Make "Automatically Install Updates" more streamlined

[__NM64__]

most people want the extra prompts and confirmation (which you won't get otherwise)

Well that's kind of what the "Check for updates, but let me choose whether to install them" setting is for is it not?

In fact Pale Moon defaults to "Check for updates", so the only way to have "Automatic Updates" is if the user had manually gone into the settings and selected it - if the user did that, then clearly they wanted less prompts.

[Moonchild]

Well that's kind of what the "Check for updates, but let me choose whether to install them" setting is for is it not?

No, because the internal updater would automatically download updates marked "minor", and auto-download is not desired by a good number of people. This is why I mark most "major", and only mark ones "minor" that are small point updates to fix bugs but otherwise don't have a chance of causing issues.

In any case, the auto-update handling should be fixed server-side now.

EDIT: I checked the page again on MDN, https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/doc ... ate_server - which has not been updated, and the information about the contents of the update XML file is incorrect, which I had to find out the hard way by dissecting the .jsm in the source code Thank you, Mozilla, for having incorrect essential documentation that should have been updated years ago

[__NM64__]

Just tested in full-on non-portable Pale Moon and it works.

....though it's actually a bit more automatic than I expected. It tells you there's an update, but it doesn't require any user interaction at all; even the update notification goes away automatically.

It's not a problem though; like I said before, if the user wants it less automatic then they wouldn't have selected the "Automatic Updates" option in the first place.

Now to test how Portable Pale Moon reacts...

EDIT: Yep, it even works in Portable Pale Moon. Problem solved, case closed.

EDIT 2: Err... kinda. Am I supposed to wait around for like 50 minutes for the update notification to appear? Not only that, but clicking the update notification itself seemed to have made the update kind of go borky... I'll try to test it more in-depth tomorrow.

[Moonchild]

Automatic updates are supposed to be automatic, right? You can expect no prompts if the user account running has the rights to install the update. And it will be completed when you next start the browser.

The "waiting" time is because it's a background update. It's not supposed to be done immediately (to lower strain on update servers, etc.) and will download on a piecemeal basis to not interfere with active browsing. The notification won't pop up until the download has been completed. After you see that, a simple restart should be enough to complete it; you don't have to click it.

[__NM64__]

you don't have to click it.

Already aware of this, but testing these kinds of things out is how bug-testing works does it not?

[Moonchild]

you don't have to click it.

Already aware of this, but testing these kinds of things out is how bug-testing works does it not?

Well, if you can come up with a better description than "kind of borky", I can maybe look into it That's also how bug-testing works.

[__NM64__]

Well, if you can come up with a better description than "kind of borky", I can maybe look into it

And I already said I would look into it deeper tomorrow, which would be today - I've only been awake for an hour, and I am not a morning person.

[Moonchild]

Well, have some coffee and take your time. It's midnight here, so, I'm not going to be doing any more "mooning" today.

[__NM64__]

It's not supposed to be done immediately (to lower strain on update servers, etc.) and will download on a piecemeal basis to not interfere with active browsing.

Even though I left the browser alone for the entirety of that time?

Anyway, I've tested it and I got it figured out. Just to clarify, the color scheme in the following screenshots is because I'm using the "high contrast" Windows theme and Pale Moon (like Firefox) forces its own high contrast theme with no way to seemingly disable it. (if there is a way to disable it in Pale Moon without disabling it in Windows, may I ask how to do so?)

When you click the link on the following notification



You get the following in normal non-portable Pale Moon, and everything is fine.





When you click the same link in the update notification popup in Portable Pale Moon, you get the following



If you click OK, you get the following



And it'll stay with that exact screen seemingly without any progress. If I click Hide and restart the browser, Portable Pale Moon will still not be updated.


Now of course, if I did not click the link in the update notification popup, then restarting Portable Pale Moon will indeed install the update.

[Moonchild]

Background updates are really meant for background operation. So yes, it can take quite a while before it's done, depending on a multitude of factors. Anything else gets priority, and not actively doing anything in the browser may also increase the time needed since the connection pool goes idle.

Thanks for giving a clear description -- I think it may be because the portable doesn't have a staging area and gets confused as a result when you try to trigger the active update while it's in background update mode. I'm not sure if there is an easy way around that...

Does it work any better if you set app.update.staging.enabled to false in the portable?

As for the color scheme: Pale Moon uses system colors, to make sure a global color scheme is followed as much as possible. That is by design. Normally, people who use high contrast Windows settings want it applied to everything (it's for accessibility for the visual impaired), so system dialogs etc provided by Pale Moon will follow that.

[__NM64__]

As for the color scheme: Pale Moon uses system colors, to make sure a global color scheme is followed as much as possible. That is by design. Normally, people who use high contrast Windows settings want it applied to everything (it's for accessibility for the visual impaired), so system dialogs etc provided by Pale Moon will follow that.

Well Chrome of all things allows you to toggle it off. I mainly use the high-contrast theme because I'm commonly using my PC at night and the dark colors help not make my eyes bleed. However, at least in Firefox / Pale Moon, the high-contrast theme makes all background images black which makes some websites not work correctly (I think Flickr is one?).

I'll test Portable Pale Moon with the variable you mentioned set to false, but as you know, it takes like an hour for the automatic update to kick in.


EDIT: What the heck? Portable Pale Moon has two seemingly identical entries of "app.update.staging.enabled" If I toggle one of them it visually won't update until I do an F5, and then there will only be one entry of "app.update.staging.enabled" (which will say 'false').

EDIT 2: Doing it again, there now only seems to be one entry... whatever, I've already tested the process once through, I'm now testing it a second time.

EDIT 3: OK here's the jist. With the setting "_" set to 'false', when I click the link in the update notification popup, I get the following like you would in non-portable Pale Moon.



However, after you click "Restart Pale Moon" or click "Restart later" and manually restart, it comes up with the following



But clicking OK will take you to this next screen where it'll actually download the update and successfully install on the next browser restart




So, uh, I guess clicking the link in the update notification popup kind of works now?

[opera1215b1748]

PaleMoon v24.6.1 on winXP-SP3 Pro here, under a non-administrative user account.

Pressing the Help->About the Pale Moon->Check for Updates immediately attempts to download and apply an update (which, of course, fails as I would expect).

I'd like to see an announcement about an update availability rather than the download of it in such occasion.

[Moonchild]

The about box will handle things a little different in the next release. That should address your concern.

[opera1215b1748]

Thank you!