623114 - Install fails poorly when other user on same machine still running old Firefox

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Installer, defect)

Description

[Wesley W. Garland]

Scenario:
  - Multi-user Leopard box which wife and I share
  - Wife leaves Firefox 3.6 open
  - I switch users, download FF4b8 dmg, close Firefox 3.6

STR:
  - Click on .dmg 
  - Drag firefox icon into application folder
  - Installer pops up message,
    "An older item named "Firefox" already exists in this location.
     Do you want to replace it with the newer one you are moving?

     Stop/Replace"
  - Click on Replace
  - Installer pops up message,
    "The operation cannot be completed because the item "XUL" is in use"

I tried this a couple of times, same results.  Of course, dropping to shell and issuing "sudo killall firefox-bin" fixed the problem.

I'm not saying this is a bug per se, but the user experience sucks.  It should at least tell you to make sure no other users on the machine are running Firefox.  Better yet, it should walk the process table and tell you who the offender is!

Comment 1

[Molly Howell (she/her) (no longer active)]

We do not have an installer on macOS and there is no installer code running in the above STR; the error message described is coming straight from Finder.