311302 - updating from beta1 to beta2ish removes Add/Remove Programs listing for Mozilla Firefox

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Toolkit :: Application Update, defect)

Description

[Chase Phillips]

In preparation for the beta2 release we have configured a method to test
updating from beta1 to a beta2ish build.

1. Install Firefox 1.5b1 into an empty directory.
2. Verify that the Mozilla Firefox (1.4) entry is listed in the Add/Remove
Programs box.
3. Change Firefox's update channel from beta to betatest.
4. Run 'Check for updates'.  Firefox will attempt to install the partial patch
which will fail (expected) and the complete patch which will succeed.
5. The Add/Remove Programs listing for Mozilla Firefox will now be gone.

Comment 1

[Chase Phillips]

Nominating for blocking1.8b5.

Comment 2

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

I can't simply reproduce this by installing a 30 september build (the last 1.5
beta 1) and then updating it. The 1.4 is present in Add/Remove and stays there
even when I update it to the last nightly. I can uninstall it easily.

Comment 3

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

As I understand it, it is similar to this: Bug 310873.

Comment 4

[Darin Fisher]

-> me

Comment 5

[Darin Fisher]

It seems like nsPostUpdateWin.js can't find update.log properly.  If I set
things up manually, nsPostUpdateWin.js runs as it should.  Investigating...

Comment 6

[Darin Fisher]

OK, what's going on here is that in some cases nsUpdateService.js blows away
updates/0 before invoking nsPostUpdateWin.  As a result, nsPostUpdateWin fails
to do what it is intended to do.  An exception is thrown during the registry
processing, which leads to the bogus changes made to the registry.

Patch in hand...

Comment 7

[Darin Fisher]

Attachment: v1 patch

OK, here's a patch that appears to do the trick.  To test this patch, I did the
following:

1) Install Firefox 1.5b1
2) Change update channel from "beta" to "betatest"
3) Check for updates.  Try partial, let it fail, and then try complete.
4) Do not restart Firefox to apply complete yet.  Just choose "Later" option
and close Firefox.
5) Now, manually apply the update using these commands:
   $ cp updater.* updates/0
   $ ./updates/0/updater updates/0 0
6) Then replace components/nsPostUpdateWin.js with the patched version.
7) Launch Firefox, and observe that registry is correctly updated.

Comment 8

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Comment on attachment 198712 [details] [diff] [review]
v1 patch

Darin, what are the cases where the updates/0/update.log wouldn't exist? Or,
why not always use the last-update.log ?

Comment 9

[Benjamin Smedberg]

Comment on attachment 198712 [details] [diff] [review]
v1 patch

r=me, but I'd still like to understand

Comment 10

[Darin Fisher]

> (From update of attachment 198712 [details] [diff] [review] [edit])
> Darin, what are the cases where the updates/0/update.log wouldn't exist? Or,
> why not always use the last-update.log ?

I wanted to get a safe patch ready ASAP, so I haven't fully traced the code to
understand how this is happening in this case.  But, if you read the code it
would appear that the intention of the code is not to have cleared out updates/0
at this point.  However, there is a code path (in "get activeUpdate" at least)
that can lead to updates/0 being cleared out.  My plan is to trace the code
better today to figure out what is really going on, but I don't want to hold up
the release for it.

Comment 11

[Darin Fisher]

fixed-on-trunk

Comment 12

[Darin Fisher]

Comment on attachment 198712 [details] [diff] [review]
v1 patch

I really think we should take this patch for beta2.  Not doing so will leave
people's registries in a bad state that will be difficult to recover from when
they get updated to 1.5rc1

Comment 13

[Darin Fisher]

fixed1.8

Comment 14

[Bob Clary [:bc] (inactive)]

looks fixed on winxpsp2
1. uninstalled 1.4.1
2. installed beta1 (1.4)
3. confirmed 1.4 in add/remove list
4. edited pref to betatest channel
5. updated, got full update, restarted fine
6. after restart am on 10/6 build and 1.4.1 is listed in add/remove.

Comment 15

[Darin Fisher]

marking verified.  i also observed that it is fixed.

Comment 16

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

verified on Windows XP using 2005-10-06-14-mozilla1.8/.  Installed the Beta 1
candidate, changed pref to betatest, it found the update, applied it and I moved
to Beta2. Add/Remove entry looks fine. This was also verified by multiple people
in our QA channel.

Comment 17

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

adding verified keyword