Closed Bug 586985 Opened 15 years ago Closed 7 years ago

Firefox Sync should have a Global "off" preference

Categories

(Firefox :: Sync, enhancement)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Sync
Type:
enhancement
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1434706
Tracking Flags:
Tracking Status
blocking2.0 --- -

People

(Reporter: sciguyryan, Unassigned)

References

(Blocks 1 open bug)

Details

Several people on Mozillazine have brought this up, believing there should be a global option to disable it so I filed it from there. Maybe something like a setting in about:config to do this?
blocking2.0: --- → ?
Severity: normal → enhancement
Summary: Firefox Sync Should Have a Global "Off" Switch → Firefox Sync should have a Global "off" preference
Ideally the disable option would: 1. Remove (hide) the Setup Sync under Tools 2. Remove (hide) the Icon on the status bar 3. Leave the Sync tab in Options to that at a later time it could be turned back on, thus un-hiding items 1 & 2
(In reply to comment #2) > Ideally the disable option would: > > 1. Remove (hide) the Setup Sync under Tools > 2. Remove (hide) the Icon on the status bar > 3. Leave the Sync tab in Options to that at a later time it could be turned > back on, thus un-hiding items 1 & 2 My thoughts exactly. Maybe it could automatically hide the items in the tool menu and statusbar unless an account is setup via the options window? Of course then you have the discover-ability issue...
We generally don't have "hide all existence of this feature" prefs... what's the rationale here?
The idea is that people don't want to see the status bar or menu items unless they choose to use the feature. Maybe only show those if they create an account via the options panel? I'm just tossing random ideas here - the above would badly affect discoverability. But I believe the above is what people are looking for.
A sensible approach on the first run of Sync would be to give you the options of A: Use sync B: Not Now C: I don't want sync ( You can turn it back on in preferences) This gets past the discovery problem.
(In reply to comment #6) > A sensible approach on the first run of Sync would be to give you the options > of > > A: Use sync > B: Not Now > C: I don't want sync ( You can turn it back on in preferences) > > This gets past the discovery problem. So you're talking like a first run experience like the one that was created for TabCandy? It's a good idea and it should certainly work so long as it tells people what Sync is before they decide. Mike, what do you think of the aforementioned suggestion?
(In reply to comment #4) > We generally don't have "hide all existence of this feature" prefs... what's > the rationale here? I don't use the Sync service, why should I have to look at the Sync icon in the status bar all the time?
I'm not sure there needs to be an 'off' switch. It doesn't really look like Sync does anything unless it is configured. And to be honest, the menu item is trivial and can be hidden by the user if they don't want to look at it. But I also think it's a bit redundant with the prominent tab in the options dialog. As long as the feature is well noted on the download page and/or release notes, I don't think the menu item is needed. However, the status icon should not be shown unless sync is configured.
> We generally don't have "hide all existence of this feature" prefs... Sure we do, Tools -> Add-ons -> Click disable. By moving this feature from an Add-on to built in we've lost that functionality.
(In reply to comment #4) > We generally don't have "hide all existence of this feature" prefs... what's > the rationale here? Sure, I understand this point. By all means retain it in the top Menus but please do not make it permanently put an icon in the Status Bar even when the feature is not used.
Further reason to not show the Icon in the status-bar is that if you have never set up Sync - it still connects to something. I lost my DSL for a brief period this morning, and noticed it stated 'connecting'.. or 'could not establish connection' something along those lines. Why is Sync connecting to anything if its not being used. This behavior is going to drive the 'phone-home' folks nuts. The paranoid net users that keep track of every byte that leaves their system will spot this and start a firestorm of controversy.
It absolutely shouldn't connect to anything. It's possible that the "ready to connect" state (which has a text label of "Connect") was triggered somehow. If you have STR, please file a separate bug. Maybe check about:sync-log ?
(In reply to comment #13) > It absolutely shouldn't connect to anything. It's possible that the "ready to > connect" state (which has a text label of "Connect") was triggered somehow. If > you have STR, please file a separate bug. Maybe check about:sync-log ? False alarm - I've not been able to repo this again. It could well have been ForecastFox reporting the connection error, as I have it in the statusbar as well.
I would like to suggest to add the drop-down box with 3 options: 1) Sync automatically /* current behaviour */ 2) Sync manually /* press the button -> connect to a server and do a sync */ 3) Never sync /* completely switch off */ and a button "Sync now" nearby. Of course, only in the first case the Sync icon should be shown on the status bar.
blocking2.0: ? → -
The fact that there is a sync tab in the preferences is probably no issue to anyone. I'm not quite sure why this thing deserves an own tab, instead of being located at an existing tab and just open a pref window like when a button is clicked, like you see for many other settings, but well, somebody seems to think it's really important. That there is a menu entry "Set Up Sync" in the Tools menu is already more annoying to me; I can still live with it, but it somewhat annoys me, knowing that this thing shouts "set me up", but I don't want to use it. However, the real deal breaker is the sync icon in the window status bar. Sorry, but I just don't want this icon to be there and I definitely always want to see the "Setup your sync account now" window, each time I accidentally click it. This icon has to go. If you can't agree on any pref layout, at least make an option somewhere to somehow get rid of this icon. Firefox sync is a completely useless feature IMHO (gets Fx a step closer to bloatware). Everything it does was covered nicely by already existing extensions. There was no need to integrate that into Fx (I use LastPass for password sync and I use Xmarks for tab/history/bookmark sync, both have the advantage, that I can access them online w/o having access to any copy of Fx when I have to, e.g. on a foreign computer). Thus please give people like me a chance to get rid of it before Fx 4 final sees the dawn of day.
(In reply to comment #16) > The fact that there is a sync tab in the preferences is probably no issue to > anyone. I'm not quite sure why this thing deserves an own tab, instead of being > located at an existing tab and just open a pref window like when a button is > clicked, like you see for many other settings, but well, somebody seems to > think it's really important. > > That there is a menu entry "Set Up Sync" in the Tools menu is already more > annoying to me; I can still live with it, but it somewhat annoys me, knowing > that this thing shouts "set me up", but I don't want to use it. > > However, the real deal breaker is the sync icon in the window status bar. > Sorry, but I just don't want this icon to be there and I definitely always want > to see the "Setup your sync account now" window, each time I accidentally click > it. This icon has to go. If you can't agree on any pref layout, at least make > an option somewhere to somehow get rid of this icon. > > Firefox sync is a completely useless feature IMHO (gets Fx a step closer to > bloatware). Everything it does was covered nicely by already existing > extensions. There was no need to integrate that into Fx (I use LastPass for > password sync and I use Xmarks for tab/history/bookmark sync, both have the > advantage, that I can access them online w/o having access to any copy of Fx > when I have to, e.g. on a foreign computer). Thus please give people like me a > chance to get rid of it before Fx 4 final sees the dawn of day. Those users who want to remove the 'status bar' icon or the Preference Panel entry (or both), this can easily accomplish this by a simple addition to the 'userchrome.css' file. Details given in this Mozillazine Forum thread: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1968557&p=9793073&hilit=sync#p9793073
This feature is in dire need of an off switch (not an about:config entry or editing userChrome.css; those are nice workarounds but far from userfriendly). And IMO it should not be a switch to hide stuff, but to disable it completely. I think Slavic's suggestion (comment #15) is a good proposal. (In reply to comment #4) > We generally don't have "hide all existence of this feature" prefs... what's > the rationale here? In the past there was no need for it. Users had add-ons, and the freedom to choose which feature they want to add to their Firefox. Apparently, Mozilla Firefox is now going in a different direction, and is adding stuff on it's own. Which is fine. But it also means that users are now bereft of choice, when features like this are getting added. And because of that, it's clearly invoking a need to turn things off. Or to hide it. Or trying to get rid of it. Or, maybe more to the point and more recognizable: The desire to customize the browser to ones own personal needs and preferences will not ever change, no matter how many features are added. I think it would be better if a standard practice is incorporated during development to always provide an 'off switch' to added features like this.
Please don't go the way IE8 went - I get really tired of working with computers and having to click through 5 billion questions that IE8 asks me upon getting started for the first time about all sorts of features nobody gives a flying monkey about before I can finally get to work and use the browser. Firefox has to stay a fuss-free install-and-use program. In my opinion the add-ons function is perfect and must not be changed. You just got it to work just right and now all sorts of trash is being merged into the program making it awkward to work with and the add-ons thing obsolete. In my opinion Firefox needs a fork - Firefox 'fat' for the nitwits at home, and Firefox 'lite' for the professionals.
What I don't get: Last time I checked it was possible to put add-ons (or extensions, call them as you like) into the application folder of Fx. Unlike add-ons in profile folders of users, these add-ons were then automatically available to all users. Why is Fx Sync not an add-on that is shipped directly with the rest of the application. That way it is available to all users by default and it is also activated for all users by default, however, it is still an add-on, it still appears in the add-on list and it can still be disabled on a per user basis by users that wish to do so. Wouldn't it be much easier to do it like that? Another advantage: An add-on can be updated independently of the rest of the application. Of course every new Fx release would also have the latest version of the add-on included, but when a bug is fixed in the sync code or a feature is added, it is not necessary to release a full Fx update, only the add-on will be updated. If the user is no admin, has no write access to the Fx app folder, then the update can be installed into his profile folder. Fx only needs the following logic (unless it already exists): If the same add-on is found twice, once in the profile folder of the user and once in the app folder, the one with the newer version number wins. It's that simple. And this also solves this feature request at once, since if its an add-on and can be disabled, there is no need for a preference to disable it. All add-ons can be disabled and the interface for that is already there. Maybe the only necessary change is that add-ons in the app folder should not be uninstallable from the user interface.
(In reply to comment #18) > And IMO it should not be a switch to hide stuff, but to disable it completely. Why does it need an off switch when it's already "off" when not setup? It's seems unnecessarily redundant. All it needs is to be intelligent about showing its [non]status in the UI (i.e. removing the status icon when not setup).
@Matthew: Not showing the status icon and please also not the menu entry that permanently tells me "Please set me up already". If I want to setup this feature at any time, there is a preference tab to to so. The menu entry in the Tools menu is equally redundant to an off-setting going by your logic.
(In reply to comment #21) > Why does it need an off switch when it's already "off" when not setup? It's > seems unnecessarily redundant. All it needs is to be intelligent about showing > its [non]status in the UI (i.e. removing the status icon when not setup). Well, if it's not running in the background in any way when it's not set up, that would be fine. If that's not case (i.e. it's 'always on' and tries to sync but it just has no account to sync to or from), why bother hiding? In that case, it's better to leave things as they are. Otherwise there will be users that suddenly 'discover' a 'hidden' process, that could lead to all kinds of FUD. Or, in the 'always on' scenario, give the user a choice to disable it completely, including removing icons and menu items.
Blocks: 676632, fx-enterprise
Component: General → Firefox Sync: UI
Product: Firefox → Mozilla Services
QA Contact: general → sync-ui
Version: Trunk → unspecified
Sync doesn't do anything if it's not set up. Not only does Firefox not show the status bar by default, but it also doesn't have a Sync icon by default. So I think everything people are asking for is done. Closing this.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 13 years ago
OS: Windows 7 → All
Hardware: x86 → All
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Does it also remove it from about:home?
(In reply to Michael Kaply (mkaply) from comment #26) > Does it also remove it from about:home? Nope, but I think if you want to remove discovery UI for core browser features from about:home -- like bookmarks, sync, or add-ons -- you should be building your own customized version of the browser. Not every part of Firefox can be customized through prefs, sorry.
This is not FIXED yet, should be WONTFIX at least. Are you sure you are encouraging enterprise users to build their own customized version? Why Mozilla has provided ESR? I don't think this is difficult to implement. (Bug 739932 Comment 3) > My idea is: if the pref has been set as false, > > 1. the Set Up Sync menu item in the Tools menu will be disabled (or hidden) > > 2. the Sync preference panel will have a simple message says "Firefox Sync > has been disabled by your system administrator." > e.g. > http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/locales/en-US/chrome/ > browser/browser.properties#24 > > 3. the keyboard shortcut will be disabled, if exists > > 4. the backend will also be disabled and about:home.
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Resolution: FIXED → ---
(In reply to Kohei Yoshino from comment #28) > This is not FIXED yet, should be WONTFIX at least. Sure. There's no option for "AS FIXED AS IT'S GONNA BE", so either is fine. > Are you sure you are encouraging enterprise users to build their own > customized version? Why Mozilla has provided ESR? I don't think this is > difficult to implement. ESR => $some_customization_feature_should_exist is a flawed argument. We don't allow you to disable bookmarking, HTTP POST, or countless other operations, except through add-ons. The services integration team is happy to allow disabling of backend services through prefs, and I'm sure the next version of Sync will do so (it's our current practice), but I'm pretty sure that your line is drawn in a different place than mine, which is why this bug is closed. For example, the parts of Firefox's data structures that support Sync, and the communications buses that support it — are those turned off? What about UI like about:sync-tabs? The JSMs that might be used by other modules? What about discovery doorhangers and other parts of UI that aren't directly coupled to Sync? If you want to write an add-on that disables and 'removes' Sync, for your definition of "disable" then by all means do so. The services integration team is unwilling to commit the engineering resources to wire an off switch throughout the broad set of integration points throughout Firefox (or even to explore how many such integration points there are). If someone in the product org tells us that doing so is a higher priority than the other things we're doing with Sync in the next year, then we'll reopen some bugs (including this one), but there's no sense in having open bugs that aren't something we think needs further work. I'm in the middle of triaging about 700 open bugs for Sync, so "it's not that difficult" doesn't really sway me, I'm afraid. If it takes only a week to fix each small bug, the three of us who sometimes work on desktop would be done with the "not that difficult" bugs in a mere *five years*. Does that make sense? (Sidenote: Bugzilla etiquette frowns on reopening a bug that a module peer has closed.) > and about:home. Please feel free to file a new bug report for about:home, if you want that to be configurable. (As far as I know, it's not.) I'm pretty sure that their idea for how to configure that would not be to inline a check for "is Sync disabled?". I don't know what component that goes into; Firefox :: Untriaged is a good starting point.
Status: REOPENED → RESOLVED
Closed: 13 years ago → 13 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
about:home is not intended to be customizable, the thing you can customize is barely "do not use about:home as homepage"
I don't believe that's possible on mobile. There should definitely be a means of removing cruft from the users home page experience. It's amusing that to be a Firefox user, you're not only spammed by Google about Chrome, but by Mozilla about available features. Even as a huge fan of Sync, I think users that wish so should be able to remove the Sync advert and the Marketplace advert.
For enterprise rollouts, including government agencies, Firefox can't be talking to Mozilla servers, esp. when it comes to critical things like update and bookmarks. End users cannot be allowed to upload their bookmarks and cookies and whatnot to third party servers, that would be a SECURITY BREACH to do so. (I can't emphasize this enough.) The update server is at least useful. Firefox Sync isn't useful at all for governments and large deployments (unless they have hot seats, and then they would have Windows Roaming, which gives this for free). As you said, you've embedded Sync in a number of places in the UI, and that is the *problem*. Fortunately, if this feature was done right using overlays and proper code separation along component lines, then it's easy to remove. If that isn't the case, then that's a code design bug anyway. I know it's possible, because I did exactly with other large bodies of Firefox UI code. This must be fixed, because it's an important need of a huge number of setups. You need to listen to your users, not your agenda. "We don't have time to fix this" isn't an argument either, because this is an open-source projects, and bugs (by definition by the Mozilla project) stay open until a volunteer comes along and fixes them. REOPENED That said, whoever introduced this feature should have known that this wouldn't go down well in such cases and should implement the "remove this from the UI" feature. An extension to remove features is no good, to add components solely to remove other components is just silly. There must be a single "services.sync.enabled = false" pref, because there is a widespread need for this.
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Resolution: WONTFIX → ---
Wow, I just see that Firefox Sync also syncs stored passwords. That's a total security nightmare for any IT administrator on the planet. Get real.
Bugzilla etiquette frowns on reopening a bug that a module peer has closed. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/page.cgi?id=etiquette.html
Status: REOPENED → RESOLVED
Closed: 13 years ago → 12 years ago
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
(In reply to Paul [sabret00the] from comment #31) > I don't believe that's possible on mobile. There should definitely be a > means of removing cruft from the users home page experience. It's amusing > that to be a Firefox user, you're not only spammed by Google about Chrome, > but by Mozilla about available features. Even as a huge fan of Sync, I think > users that wish so should be able to remove the Sync advert and the > Marketplace advert. Coming homepage snippets work will bring this capability. Hurrah! (In reply to Ben Bucksch (:BenB) from comment #33) > Wow, I just see that Firefox Sync also syncs stored passwords. That's a > total security nightmare for any IT administrator on the planet. Get real. It's a consumer feature. The enterprise is not the world. At least we encrypt those passwords with strong client side crypto... Ben: please re-read Comment 29. There is pretty much nothing that would satisfy you and be feasible to land. Sync is already only visible in menus and prefs (the original target of this bug). If you want to argue that large parts of browser functionality should be highly modular, such that ESR users can configure them away, you're welcome to do so - on the mailing list, not in this bug.
If a patch was submitted, would you take it?
(In reply to Michael Kaply (mkaply) from comment #36) > If a patch was submitted, would you take it? Perhaps. If it were very tightly scoped, thoroughly tested, articulated exactly why certain things were switched and others not, presented an affordance to explain that Sync is disabled, had a small code surface area, and didn't require a month of back and forth, yes. But I'd encourage you to open a new bug to track that. My general feeling is that it is not possible to solve this problem in a way that makes, say, Ben happy (impossible to configure Sync), MozillaZine whiners happy (no visible UI!), and me (minimal impact on code and testing complexity, given that this is a sunsetting feature and my time is valuable). That makes this a WONTFIX for me; you'd essentially be presenting a fait accompli and hoping that all the work was good enough to land, and it very likely wouldn't be. Not a situation I'd encourage for a contributor. If that patch were small and simple, we wouldn't need the patch...
> given that this is a sunsetting feature and my time is valuable) Are you saying Sync is being sunset?
(In reply to Michael Kaply (mkaply) from comment #38) > > given that this is a sunsetting feature and my time is valuable) > > Are you saying Sync is being sunset? Yup; it'll eventually be supplanted by PICL. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Identity/AttachedServices It'll take a little while, but I'm confident that the outcome will be better.
> Yup; it'll eventually be supplanted by PICL. Interesting. Hopefully you'll put in a disable switch? So we never have to have this discussion again?
If you have requirements that you want to be reflected in the design, I encourage you to get involved with the PICL team and make sure the user stories include them. The dev-identity group is a good place to start. groups.google.com/d/topic/mozilla.dev.identity/
This google link works better for me: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/mozilla.dev.identity Sign up here: https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-identity There is a lot of discussion going on right now about what elements of Sync to carry forward, drop, or redesign for PiCL (Profile In The Cloud). I highly recommend joining.
This problem really stops me from deploying firefox through the whole company. If this issue is not resolved we are forced return to IE (Or other browsers). Hope to see a disable switch for this.
Patrick, Mike and me are working on a solution for this. Please contact me by email.
Patrick: why don't you set and freeze services.sync.serverURL, services.sync.clusterURL and services.sync.jpake.serverURL to some dead internal endpoints? That'll stop users from setting up Sync, no?
hello Richard, Even though i know that would work. Policy here is that there should be no such options to begin with. That Tab being visible makes it fall outside of policies. Wich makes it no option unfortunatly
Firefox 38 ESR has been shipped with Firefox Hello disabled, so this should also be a valid request.
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Resolution: WONTFIX → ---
Status: REOPENED → RESOLVED
Closed: 12 years ago → 7 years ago
Resolution: --- → DUPLICATE
Component: Firefox Sync: UI → Sync
Product: Cloud Services → Firefox
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