Linux manually installed Tbird suddenly notifies of update

[phkhgh]

I installed Thunderbird in Linux to /opt, because I wanted to get full versions when Mozilla releases them.
My understanding of doing this in Linux rather than install versions from distros' software managers, is most programs that offer checking f/ installing updates won't be able to do it if not installed (generally) to /usr/*, and the updater has root privileges. I was OK with that.

Today for the 1st time, the Tbird installed in /opt gave popup notification of the available v52.1.1. There've been several updates since I installed it in Linux, but never got an update notification - until now. Which is great - I'm trying to figure out why all of a sudden the manually installed Tbird in /opt can check for updates.

Nothing changed. I didn't start TB as root, then try to see if checking updates worked. I'm pretty sure there weren't any Linux updates done that would affect this. Just logged into Linux normally & a few min. later it notified of the update.
An update released ~ 5 days ago and the computer was on most every day. But it waited 5 days to notify me.

Any idea why or how this suddenly happened in a manually installed TB in Linux?
To download the update "automatically," I had to start TB in root, click update now, then restart TB in root again, so the updates could be written to /opt/thunderbird.

Till now, I've downloaded partial.mar updates & manually installed them using the TB / Fx updater file, described here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Software_Updat ... _for_Linux. It's actually quick once you've done it a couple of times.

[tanstaafl]

When 52.* was released automatic updating (based on the "update" settings) for 45.* users (the prior major version) wasn't enabled until several days afterwards. However, if you used help -> about -> Thunderbird and pressed" check for updates" it would have found and installed it (it ignores the "update" settings). This is typical, it gives QA time to get additional feedback (beyond what it got from beta, earlybird and QA testing etc.) and decide if a release is not ready for widespread usage or not.

[phkhgh]

Thanks. That explains the delay in notification, but not the how / why it was able to automatically notify about the update.
It doesn't (seem to) explain that the manually installed TB (in: /opt/thunderbird) can now automatically check for & show a popup notice. Without me accessing Help>About.

That's what I was asking - has something changed in TB / Fx "ability" to check for updates in Linux, when not installed thru the distro's software mgr?
Maybe?... the auto updating in Linux Tb hasn't been never turned off? But there were 2 other Tb releases (since I first installed 45.8 to /opt) that it didn't notify me of, before automatically showing me 52.1.1 update.

My understanding was apps installed manually in Linux - at least, Fx & Tb - couldn't check for or notify you automatically or install updates.
And that was my experience - until yesterday. Neither Tb or Fx ever showed popups for available updates. Forever, I've used "check for updates, but let me choose whether to install."

And until y'day, neither Tb or Fx ever did check & notify me via popup. I didn't do anything differently - didn't access about:thunderbird when the update popup showed. Didn't log on as root the session the update popup showed. So that's not why Tb installed in /opt suddenly started notifying about updates.

Something changed - probably NOT the Mint updater. It doesn't show the Tb installation in /opt, nor is the update just installed listed in Mint's updater history.
AFAIK, Linux distros' updater tools don't know apps exist, when installed manually to non-default directories.
That's one of the cons cited by distros for not using their repositories to install all your software - "you won't be able to get updates automatically."

[tanstaafl]

"but not the how / why it was able to automatically notify about the update."

Its been years since I used Linux but I think the same update settings were available in both the Mozilla and the distro build, but they were ignored by the distro build.

I have never bothered to use a .mar file. I found UbuntuZilla convenient as it let me stick with packages/repositories for all updates while using Mozilla builds. The repositories were usually updated within a day or two of a new Mozilla build.