601946 - Build ID in application.ini and pref 'browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID' do not match

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox Build System :: General, defect)

Description

[Ken]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:2.0b7pre) Gecko/20101005 Firefox/4.0b7pre
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:2.0b7pre) Gecko/20101005 Firefox/4.0b7pre

Build ID in application.ini and about:support 'browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID' (which is the same as Firefox.exe->File properties->Version->Build ID) do not match.

There has been confusion about which Build ID is correct; in the latest two nightly forum threads http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2005457&start=73 & http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2006153&start=60.

FWIW
In searching to see if this is a know bug (or an expected result), I have found bugs talking about the possibility of dropping the Build ID completely.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open the application.ini file in the Minefield application directory, and look at the [App]->BuildID=
2. Open 'about:support' and check 'browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID', or in Minefield directory look at Firefox.exe->file Properties->Version->Build ID.
3. The Build ID in step #1 & 2 are different.
Actual Results:  
The Build ID in "application.ini" and "about:support->browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID" (or Firefox.exe->file Properties->Version->Build ID) are different.

Expected Results:  
The Build ID should match?

If not which Build ID is real?

See attachment.

Comment 1

[Ken]

Attachment: Example of: Build ID not matching in multiple places

Check Build ID in red circles.
One (or 2, if you count crash ID) in "application.ini" file.
One in "about:support" and a matching ID in "Firefox.exe->File properties->Version->Build ID".

Comment 2

[alex_mayorga]

I can confirm this on Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:2.0b7pre) Gecko/20101006 Firefox/4.0b7pre ID:20101006041601
application.ini file shows: BuildID=20101006041601
about:support browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID shows: 20101006031215
On my PC there's no "Version" tab on firefox.exe > Properties so I can't really tell that one.

Comment 3

[bomfog]

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone :

"When a user starts up their browser, this preference is examined. If its value differs from the browser’s current milestone, then the user is redirected to the homepage specified in startup.homepage_override_url and this preference’s value is updated to the current milestone."

So according to that (not authoritative), the current behavior is correct on first start of a new build, but the build id should update on restart and doesn't.

Note that the homepage_override.buildID pref is sort of "internal use", and is not intended to always be the current build id, so probably shouldn't be recommended as a source of support info.

I suggest morphing the summary to make the bug about the pref not updating as per the knowledge base clip, and let somebody who knows decide if that's intended or a bug.

Comment 4

[bomfog]

Forgot to say:

Is "Build Config" the right component (he asks sceptically)? And platform is probably "all", but I can only speak for vista.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:2.0b8pre) Gecko/20101007 Firefox/4.0b8pre

Comment 5

[bomfog]

Ignore me completely. Just noticed that kb reference is to the wrong pref--milestone vs build id. Sorry.

Comment 6

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

Can't reproduce with 4.0b7 release on mac. Probably something to do with PGO on windows.

Comment 7

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

Confirmed with the latest win32 nightly using XP.

application.ini & aus query: 20101116042306
firefox.exe props/browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID: 20101116031541
(Same for xul.dll, updater.exe, so probably all the executables)

In the nightly build log [1] there are 
d:/mozilla-build/python25/python2.5.exe /e/builds/moz2_slave/mozilla-central-win32-nightly/build/toolkit/xre/make-platformini.py --buildid=20101116031541 --sourcestamp=a42e9b001bc8 --sourcerepo=http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central /e/builds/moz2_slave/mozilla-central-win32-nightly/build/config/milestone.txt > platform.ini

d:/mozilla-build/python25/python2.5.exe /e/builds/moz2_slave/mozilla-central-win32-nightly/build/toolkit/xre/make-platformini.py --buildid=20101116042306 --sourcestamp=a42e9b001bc8 --sourcerepo=http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central /e/builds/moz2_slave/mozilla-central-win32-nightly/build/config/milestone.txt > platform.ini

I don't see where that gets into application.ini so that may be a red herring.

Ted/Khuey: is this worth fixing ?

[1] http://tinderbox.mozilla.org/Firefox/1289905344.1289915617.3118.gz

Comment 8

[Ken]

I have checked recently and it looks like this problem has been fixed in the nightlies.