339663 - Only one install of Firefox can have a StartMenuInternet registry entry

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Installer, defect)

Description

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

With multiple installs of the same app only one entry is allowed for the StartMenuInternet. This can be a problem for people that install multiple copies on the same system especially if they evaluate and then decide to uninstall a version of the app. Not sure what if anything we should do here.

Comment 1

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

Taking to get this on my radar and please feel free to take this from me. :)

Comment 2

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

Bug 338931 is going to make this behave a little better than it used to though it could be better. From the patch comment:

The StartMenuInternet registry key is independent of the default browser settings. The XPInstall base un-installer always removes this key if it is uninstalling the default browser and it will always replace the keys when installing even if there is another install of Firefox that is set as the default browser. Now the key is always updated on install but it is only removed if it refers to this install location.

XXXrstrong - if there is another installation of the same app ideally we would just modify these values. The GetSecondInstallPath macro could be made to provide enough information to do this.

Comment 3

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

I will probably fix this in bug 353814

Comment 4

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

The behavior will improve quite a lot via the patch in bug 370571 which will make the experience regarding this bug as good as it has ever been. We might be able to hack together a solution by using non-compliant values for the registry key names but I am not too keen on doing so.

Comment 5

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

We may decide on a future date to figure out if using non-compliant values for the registry key name is something we want to do but atm it isn't something I think we should do and with the landing of bug 370571 the behavior is better than it has ever been so resolving wfm since it is as good as it gets afaic.