358935 - find out whether it's necessary to use version 2.0.0.3 to disable the Vista shim

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: Shell Integration, defect)

Description

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

Microsoft has added a shim to Vista for Firefox 2.0.0.0 thru 2.0.0.2 that makes Firefox behave properly on Vista. We need to find out whether we can release a 2.0.0.1 Vista compatible version or do we have to release it as 2.0.0.3 for the shim to be disabled. Also, it might be possible to include manifests that will disable the shim.

Comment 1

[Jay Patel [:jay]]

Not blocking 1.8.1.1 based on recent discussion around Vista, so let's try to
get a handle on this for 1.8.1.2.

Comment 2

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

Does this block 1.8.1.2? Not sure what this bug means

Comment 3

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

This is to verify whether we have to use 2.0.0.3 to disable the shim. If not, we will use 2.0.0.2

Comment 4

[Jay Patel [:jay]]

Rob:  Could you please look into this and find out what we need to do here?  Thanks!

Comment 5

[Jay Patel [:jay]]

Haven't heard anything about this bug for a while, just wanted to make sure we don't miss it for the upcoming 2.0.0.2 release if we need to get something in place now to be in better shape for 2.0.0.3.

If it's not a blocker, we can remove the flag and get to it next time.

Cc'ing dougt and sspitzer in case they know anything about the shim.

Comment 6

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

I gave a verbal update to dveditz on Monday that was basically that this won't be investigated until such a time as the patches required for Vista compatibility are complete

Comment 7

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

Rob, does anything need to be done here, or are we ok?

Comment 8

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

From the QA everyone has done it appears that we are ok.

Comment 9

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

Summary: On the branch we support VC6 and VC7. To disable the shim we need to either release 2.0.0.3 or add a manifest that includes the Windows Vista extension. I haven't verified this but it appears that vc8 is required to add a manifest that includes the Windows Vista extension per the following since the article only applies to Microsoft Visual Studio 2005:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925378/

This leads me to believe that adding the Windows Vista extension would be to say the least non-trivial for vc6 and vc7 for the branch. This along with not being able to find much info on accomplishing this for vc6 / vc7 and the affects of doing this to earlier versions of Windows (e.g. the restart mentioned in the linked kb article above) led me to the conclusion that we should just release as 2.0.0.3 to disable the shim as originally agreed to. and to verify via QA if the shim causes any problems after the Vista patches had landed.

Resolving -> wfm

Comment 10

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

(In reply to comment #9)
> should just release as 2.0.0.3 to disable the shim as originally agreed to. and
> to verify via QA if the shim causes any problems after the Vista patches had
> landed.
should be "or to verify... etc." if we decided that we wanted to release as 2.0.0.2