331842 - update-history almost useless, because it shows only one, the last, update

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Toolkit :: Application Update, defect)

Description

[Andreas Morawietz]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20060326 Firefox/2.0a1
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8) Gecko/20060326 Firefox/2.0a1

Go to options -> advanced -> "show update history" 

"show update history" always shows only one entry.

I thought, a history should list all previous updates - not only the last one! At the moment, I think it it almost useless, because it only shows the last update.

Please change it in that way, that it shows ALL made updates.

BTW: What about placing that button in "Check for updates" window, too ?
So it could be accessed faster, which could save time for system-admins.

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[Markus Faßbender]

I could confirm this behavior. I made an update from 1.5 to 1.5.0.1 some month ago and now an from 1.5.0.1 to 1.5.0.2. The update history only shows me the last update :-(

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; de; rv:1.8.0.2) Gecko/20060308 Firefox/1.5.0.2

Comment 2

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

not blocking a security update, minus for 1.8.0.3

Comment 3

[Ben Turner (not reading bugmail, use the needinfo flag!)]

(In reply to comment #0)

> I thought, a history should list all previous updates - not only the last one!
> At the moment, I think it it almost useless, because it only shows the last
> update.

Ack, not this again...

If anyone can nail down a set of steps to reproduce this it would be very helpful (steps that don't include, say, "Wait for two months" ;-) ). I'll take a look at this when I get a chance.

Comment 4

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

I tried this out on the Mac today and here are my results - I did not see the same behavior as the reporter.

(1) Start with the Firefox Beta 1 build
(2) Check for updates. It finds the 1.5 update and applies it. After restart the software update history shows the update has been applied (see screenshot)
(3) Check for updates again. It finds the 1.5.0.2 update and applies it (note it skips the 1.5.0.1 update). After restart the software update history shows both updates have been applied (see 

Comment 5

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

Attachment: Screenshot showing update to 1.5

Comment 6

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

Attachment: Screenshot showing update to 1.5.0.2

Comment 7

[Ben Turner (not reading bugmail, use the needinfo flag!)]

(In reply to comment #4)
> I tried this out on the Mac today and here are my results - I did not see the
> same behavior as the reporter.

Right. I'm thinking that the history is being reset or truncated after Firefox has been run for a while... either because of normal wear and tear, a funny update service timer-like problem, odd network errors, or the alignment of Jupiter. I think this is going to be hard to reproduce because it certainly passes the short-term tests...

Comment 8

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

Nice to have, not a blocker.

Comment 9

[Markus Faßbender]

The update from 1.5.0.2 to 1.5.0.3 is now listed over the previous entry. Only the first update to 1.5.0.1 isn't shown :-(

Comment 10

[Nick Thomas [:nthomas] (UTC+12)]

Michael volunteered to take a look at this.

Comment 11

[Michael Wu [:mwu]]

Attachment: Avoid clobbering existing update history

The update history may not have been loaded when we're about to add an update to it. That causes us to create a new update history and clobber the old one later when we save the update history. This patch ensures that we always try to read the update history before creating a new one.

Comment 12

[Andreas Morawietz]

BTW, I think there should also be a button to access the update history in update- window  (Help -> check for updates).

The button in tools -> preferences -> advanced -> update   is too hidden so that I call it into question that anybody really uses it.

Under check for updates, that button to update-history would make much more sense and would be easier accessable.

Comment 13

[Michael Wu [:mwu]]

(In reply to comment #12)
> BTW, I think there should also be a button to access the update history in
> update- window  (Help -> check for updates).
> 
That is outside the scope of this bug. Please open a new bug for that if you feel that is a worthwhile change.

Comment 14

[Michael Wu [:mwu]]

Patch checked in on trunk.

Comment 15

[Andreas Morawietz]

(In reply to comment #13)
> (In reply to comment #12)
> > BTW, I think there should also be a button to access the update history in
> > update- window  (Help -> check for updates).
> > 
> That is outside the scope of this bug. Please open a new bug for that if you
> feel that is a worthwhile change.
> 

You are right, I filed "bug" 344283

Comment 16

[Michael Wu [:mwu]]

We'll need to verify the fix works before bringing this over to branch. Note that this is a bit of a heisenbug, because opening the update history before doing an update will prevent the problem from occurring. If you ever open the update history, close firefox before trying to open the update dialog. (opening the update history causes the update history to actually be loaded correctly, not clobbered..)

Comment 17

[Michael Wu [:mwu]]

Fix appears to work.

Comment 18

[David Baron :dbaron: (⌚️UTC-4, no longer working on Mozilla)]

Comment on attachment 228743 [details] [diff] [review]
Avoid clobbering existing update history

a=dbaron on behalf of drivers.  Please check in to MOZILLA_1_8_BRANCH and mark fixed1.8.1 once you have.

Comment 19

[Steve England [:stevee]]

*** Bug 347148 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***