327083 - Installer (and upgrade mechanism) deletes winpref.js file

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Installer, defect)

Description

[Jobst Schmalenbach]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20051111 Firefox/1.5

When you install a new version of firefox (either manually or through the upgrade mechanism) the file winprefs.js is deleted from the system.

This should not happen, especially if a system is configured to have certain option set and users should not fiddle with them (ie security, images etc).

The installer SHOULD honour the existance of the file and leave it alone or else I have to copy the file after every update/upgrade back to the location.




Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. put a winprefs.js file into the directory {%INSTALLDIR_OF_FIREFOX}/defaults/pref
2. into the file you place certain settings you wish to have company wide and NOT changeable by users (ie load config files, setup proxies ... whatever) 
3. start firefox to see whether the file is read .. it is read and certain settings in firefox will be greyed out depending on what one wishes to do.
4. upgrade firefox
5. file is gone!!

Actual Results:  
After upgrade of firefox (manual OR firefox upgrade mechanism) file winprefs.js is  deleted from the directory and one needs to replace it.

Expected Results:  
File should still be there because this may include company wide settings and some things in the file which preform intial startup settings EVERY time firefox starts should not be changesd by users (security iussues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)



I have reported a similar issue before (bug #304106), but I was hoping that the installer would NOT touch winprefs.js, so I used that one instead.

However, it deletes (even the automatic upgrade) this one too giving me no
option to re-install that file winprefs.js. However, the problem is than that even an automatic upgrade will delete the file and I am never sure when this would happen .....

A "nightmare" scenario for a sysadmin.

Comment 1

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

This is wfm with the new installer that landed - bug 326580. Reporter, could you please confirm with a latest 1.8.1 branch nightly? Thanks.
ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla1.8

Comment 2

[Jobst Schmalenbach]

What does "wfm" mean (works for me?). 
I does not work for me, it still overwrites it!

BTW, my current firefox version is 1.5.4 in the moment and 
still it overwrites the file.

Even every AUTOMATIC update the winpref.js file is gone and it still is
a nightmare to clean up 50 odd machines every time a new version 
of firefox overwrites the "winprefs.js" file.

This is th ONLY way to lock down the settings in firefox, but every time
firefox (whether through an msi installer or through its automatic update feature) the "winprefs.js" file (sadly) is gone.

IMHO this is a very good feature Firefox has ... it gives me the ability
to set the settings for people saving me a lot of hassle and users confusion.
Please fix it!!!!

thanks
jobst

Comment 3

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

WFM = Works For Me and as stated I tested this with the new installer at
ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/nightly/latest-mozilla1.8

Comment 4

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

Just to be clear... I am working on bugs for Firefox 2.0. I am not saying that it works with 1.5.0.x

Comment 5

[Steve England [:stevee]]

Reporter, do you still see this problem with the latest Firefox 2? If not, can you please close this bug as WORKSFORME. Thanks!

Comment 6

[Jobst Schmalenbach]

I do not use Firefox 2.X so I cannot test it, I have no time to upgrade 60 odd machines to the latest version and Firefox 1.5.X has all the features I (and all the user of the LANS) need.

I rather have this issue fixed with 1.5.X!

Comment 7

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

(In reply to comment #6)
> I do not use Firefox 2.X so I cannot test it, I have no time to upgrade 60 odd
> machines to the latest version and Firefox 1.5.X has all the features I (and
> all the user of the LANS) need.
> 
> I rather have this issue fixed with 1.5.X!
> 

Closing as worksforme, since we also do not longer support Firefox 1.5x , feel free to reopen this bug, when you see this reported Problem with the latest Firefox 2.x Release or Firefox 3 Rc1 - thanks.

Comment 8

[Jobst Schmalenbach]

My current version of Firefox 2.0.0.13 still has that bug.
When I upgrade firefox, the file 

    %DRIVE%:\%INSTALLDIR_OF_FIREFOX%\defaults\pref\winpref.js 

is deleted and I need to copy the file to that directory again.
I currently have a script running on startup of the machine (group policy) that copies it back every time the machine starts.

I think this should not happen. I have about 50 or so machines (a school and a business) where this is happening, ever time I upgrade firefox, this file is gone.

Jobst

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

See this in FF 3?

Comment 10

[Jobst Schmalenbach]

Hi Wayne.

Oh yes indeed [sadly ;-)]!

I wrote a script a few years back that when the machine gets rebooted a file "winprefs.js" that contains the correct information is copied to the location

   %DRIVE%:\%INSTALLDIR_OF_FIREFOX%\defaults\pref\winpref.js

I ran firefox at a few places with a variety of setups and versions (inc OS).

The current computer I use to write this comment has the following config:

  firefox 3.04
  windows XP (latest SP and automatic updates)

and it still happens. I do not have automatic updates running for firefox, I do that by hand and every time I do this for every version so far has this problem.

The file completely disappears.

The problem is that winprefs.js contains the info how to get default settings for my LAN/DOMAIN/PROXY/ETC setup (I do not want to do that for every 50+ users!!!).

IMHO what happens is the installer does a "rm -fr *" of the directory and replaces the files with newer versions.


jobst

Comment 11

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

The line that causes this is
http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/installer/removed-files.in#12

At some point this file was added by Mozilla and has since been removed by Mozilla. For you to get the same affect you can create the same file with a different name that is not used by Mozilla and place it in the same directory

Comment 12

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

btw: it appears that we don't remove winprefs.js which is wfm in comment #1 in June of 2006. We do remove winpref.js. Also, the bug that added the removal of winpref.js is bug 300136

Comment 13

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

Hey Benjamin, a while back in bug 300136 you added winpref.js to the removed-files.in. This is the file used by the cck and each time a new install or a software update is applied the file is removed. Did you do that intentionally?

Comment 14

[Benjamin Smedberg]

I believe we shipped a winpref.js in FF1.0 and needed to remove it in 1.5.

Comment 15

[Betty]

Attachment: bugs

i am having a pomble gamevance please help me and other

Comment 16

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

This was fixed by another bug... no references to winprefs.js anymore. resolving -> wfm
http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/search?string=winprefs.js