613305 - Integrate Plugin Check with installed plugins in the add-ons manager

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Toolkit :: Add-ons Manager, enhancement)

Description

[Jennifer Morrow [:Boriss] (UX)]

Attachment: Diagram: Plugin Check Integration in Add-ons Manager, Inline and Linked

By default, only plug-ins are not automatically updated in Firefox 4.0.  Mozilla's Plugin Check service ( http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/plugincheck/ ) can determine if installed plugins are out of date, but it currently only exists as a URL.  Integrating Plugin Check with the add-on manager's plugins could help users stay up-to-date.

Ideally, such an integration would determine if plugins are up to date per plugin by using links from plugin check.  These links could take the place of last updated dates per plugin.  For plugins, which are not automatically updated, these last updated dates serve little purpose.

If it's not possible to directly integrate the Plugin Check information per plugin, a link at the bottom could direct users to the Plugin Check site.

Comment 1

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

Wrong attachment?

Comment 2

[Jennifer Morrow [:Boriss] (UX)]

(In reply to comment #1)
> Wrong attachment?

Looks correct to me

Comment 3

[Jennifer Morrow [:Boriss] (UX)]

Attachment: Diagram: Plugin Check Integration in Add-ons Manager, Inline and Linked

Comment 4

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

I was confused because the extension category is selected and not the plugins one. Otherwise it looks fine.

While checking this mockups I remembered an existing bug. How does bug 563135 come into play here? Sorry, if that causes even more confusion. :/

Comment 5

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

Dave, given that a full implementation will not happen for Firefox 4.0, can we try to get in at least a link to the plugin update checker page at the bottom of the plugins list?

We already have bug 602795, which is about the full implementation. So I wonder, if we should morph this bug to get the link integrated.

Comment 6

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

Kev: would a simple link to plugin check suffice?

Comment 7

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

(In reply to comment #6)
> Kev: would a simple link to plugin check suffice?

CC'ing Kev...

Comment 8

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

Kev, can we get feedback for the plugin check inclusion? I still believe we have to add at least a link to the plugin check page. Otherwise there will be no easy way for users to check for plugin updates, now that clicking find updates doesn't forward the user to this page.

Comment 9

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

(In reply to comment #8)
> Kev, can we get feedback for the plugin check inclusion? I still believe we
> have to add at least a link to the plugin check page. Otherwise there will be
> no easy way for users to check for plugin updates, now that clicking find
> updates doesn't forward the user to this page.

also that this check for plugin updates was a major feature in Firefox 3.6 and the addons manager, so at least a link to the plugin check page would be great

Comment 11

[Kev Needham [:kev]]

sorry for the delay in replying, totally missed this one.

At a minimum I'd love to see a link in the plugins page, because right now it's not intuitive at all that the plugins aren't being checked as part of the upsate. I also realize it's really late in the game, which makes me sad.

For future releases, I'd like to see the functionality presented in the plugin check webpage incorporated into the add-on manager. I'd also like to see us start using PFS2, and solidify what kind of update path we're going to provide to users across platforms (e.g. ability to launch installer/call updater directly, how we notify and/or provide update code, etc.).

I'm working on roadmap for plugin interactions for products, and should have it in place for end of week. I'll post an update here.

Comment 12

[Vitaliy]

It's hard to understand why at least a link was not implemented in the first place.

Comment 13

[Vitaliy]

We should change the importance to major from normal. It is a major feature missing.

Comment 14

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

As it stands we are not going to do anything here for 4.0. We have plans to re-integrate this in a future version which really makes this an enhancement at that point.

Comment 15

[Vitaliy]

Why not now? I do programming and that kind of function would have required one more button, and a few lines of code directing to that link. That's all is required. I'm pretty sure it takes much more time fixing bugs.

Comment 16

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

(In reply to comment #15)
> Why not now? I do programming and that kind of function would have required one
> more button, and a few lines of code directing to that link. That's all is
> required. I'm pretty sure it takes much more time fixing bugs.

We are past string freeze so can't add any text for the button and we are trying to lock down the product for release

Comment 18

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

Dave, could we at least find a way to get the link to the plugin check web page integrated in Firefox 6? If necessary we can spun-off another bug.

Comment 19

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

(In reply to comment #18)
> Dave, could we at least find a way to get the link to the plugin check web page
> integrated in Firefox 6? If necessary we can spun-off another bug.

Yes, Kev is writing up a feature page for that.

Comment 20

[RNicoletto]

I agree with the proposal in this bug but, to be honest, Plugin Check page isn't reliable at all ==> http://tinyurl.com/6f2dmma

Few plugins supported, lots of bugs and "always late" updates. :(

Comment 21

[obsolete.fax]

This blocks Bug 566423 - Consider standardizing/normalizing navigator.plugins (browser fingerprinting) 

Once this is done, we don't need need to expose full plugin version information
to web content just because of the plugins check.

Comment 22

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+2]]

See also bug 656269 for an interim solution by placing a link to the plugin check page.

Comment 23

[Oskar Ivanić (:icecold)]

What's the status on implementing this feature?

Comment 24

[Dave Townsend [:mossop]]

(In reply to Oskar Ivanić (:icecold) from comment #23)
> What's the status on implementing this feature?

There is nobody working on that at the moment

Comment 25

[Ian Melven :imelven]

(In reply to Dave Townsend (:Mossop) from comment #24)
> (In reply to Oskar Ivanić (:icecold) from comment #23)
> > What's the status on implementing this feature?
> 
> There is nobody working on that at the moment

fwiw plugin check sounds like it will end up being integrated into click-to-play to some degree, see https://wiki.mozilla.org/Opt-in_activation_for_plugins 
and http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.security/browse_thread/thread/0f30a71413083cd2# and bug 711552

Comment 26

[Vic]

I probably replied in the wrong bug, i.e. Bug 602795.

Dão/Gervase: while fixing this one, can Bug 566423 be fixed at the same time? So then it doesn't show the full version of the plugins to all websites (Re: Browser fingerprinting)? For example, it will just show Flash v11. That's it.

Plugin 0: Shockwave Flash; Shockwave Flash 11; NPSWF32_11.dll; (Adobe Flash movie; application/x-shockwave-flash; swf) (FutureSplash movie; application/futuresplash; spl). 

instead of

Plugin 0: Shockwave Flash; Shockwave Flash 11.X Y; NPSWF32_11_X_Y_Z.dll; (Adobe Flash movie; application/x-shockwave-flash; swf) (FutureSplash movie; application/futuresplash; spl). 

Thanks.

Comment 27

[Benjamin Smedberg]

We're using solely the blocklist (which is already integrated into the addon manager) and not plugincheck for this.