the file does
not appear to be in the default profile and it does not appear to be created
when a profile is created, is it possible the file was from a previous
profile/firefox-version?

Comment 2

[Nickolay_Ponomarev]

extensions.rdf now lives right in the profile folder. invalid.

Comment 3

[Mark Dionne]

(In reply to comment #1)
> On the trunk extensions.rdf lives directly inside the profile folder. I'm unable
> to reproduce the creation of an "extensions\extensions.rdf" file, the file does
> not appear to be in the default profile and it does not appear to be created
> when a profile is created, is it possible the file was from a previous
> profile/firefox-version?

I installed 1.1 over 1.0.4 which is what many users will do. Almost certainly
what is happening is that the entire new profile folder is getting copied from
the one at C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\profile\extensions and that
has the residue of 1.0.4.

This seems bound to cause confusion at a later date, since there will be lots of
bogus <profile>\extension\extension.rdf files floating around.

Comment 4

[Nickolay_Ponomarev]

I don't see what kind of user confusion it can cause, users aren't supposed to
look inside the profile. The datasource format has changed as part of EM rework,
and I think that the old one is left there so that user can go back to 1.0.x. I
may be wrong, but then there is chrome.rdf etc which are not deleted nor used
either.

Resummarizing and confirming. I still believe "invalid" is the correct
resolution for this.

Comment 5

[Mark Dionne]

(In reply to comment #4)
> I don't see what kind of user confusion it can cause, users aren't supposed to
> look inside the profile. The datasource format has changed as part of EM rework,
> and I think that the old one is left there so that user can go back to 1.0.x. I
> may be wrong, but then there is chrome.rdf etc which are not deleted nor used
> either.

On general principle, letting unused files accumulate might not a be good idea.
One scenario where it would bite you: suppose in a future version 1.x someone
decides that moving extensions.rdf to the <profile>\ folder was not a good idea,
and you want to move it back to <profile>\extensions\. You might then regret
leaving unused extension.rdf files lying around.

If C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\ was expanded to C:\Program
Files\Mozilla Firefox\defaults\1.1\ this and other potential issues might be
averted. Perhaps the user profile itself should also be similarly version-specific.

Comment 6

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Removing this file would for all practical purposes uninstall all extensions in
the profile if the user ever went back to the earlier version. The savvy users
can always manually delete the file or create a new profile but the non-savvy
users would be extremely confused if they decided to downgrade. I concur with
Nickolay in the belief this is invalid or wontfix.