[tor-bugs] #4234 [Tor Browser]: Investigate the Firefox update process

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#4234: Investigate the Firefox update process
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     Reporter:           |      Owner:  mcs
  mikeperry              |     Status:  accepted
         Type:  task     |  Milestone:  TorBrowserBundle 2.3.x-stable
     Priority:  major    |    Version:
    Component:  Tor      |   Keywords:  tbb-bounty, tbb-usability,
  Browser                |  pantheon, chronos, tbb-firefox-
   Resolution:           |  patch,TorBrowserTeam201408,MikePerry201408R
Actual Points:           |  Parent ID:
       Points:           |
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Comment (by mcs):

 Replying to [comment:45 gk]:
 > Replying to [comment:44 mikeperry]:
 > > Should we have this opt-in, or just warn people that this alpha may
 try to update itself and break?
 >
 > As said on IRC, I think we should just warn the people. The alpha is the
 base for the next stable and thus it should contain the code and features
 of it, too (if possible). Otherwise we might miss serious bugs that are
 hard to find if we disable things.

 I agree that leaving updates enabled but warning people to watch for
 problems is the way to go.  Of course if we break someone's browser they
 will complain, but hopefully if it happens in an alpha or beta release
 they will give us a little break.

 Currently we have app.update.enabled = true and app.update.auto = false,
 which corresponds to "Check for updates, but let me choose whether to
 install them" in the prefs UI.  That seems like a good first step; it is
 still "opt in" in the sense that people get to choose whether to download
 and apply an update.

 > Replying to [comment:44 mikeperry]:
 > I think we do want to try to upgrade 4.0a2 users to the next version of
 4.0, but if that is 31ESR, how likely is it that it will completely fail?

 Kathy and I are optimistic that it will work.  What could go wrong ;) ?
 Seriously, we should test an update ourselves before we release whatever
 comes after 4.0a2 so at the very least we can tell people if it is not
 going to work.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/4234#comment:46>
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