Firefox Patches

[Deidamia Bassiti]

I work with ubuntu, it's really annoying when firefox tells you (don't ask, tell you) that everything has stopped and you have to restart the browser, for a refresh, especially when you have multiple tabs open at work.
I am not running a manual update of ubuntu packages (I have it in manual mode) and firefox seems to do it without asking, there is also no clear way how to disable it.
I already tried some solutions from the internet: modifying the specific advanced configuration, creating a json of policies, etc.
but i think firefox should have a clear and obvious way to disable this.

One of the most significant annoyances I experience while using a web browser is when Firefox tells me it updated in the background and needs to restart. I have gone to "about:config" and toggled the auto update off but this issue continues to occur. The settings menu also doesn't have the option to disable anymore which is user-hostile design. I've hesitated going away from Firefox after using it for so many years but I am now abandoning this browser and moving to Brave.

On Windows, the choice between updating automatically and asking you when to download and install an update is still on the Settings page. Use the tiny search box on the page to find update and Firefox should show you that section. Your choice is saved outside of the profile at the global level for all profiles on your computer.

On Linux, if you installed Firefox using a package manager instead of directly from mozilla.org, the package manager can override the internal scheduling at any time, so you need to manage updates through your package manager.

Unfortunately, builds of Firefox customized for different package managers may make that feature inoperable. It is possible for Linux users to install directly from Mozilla, but I don't know whether Mozilla can influence how package managers work.

This is really a bad way to update, I was in middle of a transaction when all of a sudden Firefox hijacked my tab with message for auto update and restart, leading to crashing my transaction. This need to be designed better.

I found a possible fix on Ubuntu by first running apt-mark showmanual grep firefox and then executing apt-mark hold for every item. Will need some time to confirm if it works tho. I tried everything else, from about:config to setting policy of never updating. If this doesn't work, I'm switching to a different browser. When I test my apps in the browser it's completely unacceptable to be forced to restart without my control, losing all my debugging progress along the way.

In the old Mozilla support newsgroups and support.mozilla.org they were called "problems." In Discourse they became "issues." I see in Connect they're now called "ideas." What's the next evolution, "pipedreams"?

I suspect most users never see this update notification/reminder panel because they retain the default behavior of background updating. For those that choose the option of "Check for updates but let you choose to install them":

The severity badge would be determined by the maximum severity of a vulnerability cured in the notified version (Critical, High, Moderate, Low) -- taking into consideration cumulative patches back to the major version if the user isn't on the current major version.

Some of that sounds reasonable, especially the categorization of differences between features that are niceties and ones that are dire emergencies. There's a difference, and many of us don't want to be swept up onto the bandwagon without being asked.

I think it's essential to leave it in the hands of the user to be able to turn off all automatic updating, and (most importantly) to never nag them, ever, if they don't want to be nagged. To have to dismiss an unwanted dialog every 24 hours, every two weeks, even every month is an offense. It's my computer. It's my browser. It's my decision. It's my life. If there's a rare life-and-death security patch every 10 months or so, I'd like to hear about it. Other than that, I don't want automatic updates. That's the topic of my suggestion and I'll thank people not to distract us from it.

I keep getting these update nags. Jonathan, I don't want them every 24 hours! And the default behavior of background updates happens to be the new default. That doesn't mean it has to be what all of us want.

This should be simple: Let us turn it off forever. If you want options for compromise, that's fine, but let us have a totally discoverable way (e.g., the mind-numbingly obvious way that I propose in my mockup above) to unequivocally turn it off!

Working on Firefox, we strongly recommend working with stack of patches.Patches should be small and could be landed in the order used to push them.This also helps to breakdown the work for different reviewers.

Or just dont update them all the time. do updates every quarter and just spend 1-2 days doing it. It will keep the users from having to learn any new thing over and over again and keep complaints to a minimum.

Our Firefox installs auto-update. Luckily, we do not have any applications or sites dependent on a specific version. Every now and then, an issue does arise after an update. At that time, I figure out a fix, or roll it back to a previous version. (I keep setups of the versions).

Chrome is constantly updating too. The difference is that Chrome installs into the users profile if they do not have local admin privileges. See the following link for a brief explanation by one of the mozilla devs: Mozilla Firefox and silent updates - Future Releases

At home I use ninite pro that is scripted to run a silent update every night (the network control requires disabling UAC which I will never do). It updates Chrome, FF, winscp, notepad++ and whatever apps I have installed on that machine via ninite.

Ignore the Software Update:Manually Installing a MAR file - MozillaWiki link, I had this in a notes document from when we were deploying FF at work from a few years ago. I did not realize just how old it was (I am not sure that FF even uses MAR files any more).

We recently upgraded our Vipre antivirus from Business to Business Premium because it will also push out patches on a predetermined schedule. It patches Flash, Java, Firefox, Acrobat, Adobe Reader and several other programs. So far this has been working well and is much easier to pushing updates via GP.

I use a script on one of my servers to download the latest version of Firefox to a central location. I then use a login script to update Firefox and assign it using group policy. I have attached them in case you want to use it.

Firefox auto-update does not work here under windows 7 when installed by another user than the final main user (my main users do not have admin privileges).
My work around: I do a quick reinstall of firefox under this main user with the run as administrator. Then auto-update works!
Nevertheless I use spiceworks to check firefox (and adobe) versions periodically.

Sometimes, firefox updates in the background and then comes up with a message "Sorry. We just need to do one small thing to keep going.". I then can no longer do anything at all in Firefox until I restart - not open any new tabs nor use links in current tabs.This has cost me money as I have had this occur once while booking train tickets - after restart the ticket was no longer available at the offered price.

Without any option to change anything. Whenever I google I see many hints on how to disable updates for 7x-version numbers, and many people ask to disable updates altogether, which is not what I want.

Firefox upgdates come from the Ubuntu security repository and so are handled by unattended-upgrades. You really shouldn't delay these updates because they typically address critical security issues (see =newest&release=focal&details=firefox).

In the search box after going to about:config type in app.update and set the one for app.update.auto to false, then lower set the app.update.notifyduringdownload to true so that you know when it is going to update.

The answer by @Terrance defines another way of disabling update by modifying config variables. There is still another way of defining config variable to enable/stop app update or other things: by defining enterprise policies. The steps are outlined below.

(My problem is that there's no notification that a snap update has happened! As the new version will only be used once you close the (still working) previous one, if you keep the PC on and don't close Firefox, you'll never know there's a new version ready to use when you restart.)

Running Firefox 64bit ver.108, and for quite awhile the setings for auto update has been 'missing'. If you want to still get updates, just not automatically (asks you instead of just interrupting and forcing update at inopportune times...), then try this:

The way I was able to 'disable' the auto firefox update (still downloads, just doesn't interrupt you and install while you sit there helpless) was:open settings - type 'about:config'then type 'app.update.auto' and change the setting to 'false' (see below from documentation)

The Firefox and Tor Browser teams are long-time collaborators. The Tor Browser team builds Tor Browser by adding privacy-enhancing patches to Firefox ESR. When this process first began, the Tor Browser team would have to update these patches each time a new version of Firefox was released, which was very time intensive.

In 2016, we started the Tor Uplift project to take the Tor Browser patches and "uplift" them to Firefox. When a patch gets uplifted, the Firefox team takes the change Tor Browser needs and adds it to Firefox. These changes in Firefox are disabled by default but can be enabled in preferences. Because preferences can be changed rather than updating each patch, the Tor Uplift project saves the Tor Browser team a lot of work.

The primary targets of the Tor Uplift project were two features: First Party Isolation and Fingerprinting Resistance. First Party Isolation was shipped in Firefox 52 (off by default); the MVP of Fingerprinting Resistance will be shipped in Firefox 59 (also off by default).

c80f0f1006