813753 - Packaged webapp update experience

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: Web Apps (PWAs), defect, P1)

Description

[Wesley Johnston (:wesj)]

We need to find a way for webapps to poll whether or not they should update.

1.) We poll the marketplace to see if there's an update for the app available. We'll have to decide when to do this (when Fennec is running an idle, using an Android service on idle, etc)? We have a native UpdateService, but it is currently only built for Nightly and Aurora users (i.e. beta and release users update through the android market). Can we highjack it and ifdef out the pieces we don't want on beta/release?

2.) If there is an update, prompt the user to download and install.

cc'ing fabrice to provide a bit more details if they're helpful.

Comment 1

[Jason Smith [:jsmith]]

Are we able to follow similar logic to what Gaia does for updates on Android? cc-ing etienne for input

Comment 2

[Etienne Segonzac (:etienne)]

What we have:

- all the smarts about checking for updates when the connexion comes up lives in the UpdateManger for system updates (you can check the details with Marshall)
- every time we check for system updates we *also* check for app updates
- when one update or more is available the user get notified
- when the user tap the notification we present an download prompt
- then we download the update and apply it

Do we need anything else?

Comment 3

[Wesley Johnston (:wesj)]

There are two paths we can go here. The alternative, potentially easier implementation, is to just check for updates once a day when Fennec (or any webapp) is started.

The more compelx situation is to use the Java updater service we already ship with Fennec (at least for nightly and aurora builds), that checks for updates daily. We can try and improve it to check for app updates as well. The updater coul just parses some manifest files to find an update url, ping for the update, and launch Fennec with a special message to tell it to download and install.

Comment 4

[David Bialer [:dbialer]]

I would think using push notifications (C2DM) implemented in Fennec and exposed to apps (i.e. Marketplace or 3rd party app stores) would be the longer term solution?  This would imply more complex server side logic to initiate updates.

I would favor the more complex option option as it doesn't depend on Fennec or any webapp to start.  Would it be possible to follow similar Gaia logic and set a notification so that the user can selectively download an app update?

Comment 5

[James Hugman [:jhugman] [@jhugman]]

Transcribed from email: 

Is there a concept of mandatory upgrades and optional upgrades? e.g. client server protocols have changed, app specific security compromise.

Is there a concept of an automatic/unattended upgrade? This was a significant thing when the Play Store (née Android Marketplace) introduced it.

Is polling an implementation detail that is set, or should something be found that is better (for whatever values of better), we can use that?

Comment 6

[Erin Lancaster [:elan]]

To Ian...

Comment 7

[Jason Smith [:jsmith]]

Uhh...let's avoid flipping title around here - it's going to cause problems for future interpreters of the bug. If you need to track metadata on the bug, then use the whiteboard.

Comment 8

[Caitlin Galimidi [:c8o]]

pending phase 3 scope evaluation and further discussion on approach for native app experience

Comment 9

[Jason Smith [:jsmith]]

(In reply to Caitlin Galimidi from comment #8)
> pending phase 3 scope evaluation and further discussion on approach for
> native app experience

That doesn't make an argument here for a wontfix here. Whether or not it's in scope within the near future won't affect whether something is a valid bug or not.

Comment 10

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

We did this for Synthetic APKs of both hosted and packaged apps in bug 934760.