Closed Bug 501672 Opened 16 years ago Closed 16 years ago

Software Update 3.0.11->3.5 downloads larger file than full update

Categories

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
General
Version:
3.5 Branch
Platform:
x86
Windows XP
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED WONTFIX

People

(Reporter: zanchey, Unassigned)

Details

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.11) Gecko/2009060215 Firefox/3.0.11 Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.11) Gecko/2009060215 Firefox/3.0.11 When downloading the latest Firefox update (3.0.11 -> 3.5) through the software update tool, I noticed that the partial update download was larger than a fresh download of the main installer from getfirefox.com. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Running Firefox 3.0.11, choose Help->Check for Updates, and continue to download the update. 2. Check the proposed update size in the download progress bar (10.0 MB) 3. Compare with the size displayed on getfirefox.com for a fresh install (7.7 MB) Actual Results: step 2 size < step 3 size Expected Results: step 2 size > step 3 size https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=412000 is probably related; the key issue for creating a separate bug report was that the partial update was larger in the first place, not that it was allowed to download in the first place.
Version: unspecified → 3.5 Branch
A partial update was not published from 3.0.11 to 3.5 and the .exe is compressed so that is why it is a smaller file.
I mostly agree with Kurt here. We've never generated partial updates (ie a bundle of patches) for major upgrades like 3.0.11 to 3.5, instead providing the complete update. Also, the mar files are bzip2 compressed, while the installer is 7zip compressed, to give a size difference. I think the convenience of the built-in updater outweighs the larger download, resolving WONTFIX.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 16 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
Would a new bug "use 7z for updates" be worth filing?
Binary files don't pack well using zip style compression. For example using z7 v4.65 on the Linux en-US Firefox-3.5.complete.mar I get a 0.6% reduction in filesize. A difference of 60137 bytes.
I've considered moving to lzma compression for the mars but the effort / reward for doing so isn't as great as other work at present. Also note that we are looking at using MSI's with MSP's sometime in the future which wouldn't use mars for updating windows.
If it's a choice between lzma and MSI, then MSI wins hands down.
You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.