[tor-bugs] #12647 [Firefox Patch Issues]: updater needs to support use of symlinks

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#12647: updater needs to support use of symlinks
----------------------------------+---------------------
 Reporter:  mcs                   |          Owner:  mcs
     Type:  defect                |         Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                |      Milestone:
Component:  Firefox Patch Issues  |        Version:
 Keywords:                        |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:  #4234                 |         Points:
----------------------------------+---------------------
 In #11429, the "second Tor Browser dock icon on Mac OS" problem was solved
 by using a different Info.plist for the browser app bundle that is used by
 meek.  Symlinks are used to create the second app bundle (to avoid
 duplicating all of the browser binaries).

 Unfortunately, based on code inspection, it looks like the Mozilla updater
 implementation does not support symlinks.  I will confirm next week by
 doing some testing, but assuming I am correct we will need to either:

 (1) Patch the updater code to handle symlinks.

 or

 (2) Avoid symlinks in the package (but I do not have a better idea for
 solving #11429).

 I have not yet scoped the work for (1); hopefully it will not be too much
 work.  If we always remove symlinks before applying an update, it may be
 enough to add support for a "addsymlink" verb in the update manifest.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/12647>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online