Don't ask me to restart Firefox when it's not running

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

Binary package hint: update-notifier

Ubuntu Feisty, all updates installed

When the latest updates finished installing, I was presented with a notification bubble inviting me to click on an icon to open an alert. (This was already a waste of time -- why not just open the alert?)

The alert said: "Firefox restart required. Firefox has been upgraded (or reinstalled) and must be restarted. Please quit and restart your web browser now."

It was impossible for me to do this, because Firefox wasn't running at the time. Ubuntu should be smart enough not to ask me to restart things that aren't running.

[Eddie M. (eddiemartinez)]

I'm not sure if this is a bug or if this belongs on the wishlist. The way I see it, the Feisty update *SHOULD* change how Firefox runs, if only slighty. That would make it an upgrade/reinstall. I also don't see any indication that there is a problem with Firefox running after the message, if that is the case, please attach more info. Filing this under 'needs more info'.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

I have no problem (well, very little problem) with Firefox needing to be restarted if it is running. I also have had no problem with Firefox since the update. The problem I have is, as I said, that "Ubuntu should be smart enough not to ask me to restart things that aren't running".

[Michael Vogt (mvo)]

Reassigning to firefox, its that postinst that generates the note.

The notes support scripts in "DisplayIf: shell-command" (see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/InteractiveUpgradeHooks) that might be a solution for the problem.

Thanks,
 Michael

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 09:16:04AM -0000, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> You have been subscribed to a public bug:
>
> Binary package hint: update-notifier
>
> Ubuntu Feisty, all updates installed
>
> When the latest updates finished installing, I was presented with a
> notification bubble inviting me to click on an icon to open an alert.
> (This was already a waste of time -- why not just open the alert?)
>
> The alert said: "Firefox restart required. Firefox has been upgraded (or
> reinstalled) and must be restarted. Please quit and restart your web
> browser now."
>
> It was impossible for me to do this, because Firefox wasn't running at
> the time. Ubuntu should be smart enough not to ask me to restart things
> that aren't running.
>

You only get asked if there is a firefox-bin process running. So in
case you run on a host with multiple users logged in firefox-bin might
still be running.

 - Alexander

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

I was the only user logged in, and just to make sure, I did "ps aux | grep firefox" immediately after the alert appeared, and nothing showed up (except the grep itself).

I might have had Epiphany running, though, I don't remember. Could that have caused the problem?

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 10:31:55PM -0000, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> I was the only user logged in, and just to make sure, I did "ps aux |
> grep firefox" immediately after the alert appeared, and nothing showed
> up (except the grep itself).
>
> I might have had Epiphany running, though, I don't remember. Could that
> have caused the problem?
>

No that should not matter as in .postinst:

unud=/var/lib/update-notifier/user.d

if pgrep firefox-bin >/dev/null 2>&1 && test -d $unud; then
    cp -f /usr/share/firefox/firefox-restart-required.update-notifier
    \
        "$unud/firefox-restart-required"
fi

so as long as there is no firefox-bin process the file will not get
copied over ... can you reproduce? e.g. by reinstalling?

 - Alexander

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering is this still an issue for you? Can you try with latest Ubuntu release? Thanks in advance.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

This is a bug that most likely woint get fixed in Firefox-2.0. Marking as wont-fix for now and if Alexander can confirm this isnt already fixed and thinks Mozilla or Us should fix this it should be reopened than but due to lack of activity and this bug not likely getting a fix if it hasnt already im marking wontfix
However i have seen bug that Firefox-3.0 spawns more than one firefox process that you have to KILL or it produces that error message about close firefox first.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Just to explain the "lack of activity": This bug is about what happens when a Firefox update is installed in Ubuntu. In the 11 hours, 41 minutes, and 52 seconds between the time Jean-Baptiste asked me to try with the latest release and the time John marked the report as Won't Fix, there were no Firefox updates issued for Ubuntu 8.04. Maybe that's because it was a Saturday.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Matthew, Firefox-2 wont see much of anything in the way or UI fixes,or any other non extreme from upstream. Now as for this bug if Alexander decides to fix this on his own than he is free to do that. I will ping him when i finish my email and see if this is something he feels like fixing.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

John, the current release of Ubuntu ships with Firefox 3.0b5, not 2. In the absence of any concrete evidence that it was fixed in Firefox 3, I don't think it's appropriate to assume that it affects only Firefox 2. And since the bug isn't even reproducible yet, I don't think it's appropriate to nag a package maintainer about fixing it.

I will test whether this problem recurs when 3.0b5 is updated to 3.0. If there is any quicker way for me to test the update procedure without waiting for successive Firefox updates from ubuntu.com, I'll be delighted to try that sooner.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> John, the current release of Ubuntu ships with Firefox 3.0b5, not 2. In
> the absence of any concrete evidence that it was fixed in Firefox 3, I
> don't think it's appropriate to assume that it affects only Firefox 2.
> And since the bug isn't even reproducible yet, I don't think it's
> appropriate to nag a package maintainer about fixing it.
>
> I will test whether this problem recurs when 3.0b5 is updated to 3.0. If
> there is any quicker way for me to test the update procedure without
> waiting for successive Firefox updates from ubuntu.com, I'll be
> delighted to try that sooner.
>
As of a few days ago Hardy has RC1 in -proposed and should be pushed out
soon since the testing has been done. This bug is reported against
firefox 2 that is why i assumed it was 2.0 as well as the first reporter
states it is seen in Feisty also didnt have Ffox3.0 I also dont see
anywher ein gbug report that you upgraded to a newer version of Ubuntu
nor Ffox. Please update the bug with most current information including
steps to reproduce. I will go ahead and add 3.0 task and i will nominate
firfox 2

--
Sincerely Yours,
     John Vivirito

https://launchpad.net/~gnomefreak
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JohnVivirito
Linux User# 414246

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

That this bug hasn't yet been reproduced in 3.0b5 does not mean it should be fixed in 2.0 only. (It hasn't yet been reproduced in 2.0 either!) Besides, it would make very little sense to fix a minor problem with installing updates in a version that is unlikely to receive many future updates anyway.

If this bug still exists, it should be fixed not in 2.0 specifically, or 3.0 specifically, but in whatever the latest version of Firefox happens to be at the time it's fixed. So it's appropriate for it to be filed against firefox, which "is a meta package that will point to the latest firefox package in ubuntu", and not against firefox-3.0.

I look forward to testing with 3.0RC1.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Wed, Jun 04, 2008 at 10:21:24AM -0000, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> That this bug hasn't yet been reproduced in 3.0b5 does not mean it
> should be fixed in 2.0 only. (It hasn't yet been reproduced in 2.0
> either!) Besides, it would make very little sense to fix a minor problem
> with installing updates in a version that is unlikely to receive many
> future updates anyway.
>
> If this bug still exists, it should be fixed not in 2.0 specifically, or
> 3.0 specifically, but in whatever the latest version of Firefox happens
> to be at the time it's fixed. So it's appropriate for it to be filed
> against firefox, which "is a meta package that will point to the latest
> firefox package in ubuntu", and not against firefox-3.0.
>
> I look forward to testing with 3.0RC1.
>
> ** Changed in: firefox-3.0 (Ubuntu)
> Status: Incomplete => Invalid
>

Launchpad is quite confusing here. technically, the firefox meta
package is currently produced by the firefox-3.0 source package. thus,
since launchpad uses source packages to associate bugs, firefox-3.0 is
the current target for the latest firefox and firefox is firefox
2. This will change ones firefox 2 is gone long enough and when i can
put the meta package into the firefox package again.

Anyway, for now please adjust the state accordingly.

 - Alexander

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

The problem did not recur when upgrading from 3.0b5 to 3.0.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 07:01:00AM -0000, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> The problem did not recur when upgrading from 3.0b5 to 3.0.
>
> ** Changed in: firefox (Ubuntu)
> Status: Incomplete => Invalid
>

Thanks for the follow up mpt.

 - Alexander