Bug 516200 - Provide a constant location for systemwide firefox default preferences
Summary: Provide a constant location for systemwide firefox default preferences
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED RAWHIDE
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: firefox
Version: 14
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
low
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Martin Stransky
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2009-08-07 12:10 UTC by Gerd v. Egidy
Modified: 2011-10-20 14:28 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2011-10-20 14:28:29 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description Gerd v. Egidy 2009-08-07 12:10:04 UTC
Description of problem:

The systemwide default preferences for firefox are currently stored in
/usr/lib(64)/firefox-<version>/defaults/preferences/
This means the directory changes with every new firefox version and there are a lot of them. 

I want to add some default values for all users of my systems. So I created a local.js file with these settings and put it into this dir. But because the location is constantly changing with the updates, I have to manually move the file on each system which is annoying.

Please move these preferences to a fixed location, either /usr/lib64/firefox/default/preferences
or somewhere below /etc, as e.g. the nss-component of firefox already does (/etc/pki/nssdb/...).

Using /etc/skel/.mozilla is not an option because this is only copied when creating an new user. I want my settings to be active for all users and want to be able to change them without the users losing their own configuration.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. install firefox rpm
2. add some local profile-settings in /usr/lib(64)/firefox-<version>/defaults/preferences/local.js
3. wait till a new version of firefox is released by fedora
4. yum update
  
Actual results:
the local settings are not active because they are now in the wrong directory

Expected results:
the local settings are still active

Comment 1 Martin Stransky 2009-08-12 12:01:02 UTC
Hm, I think the clearest solution is to create a config file at /etc/firefox/global_pref.js (or whatever) and symlink it to /usr/lib(64)/firefox-<version>/defaults/preferences/global_pref.js.

Cris, what do you think about it?

Comment 2 Rob Crittenden 2009-08-26 12:14:38 UTC
No, he wants to add his own preferences file and not have to remake it with every firefox release. Making the default preferences available in a fixed directory might be nice but a user should not change it (it'll make rpm -V fail).

Comment 3 Gerd v. Egidy 2009-08-26 15:49:55 UTC
This is how I understood Martin in Comment #1:

Create a new & empty configfile at /etc/firefox/global_pref.js.

/usr/lib(64)/firefox-<version>/defaults/preferences/global_pref.js is a symlink pointing to this /etc/firefox/global_pref.js. The rest of the default preferences are kept in separate files within /usr/lib(64)/firefox-<version>/defaults/preferences/ as they currently are.

This would be ok for me as I only have one set of preferences to add for everyone - I would add them to /etc/firefox/global_pref.js and rpm -V wouldn't complain (/etc/firefox/global_pref.js should be added with %config(noreplace) of course).

The pro of this solution is that there are minimal changes needed from the current packaging.

The cons of this solution are that you are limited to one configuration file and can't provide it with a rpm. If you would move the complete default preferences directory under /etc, I could install company-config.rpm and subsidary-config.rpm, each containing a file in /etc/firefox/preferences/ and adding the respective bits of configuration needed for the whole company or this specific subsidary.

Comment 4 Bug Zapper 2010-04-28 09:36:18 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 11 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 30 (thirty) days from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 11.  It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained.  At that time
this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora 
'version' of '11'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora version prior to Fedora 11's end of life.

Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that 
we may not be able to fix it before Fedora 11 is end of life.  If you 
would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it 
against a later version of Fedora please change the 'version' of this 
bug to the applicable version.  If you are unable to change the version, 
please add a comment here and someone will do it for you.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's 
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events.  Often a 
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes 
bugs or makes them obsolete.

The process we are following is described here: 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping

Comment 5 Rob Crittenden 2010-04-28 13:26:19 UTC
Bumped to F-12 to keep alive.

Comment 6 Bug Zapper 2010-11-04 10:34:56 UTC
This message is a reminder that Fedora 12 is nearing its end of life.
Approximately 30 (thirty) days from now Fedora will stop maintaining
and issuing updates for Fedora 12.  It is Fedora's policy to close all
bug reports from releases that are no longer maintained.  At that time
this bug will be closed as WONTFIX if it remains open with a Fedora 
'version' of '12'.

Package Maintainer: If you wish for this bug to remain open because you
plan to fix it in a currently maintained version, simply change the 'version' 
to a later Fedora version prior to Fedora 12's end of life.

Bug Reporter: Thank you for reporting this issue and we are sorry that 
we may not be able to fix it before Fedora 12 is end of life.  If you 
would still like to see this bug fixed and are able to reproduce it 
against a later version of Fedora please change the 'version' of this 
bug to the applicable version.  If you are unable to change the version, 
please add a comment here and someone will do it for you.

Although we aim to fix as many bugs as possible during every release's 
lifetime, sometimes those efforts are overtaken by events.  Often a 
more recent Fedora release includes newer upstream software that fixes 
bugs or makes them obsolete.

The process we are following is described here: 
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BugZappers/HouseKeeping

Comment 7 Gerd v. Egidy 2010-11-04 14:22:31 UTC
As of now this is still not fixed in F14.

Comment 8 Martin Stransky 2011-10-20 14:28:29 UTC
Yes, but it's fixed in F15/F16/Rawhide.


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