Coming in Firefox 65: Dedicated Profiles Per Install and Profile Downgrade Protection

[Dave Townsend]

In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.

Why

Firefox stores all of its settings in the user’s profile and unless certain
command line arguments are used Firefox always launches with the same
profile. Periodically as Firefox upgrades it makes changes to the settings
that can render the profile unusable by earlier versions of Firefox. This
can cause anything from certain features of Firefox being broken after a
downgrade to Firefox crashing on startup.

To protect against this two new features will be landing in Nightly soon.

Dedicated Profiles Per Install

A common cause of users switching between different versions of Firefox is
having Firefox installed multiple times. This most often happens when users
have different channels installed at the same time like ESR and Release. It
is a common request to be able to run the different installs at the same
time. In Firefox 35 this was made possible for the developer edition by
giving it a dedicated profile. The new dedicated profiles per install
feature extends this and will give every install of Firefox on the computer
a dedicated profile by default.

Users will be able to run different installs of Firefox simultaneously.
Each will use a different profile for its settings. Upgrading an install of
Firefox will keep it using the same settings.

We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1474285.

Profile Downgrade Protection

For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or attempt
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.

We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1455707.

Developer Implications

As developers it is quite common to switch between different builds for
example when testing different built versions of Firefox and doing
regression testing. To support these use-cases a new command line argument
“--allow-downgrade” will allow skipping the downgrade protection.

Conclusions

While some users may be impacted by this change we believe that most users
will be unaffected and those that are will see less problems caused by
downgrades than previously. This will give us the ability to ignore the
possibility of downgrades when implementing new features and fixing bugs
going forwards. Being able to make the assumption that this code works as
designed will allow us flexibility in other changes downstream.

[Ehsan Akhgari]

These are fantastic changes, I'm very excited to see we're finally tackling
these hard problems. Thanks a lot to everyone who helped make them happen.

Post by Dave Townsend
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.
Why
Firefox stores all of its settings in the user’s profile and unless
certain command line arguments are used Firefox always launches with the
same profile. Periodically as Firefox upgrades it makes changes to the
settings that can render the profile unusable by earlier versions of
Firefox. This can cause anything from certain features of Firefox being
broken after a downgrade to Firefox crashing on startup.
To protect against this two new features will be landing in Nightly soon.
Dedicated Profiles Per Install
A common cause of users switching between different versions of Firefox is
having Firefox installed multiple times. This most often happens when users
have different channels installed at the same time like ESR and Release. It
is a common request to be able to run the different installs at the same
time. In Firefox 35 this was made possible for the developer edition by
giving it a dedicated profile. The new dedicated profiles per install
feature extends this and will give every install of Firefox on the computer
a dedicated profile by default.
Users will be able to run different installs of Firefox simultaneously.
Each will use a different profile for its settings. Upgrading an install of
Firefox will keep it using the same settings.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1474285.
Profile Downgrade Protection
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or attempt
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1455707.
Developer Implications
As developers it is quite common to switch between different builds for
example when testing different built versions of Firefox and doing
regression testing. To support these use-cases a new command line argument
“--allow-downgrade” will allow skipping the downgrade protection.
Conclusions
While some users may be impacted by this change we believe that most users
will be unaffected and those that are will see less problems caused by
downgrades than previously. This will give us the ability to ignore the
possibility of downgrades when implementing new features and fixing bugs
going forwards. Being able to make the assumption that this code works as
designed will allow us flexibility in other changes downstream.
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Tom Ritter]

Awesome!

Post by Dave Townsend
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or attempt
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.

If you have multiple channels installed, and have them all start with
-P for profile selection, it seems like this downgrade protection
mechanism might trigger if you select the wrong profile for the
channel you started. That would lead to confusion.

Maybe we could detect if the user started with -P, and if so change
the error message to intelligently guide the user in that case?

-tom

[Dave Townsend]

Post by Tom Ritter
Awesome!

Post by Dave Townsend
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or

attempt

Post by Dave Townsend
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.

If you have multiple channels installed, and have them all start with
-P for profile selection, it seems like this downgrade protection
mechanism might trigger if you select the wrong profile for the
channel you started. That would lead to confusion.

Well one benefit of these changes is that you wouldn't need to run with -P
any longer, each installed channel will be able to have its own default
profile. And throwing a warning when you try to open your nightly profile
with beta is definitely intended.

Post by Tom Ritter
Maybe we could detect if the user started with -P, and if so change
the error message to intelligently guide the user in that case?

Guide them in what way?

[Tom Ritter]

Post by Tom Ritter

Post by Dave Townsend
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or attempt
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.

If you have multiple channels installed, and have them all start with
-P for profile selection, it seems like this downgrade protection
mechanism might trigger if you select the wrong profile for the
channel you started. That would lead to confusion.

Well one benefit of these changes is that you wouldn't need to run with -P any longer, each installed channel will be able to have its own default profile. And throwing a warning when you try to open your nightly profile with beta is definitely intended.

Well, if all you're using -P for is to separate profiles-by-channels,
then yea you can get rid of it, but one might have multiple
profiles/per channel.

(And yea, the warning in that case is definitely intended.)

Post by Tom Ritter
Maybe we could detect if the user started with -P, and if so change
the error message to intelligently guide the user in that case?

Guide them in what way?

Instead of saying "The profile is too new to use with this Firefox.
Create a new profile or Quit" maybe something like "The profile is too
new to use with this Firefox. Restart and choose a different profile
or Create a new profile"

-tom

[mhoye]

------ Original Message ------
From: "Dave Townsend" <***@mozilla.com>
To: "dev-platform" <dev-***@lists.mozilla.org>; "Firefox Dev"
<firefox-***@mozilla.org>
Sent: 2018-10-18 3:32:36 PM
Subject: Coming in Firefox 65: Dedicated Profiles Per Install and
Profile Downgrade Protection

Post by Dave Townsend
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.

This has been a serious problem from a community participation
perspective for a while now. Making it safe and easy to flip back and
forth between versions of Firefox will make casual participation in
testing and QA, among many other things, hugely easier and more
accessible; I'm quite grateful that we're doing this work.


- mhoye

[bruno ais]

When creating a new profile to accomodate the downgrade, is the previous
data deleted? Are there options to keep the old profile for just in case or
selecting to use a new profile cleans the old one completely?

Post by mhoye
------ Original Message ------
Sent: 2018-10-18 3:32:36 PM
Subject: Coming in Firefox 65: Dedicated Profiles Per Install and Profile
Downgrade Protection
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.
This has been a serious problem from a community participation perspective
for a while now. Making it safe and easy to flip back and forth between
versions of Firefox will make casual participation in testing and QA, among
many other things, hugely easier and more accessible; I'm quite grateful
that we're doing this work.
- mhoye
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Dave Townsend]

The new profile will be clean and empty. Since we know the previous profile
is from a newer version of Firefox there isn't a way to copy its data
without running the same risks as current downgrades. Users can use Firefox
Sync if they want to share data between profiles. The old profile is not
deleted though.

Post by bruno ais
When creating a new profile to accomodate the downgrade, is the previous
data deleted? Are there options to keep the old profile for just in case or
selecting to use a new profile cleans the old one completely?

Post by mhoye
------ Original Message ------
Sent: 2018-10-18 3:32:36 PM
Subject: Coming in Firefox 65: Dedicated Profiles Per Install and Profile
Downgrade Protection
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.
This has been a serious problem from a community participation
perspective for a while now. Making it safe and easy to flip back and forth
between versions of Firefox will make casual participation in testing and
QA, among many other things, hugely easier and more accessible; I'm quite
grateful that we're doing this work.
- mhoye
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[bruno ais]

The old profile is not deleted though.

Ok, thanks.That's what I wanted to confirm.

The new profile will be clean and empty. Since we know the previous
profile is from a newer version of Firefox there isn't a way to copy its
data without running the same risks as current downgrades. Users can use
Firefox Sync if they want to share data between profiles. The old profile
is not deleted though.

Post by bruno ais
When creating a new profile to accomodate the downgrade, is the previous
data deleted? Are there options to keep the old profile for just in case or
selecting to use a new profile cleans the old one completely?

Post by mhoye
------ Original Message ------
Sent: 2018-10-18 3:32:36 PM
Subject: Coming in Firefox 65: Dedicated Profiles Per Install and
Profile Downgrade Protection
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.
This has been a serious problem from a community participation
perspective for a while now. Making it safe and easy to flip back and forth
between versions of Firefox will make casual participation in testing and
QA, among many other things, hugely easier and more accessible; I'm quite
grateful that we're doing this work.
- mhoye
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Mike Hommey]

Post by Dave Townsend
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.
Why
Firefox stores all of its settings in the user$B!G(Bs profile and unless certain
command line arguments are used Firefox always launches with the same
profile. Periodically as Firefox upgrades it makes changes to the settings
that can render the profile unusable by earlier versions of Firefox. This
can cause anything from certain features of Firefox being broken after a
downgrade to Firefox crashing on startup.
To protect against this two new features will be landing in Nightly soon.
Dedicated Profiles Per Install
A common cause of users switching between different versions of Firefox is
having Firefox installed multiple times. This most often happens when users
have different channels installed at the same time like ESR and Release. It
is a common request to be able to run the different installs at the same
time. In Firefox 35 this was made possible for the developer edition by
giving it a dedicated profile. The new dedicated profiles per install
feature extends this and will give every install of Firefox on the computer
a dedicated profile by default.
Users will be able to run different installs of Firefox simultaneously.
Each will use a different profile for its settings. Upgrading an install of
Firefox will keep it using the same settings.
We$B!G(Bre tracking work on this feature in bug 1474285.
Profile Downgrade Protection
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or attempt
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.
We$B!G(Bre tracking work on this feature in bug 1455707.
Developer Implications
As developers it is quite common to switch between different builds for
example when testing different built versions of Firefox and doing
regression testing. To support these use-cases a new command line argument
$B!H(B--allow-downgrade$B!I(B will allow skipping the downgrade protection.
Conclusions
While some users may be impacted by this change we believe that most users
will be unaffected and those that are will see less problems caused by
downgrades than previously. This will give us the ability to ignore the
possibility of downgrades when implementing new features and fixing bugs
going forwards. Being able to make the assumption that this code works as
designed will allow us flexibility in other changes downstream.

Does this also mean we can actively remove old data from profiles after
this work lands? My profile is very old, and there is a non-negligible
amount of data that has accumulated that's just leftover from old data
formats that have changed and are now stored in different files. We've
never cleaned those up presumably to support downgrades. It seems to me
with downgrades officially being unsupported, we should have an active
policy of removing old profile data when we migrate to new formats.

Mike

[Dave Townsend]

Post by Dave Townsend

Post by Dave Townsend
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of

Firefox.

Post by Dave Townsend
Why
Firefox stores all of its settings in the user’s profile and unless

certain

Post by Dave Townsend
command line arguments are used Firefox always launches with the same
profile. Periodically as Firefox upgrades it makes changes to the

settings

Post by Dave Townsend
that can render the profile unusable by earlier versions of Firefox. This
can cause anything from certain features of Firefox being broken after a
downgrade to Firefox crashing on startup.
To protect against this two new features will be landing in Nightly soon.
Dedicated Profiles Per Install
A common cause of users switching between different versions of Firefox

is

Post by Dave Townsend
having Firefox installed multiple times. This most often happens when

users

Post by Dave Townsend
have different channels installed at the same time like ESR and Release.

It

Post by Dave Townsend
is a common request to be able to run the different installs at the same
time. In Firefox 35 this was made possible for the developer edition by
giving it a dedicated profile. The new dedicated profiles per install
feature extends this and will give every install of Firefox on the

computer

Post by Dave Townsend
a dedicated profile by default.
Users will be able to run different installs of Firefox simultaneously.
Each will use a different profile for its settings. Upgrading an install

of

Post by Dave Townsend
Firefox will keep it using the same settings.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1474285.
Profile Downgrade Protection
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or attempt
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1455707.
Developer Implications
As developers it is quite common to switch between different builds for
example when testing different built versions of Firefox and doing
regression testing. To support these use-cases a new command line

argument

Post by Dave Townsend
“--allow-downgrade” will allow skipping the downgrade protection.
Conclusions
While some users may be impacted by this change we believe that most

users

Post by Dave Townsend
will be unaffected and those that are will see less problems caused by
downgrades than previously. This will give us the ability to ignore the
possibility of downgrades when implementing new features and fixing bugs
going forwards. Being able to make the assumption that this code works as
designed will allow us flexibility in other changes downstream.

Does this also mean we can actively remove old data from profiles after
this work lands? My profile is very old, and there is a non-negligible
amount of data that has accumulated that's just leftover from old data
formats that have changed and are now stored in different files. We've
never cleaned those up presumably to support downgrades. It seems to me
with downgrades officially being unsupported, we should have an active
policy of removing old profile data when we migrate to new formats.

I certainly think so. What's more we can be more proactive about not
leaving that stuff around going forwards.

[bruno ais]

Can firefox be setup to make profile backups before each update? I
certainly wouldn't like having a surprise update to the degree of firefox
57 (which thankfully I was ready for) and then lose everything I had setup
just because firefox updated.

Post by Dave Townsend

Post by Dave Townsend

Post by Dave Townsend
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of

Firefox.

Post by Dave Townsend
Why
Firefox stores all of its settings in the user’s profile and unless

certain

Post by Dave Townsend
command line arguments are used Firefox always launches with the same
profile. Periodically as Firefox upgrades it makes changes to the

settings

Post by Dave Townsend
that can render the profile unusable by earlier versions of Firefox.

This

Post by Dave Townsend
can cause anything from certain features of Firefox being broken after a
downgrade to Firefox crashing on startup.
To protect against this two new features will be landing in Nightly

soon.

Post by Dave Townsend
Dedicated Profiles Per Install
A common cause of users switching between different versions of Firefox

is

Post by Dave Townsend
having Firefox installed multiple times. This most often happens when

users

Post by Dave Townsend
have different channels installed at the same time like ESR and

Release. It

Post by Dave Townsend
is a common request to be able to run the different installs at the same
time. In Firefox 35 this was made possible for the developer edition by
giving it a dedicated profile. The new dedicated profiles per install
feature extends this and will give every install of Firefox on the

computer

Post by Dave Townsend
a dedicated profile by default.
Users will be able to run different installs of Firefox simultaneously.
Each will use a different profile for its settings. Upgrading an

install of

Post by Dave Townsend
Firefox will keep it using the same settings.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1474285.
Profile Downgrade Protection
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or

attempt

Post by Dave Townsend
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1455707.
Developer Implications
As developers it is quite common to switch between different builds for
example when testing different built versions of Firefox and doing
regression testing. To support these use-cases a new command line

argument

Post by Dave Townsend
“--allow-downgrade” will allow skipping the downgrade protection.
Conclusions
While some users may be impacted by this change we believe that most

users

Post by Dave Townsend
will be unaffected and those that are will see less problems caused by
downgrades than previously. This will give us the ability to ignore the
possibility of downgrades when implementing new features and fixing bugs
going forwards. Being able to make the assumption that this code works

as

Post by Dave Townsend
designed will allow us flexibility in other changes downstream.

Does this also mean we can actively remove old data from profiles after
this work lands? My profile is very old, and there is a non-negligible
amount of data that has accumulated that's just leftover from old data
formats that have changed and are now stored in different files. We've
never cleaned those up presumably to support downgrades. It seems to me
with downgrades officially being unsupported, we should have an active
policy of removing old profile data when we migrate to new formats.

I certainly think so. What's more we can be more proactive about not
leaving that stuff around going forwards.
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Michael Verdi]

Is there a way migrate data from one profile to another? We occasionally
run user tests and ask people to install beta or nightly so that they can
test a feature with their current data (bookmarks, history, preferences,
etc). Will Firefox show up in the import wizard?
Thanks,
Michael

[Eric Shepherd (Sheppy)]

Michael,

Should be able to just enable sync in each copy of Firefox and sync the items you need across profiles that way. Is that good enough?


--
Eric Shepherd
Senior Technical Writer
MDN Web Docs
https://developer.mozilla.org/

Is there a way migrate data from one profile to another? We occasionally run user tests and ask people to install beta or nightly so that they can test a feature with their current data (bookmarks, history, preferences, etc). Will Firefox show up in the import wizard?
Thanks,
Michael
--
Michael Verdi • Firefox Search UX • Slack: verdi
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[bruno ais]

Can sharing with firefox sync be done just one way?

On Tue, Oct 23, 2018 at 3:18 PM Eric Shepherd (Sheppy) <

Post by Eric Shepherd (Sheppy)
Michael,
Should be able to just enable sync in each copy of Firefox and sync the
items you need across profiles that way. Is that good enough?
--
Eric Shepherd
Senior Technical Writer
MDN Web Docs
https://developer.mozilla.org/
Is there a way migrate data from one profile to another? We occasionally
run user tests and ask people to install beta or nightly so that they can
test a feature with their current data (bookmarks, history, preferences,
etc). Will Firefox show up in the import wizard?
Thanks,
Michael
--
Michael Verdi • Firefox Search UX • Slack: verdi
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Eric Shepherd (Sheppy)]

No… although you could turn sync off again after the initial sync is complete, I guess.


--
Eric Shepherd
Senior Technical Writer
MDN Web Docs
https://developer.mozilla.org/

Post by bruno ais
Can sharing with firefox sync be done just one way?

Post by Eric Shepherd (Sheppy)
Michael,
Should be able to just enable sync in each copy of Firefox and sync the items you need across profiles that way. Is that good enough?
--
Eric Shepherd
Senior Technical Writer
MDN Web Docs
https://developer.mozilla.org/

Is there a way migrate data from one profile to another? We occasionally run user tests and ask people to install beta or nightly so that they can test a feature with their current data (bookmarks, history, preferences, etc). Will Firefox show up in the import wizard?
Thanks,
Michael
--
Michael Verdi • Firefox Search UX • Slack: verdi
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Michael Verdi]

No - sync is too complicated for a 15 minute test.

On Tue, Oct 23, 2018 at 9:21 AM Eric Shepherd (Sheppy) <

Post by Eric Shepherd (Sheppy)
No… although you could turn sync off again after the initial sync is complete, I guess.
--
Eric Shepherd
Senior Technical Writer
MDN Web Docs
https://developer.mozilla.org/
Can sharing with firefox sync be done just one way?
On Tue, Oct 23, 2018 at 3:18 PM Eric Shepherd (Sheppy) <

Post by Eric Shepherd (Sheppy)
Michael,
Should be able to just enable sync in each copy of Firefox and sync the
items you need across profiles that way. Is that good enough?
--
Eric Shepherd
Senior Technical Writer
MDN Web Docs
https://developer.mozilla.org/
Is there a way migrate data from one profile to another? We occasionally
run user tests and ask people to install beta or nightly so that they can
test a feature with their current data (bookmarks, history, preferences,
etc). Will Firefox show up in the import wizard?
Thanks,
Michael
--
Michael Verdi • Firefox Search UX • Slack: verdi
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Dave Townsend]

Not currently no.

Post by bruno ais
Can firefox be setup to make profile backups before each update? I
certainly wouldn't like having a surprise update to the degree of firefox
57 (which thankfully I was ready for) and then lose everything I had setup
just because firefox updated.

Post by Dave Townsend

Post by Dave Townsend

Post by Dave Townsend
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of

Firefox.

Post by Dave Townsend
Why
Firefox stores all of its settings in the user’s profile and unless

certain

Post by Dave Townsend
command line arguments are used Firefox always launches with the same
profile. Periodically as Firefox upgrades it makes changes to the

settings

Post by Dave Townsend
that can render the profile unusable by earlier versions of Firefox.

This

Post by Dave Townsend
can cause anything from certain features of Firefox being broken after

a

Post by Dave Townsend
downgrade to Firefox crashing on startup.
To protect against this two new features will be landing in Nightly

soon.

Post by Dave Townsend
Dedicated Profiles Per Install
A common cause of users switching between different versions of

Firefox is

Post by Dave Townsend
having Firefox installed multiple times. This most often happens when

users

Post by Dave Townsend
have different channels installed at the same time like ESR and

Release. It

Post by Dave Townsend
is a common request to be able to run the different installs at the

same

Post by Dave Townsend
time. In Firefox 35 this was made possible for the developer edition by
giving it a dedicated profile. The new dedicated profiles per install
feature extends this and will give every install of Firefox on the

computer

Post by Dave Townsend
a dedicated profile by default.
Users will be able to run different installs of Firefox simultaneously.
Each will use a different profile for its settings. Upgrading an

install of

Post by Dave Townsend
Firefox will keep it using the same settings.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1474285.
Profile Downgrade Protection
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or

attempt

Post by Dave Townsend
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1455707.
Developer Implications
As developers it is quite common to switch between different builds for
example when testing different built versions of Firefox and doing
regression testing. To support these use-cases a new command line

argument

Post by Dave Townsend
“--allow-downgrade” will allow skipping the downgrade protection.
Conclusions
While some users may be impacted by this change we believe that most

users

Post by Dave Townsend
will be unaffected and those that are will see less problems caused by
downgrades than previously. This will give us the ability to ignore the
possibility of downgrades when implementing new features and fixing

bugs

Post by Dave Townsend
going forwards. Being able to make the assumption that this code works

as

Post by Dave Townsend
designed will allow us flexibility in other changes downstream.

Does this also mean we can actively remove old data from profiles after
this work lands? My profile is very old, and there is a non-negligible
amount of data that has accumulated that's just leftover from old data
formats that have changed and are now stored in different files. We've
never cleaned those up presumably to support downgrades. It seems to me
with downgrades officially being unsupported, we should have an active
policy of removing old profile data when we migrate to new formats.

I certainly think so. What's more we can be more proactive about not
leaving that stuff around going forwards.
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Michael Verdi]

Dave could there be a way/option to migrate safe data to the new profile
similar to what we do with a refresh?

Post by Dave Townsend
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.
Why
Firefox stores all of its settings in the user’s profile and unless
certain command line arguments are used Firefox always launches with the
same profile. Periodically as Firefox upgrades it makes changes to the
settings that can render the profile unusable by earlier versions of
Firefox. This can cause anything from certain features of Firefox being
broken after a downgrade to Firefox crashing on startup.
To protect against this two new features will be landing in Nightly soon.
Dedicated Profiles Per Install
A common cause of users switching between different versions of Firefox is
having Firefox installed multiple times. This most often happens when users
have different channels installed at the same time like ESR and Release. It
is a common request to be able to run the different installs at the same
time. In Firefox 35 this was made possible for the developer edition by
giving it a dedicated profile. The new dedicated profiles per install
feature extends this and will give every install of Firefox on the computer
a dedicated profile by default.
Users will be able to run different installs of Firefox simultaneously.
Each will use a different profile for its settings. Upgrading an install of
Firefox will keep it using the same settings.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1474285.
Profile Downgrade Protection
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or attempt
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1455707.
Developer Implications
As developers it is quite common to switch between different builds for
example when testing different built versions of Firefox and doing
regression testing. To support these use-cases a new command line argument
“--allow-downgrade” will allow skipping the downgrade protection.
Conclusions
While some users may be impacted by this change we believe that most users
will be unaffected and those that are will see less problems caused by
downgrades than previously. This will give us the ability to ignore the
possibility of downgrades when implementing new features and fixing bugs
going forwards. Being able to make the assumption that this code works as
designed will allow us flexibility in other changes downstream.
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Matthew N.]

Our current Firefox migrator (used for a Firefox Refresh) just copies files
so wouldn't be suitable for a downgrade scenario as it could introduce
problems that we're trying to avoid with this approach. We could rewrite it
to be more like other migrators where it would read individual records from
the old profile and then insert them into the new file/DB but that would be
a fair amount of work.

For the case of testing a newer version like you mentioned (going from
Release to Beta or Nightly), copying the files should be safe and so you
could use the `-migration` command line option to migrate from the old
profile to the new one. There is no UI for this so you'd want to provide a
.bat file for the user to run your testing Firefox build with the command
line argument. We've done similar things for user testing
<https://github.com/bgrins/firefox-user-testing-helpers> before.

Cheers,
Matthew

Post by Michael Verdi
Dave could there be a way/option to migrate safe data to the new profile
similar to what we do with a refresh?

Post by Dave Townsend
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.
Why
Firefox stores all of its settings in the user’s profile and unless
certain command line arguments are used Firefox always launches with the
same profile. Periodically as Firefox upgrades it makes changes to the
settings that can render the profile unusable by earlier versions of
Firefox. This can cause anything from certain features of Firefox being
broken after a downgrade to Firefox crashing on startup.
To protect against this two new features will be landing in Nightly soon.
Dedicated Profiles Per Install
A common cause of users switching between different versions of Firefox
is having Firefox installed multiple times. This most often happens when
users have different channels installed at the same time like ESR and
Release. It is a common request to be able to run the different installs at
the same time. In Firefox 35 this was made possible for the developer
edition by giving it a dedicated profile. The new dedicated profiles per
install feature extends this and will give every install of Firefox on the
computer a dedicated profile by default.
Users will be able to run different installs of Firefox simultaneously.
Each will use a different profile for its settings. Upgrading an install of
Firefox will keep it using the same settings.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1474285.
Profile Downgrade Protection
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or attempt
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1455707.
Developer Implications
As developers it is quite common to switch between different builds for
example when testing different built versions of Firefox and doing
regression testing. To support these use-cases a new command line argument
“--allow-downgrade” will allow skipping the downgrade protection.
Conclusions
While some users may be impacted by this change we believe that most
users will be unaffected and those that are will see less problems caused
by downgrades than previously. This will give us the ability to ignore the
possibility of downgrades when implementing new features and fixing bugs
going forwards. Being able to make the assumption that this code works as
designed will allow us flexibility in other changes downstream.
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

--
Michael Verdi • Firefox Search UX • Slack: verdi
_______________________________________________
firefox-dev mailing list
https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/firefox-dev

[Dave Townsend]

Just a heads up, we've decided to defer this change to a later release to
make sure we get the experience right for our users. I'll post another
update once we have a better idea of when this will land.

Post by Dave Townsend
In Firefox 65 we intend to ship two new features to help prevent user
frustration caused by using profiles created by newer versions of Firefox.
Why
Firefox stores all of its settings in the user’s profile and unless
certain command line arguments are used Firefox always launches with the
same profile. Periodically as Firefox upgrades it makes changes to the
settings that can render the profile unusable by earlier versions of
Firefox. This can cause anything from certain features of Firefox being
broken after a downgrade to Firefox crashing on startup.
To protect against this two new features will be landing in Nightly soon.
Dedicated Profiles Per Install
A common cause of users switching between different versions of Firefox is
having Firefox installed multiple times. This most often happens when users
have different channels installed at the same time like ESR and Release. It
is a common request to be able to run the different installs at the same
time. In Firefox 35 this was made possible for the developer edition by
giving it a dedicated profile. The new dedicated profiles per install
feature extends this and will give every install of Firefox on the computer
a dedicated profile by default.
Users will be able to run different installs of Firefox simultaneously.
Each will use a different profile for its settings. Upgrading an install of
Firefox will keep it using the same settings.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1474285.
Profile Downgrade Protection
For cases where users manually downgrade an install of Firefox or attempt
to forcefully use an older version of Firefox with a newer profile the
profile downgrade protection feature will now tell the user that the
profile is too new to use with this Firefox giving them the option to
create a new profile to use or to quit.
We’re tracking work on this feature in bug 1455707.
Developer Implications
As developers it is quite common to switch between different builds for
example when testing different built versions of Firefox and doing
regression testing. To support these use-cases a new command line argument
“--allow-downgrade” will allow skipping the downgrade protection.
Conclusions
While some users may be impacted by this change we believe that most users
will be unaffected and those that are will see less problems caused by
downgrades than previously. This will give us the ability to ignore the
possibility of downgrades when implementing new features and fixing bugs
going forwards. Being able to make the assumption that this code works as
designed will allow us flexibility in other changes downstream.