Mozilla Maintenance Service never updates itself

[rambomhtri]

Hey, real quick here:

There's a "program" called Mozilla Maintenance Service if you go to Windows 10 "Programs and apps". Since forever this program never updates itself when Firefox upgrades to a new version, and to update that service/program you got to install Firefox again from an exe file.

Why this happens?
When is this service going to get updated along Firefox?

It's quite a paradox that the service that is used to keep Firefox up to date can't update itself and gets stuck with 2 years old or more versions.

[Brummelchen]

this service is only to push the rights to make firefox get the update, the maintenance service do not load ANY update.
and it do not need any update if there is no reason to update - as i wrote its just a right elevater.
and its resposible for any mozilla product, so it pushes also thunderbird to install an update.
https://www.camp-firefox.de/forum/viewt ... 0#p1102870

Der Maintenance Service wird ausschließlich verwendet, um beim Firefox-Update keinen UAC-Dialog von Windows zu erhalten. Ein Abschalten des Dienstes ändert am Update-Verhalten genau gar nichts.

The Maintenance Service is used exclusively to avoid UAC dialogue from Windows during the Firefox update. Shutting down the service doesn't change the update behavior at all.

[rambomhtri]

Thank you. Then what's the difference between having the service in its version 61.0 as I did and updating it to the version 65.0 as I've just done?

[Brummelchen]

i dont know, if mozilla needs an update it will do. i dont use this service.

[DanRaisch]

It's quite a paradox that the service that is used to keep Firefox up to date can't update itself and gets stuck with 2 years old or more versions.

There's likely no need for it to update. It's performing the same function in the same way, installing to the same directory location and accessing the download from the same source. It's the browser that has changes, not the rest of the update process.

[rambomhtri]

It's quite a paradox that the service that is used to keep Firefox up to date can't update itself and gets stuck with 2 years old or more versions.

There's likely no need for it to update. It's performing the same function in the same way, installing to the same directory location and accessing the download from the same source. It's the browser that has changes, not the rest of the update process.

Then I wouldn't change the version of the service each time Firefox gets updated. It bothers me to see in "Programs and Apps":
Firefox: 65.0.1
Service: 61.0

If the service behaves the same, I would have a Service version 1.0 for all the Firefoxes, until there's something new in the service. It's simply for cleaning, it's not comfortable to keep updated Firefox and see a Service lag behind for years.

[DanRaisch]

Why would you assume that Services has not changed since version 1.0? There could have been changes in the past but not more recently. My point above was not that service could/would never change, only that it hasn't required change recently to remain functional with the latest version of the browser.

Take a look in the directory for another program or suite like Microsoft Office. You'll find .dll files with different dates: 2001, 2007, 2009, 2015. That doesn't mean there is reason for concern, only that different files were tweaked at different times but were still compatible and part of the "current" release of the program.

[the-edmeister]

If the service behaves the same, I would have a Service version 1.0 for all the Firefoxes, until there's something new in the service. It's simply for cleaning, it's not comfortable to keep updated Firefox and see a Service lag behind for years.

Mozilla Maintenance Service (MMS) didn't start with a version 1.0 . It came into being back in 2012 around the time of Firefox 10, Rapid Release, and the ESR version. MMS got whatever version number of Firefox which was being used at that time, and new Firefox installations receive the latest version which is "signed" for that version and numbered as such.

And it's not a "cleaning service", it is for updating Firefox 'behind the scenes' without user input on Windows OS's for non-admin users who haven't changed a setting to allow user installed applications to update themselves; not used on Mac or Linux OS's.

MMS is also used for "forcing" Firefox to update when the user has not updated Firefox in awhile and Mozilla decides to force an update when Firefox "phones home" (pings the updates server) on the first launch of each day that Firefox is used. Firefox will now ignore the older "Never check for updates ..." pref that went away with Firefox 63. Users who want control now over if or when Firefox updates is no longer a visible pref in Options, it requires modifying a file buried inside the Firefox program files.

[rambomhtri]

I said version 1.0 just because. I know it's not a "cleaning" service, what the hell. I meant that for "cleaning" purposes, which is in order to see versions and things right, it bothers me to have Firefox 65.0.1 with Maintenance service 61.0. It's not because I'm weird, it's because it's not clean visually to have unsynced versions. There are two options, I guess:

1. The services gets "updated" or however you want to call it, and each time Firefox gets updated, the service changes its version to the one Firefox has.

2. Since Firefox gets updated a lot and the service stays the same, make the service to have a totally different version history, that's why I said 1.0. Start with version 1.0 and keep going on each time something changes in the service.

It would matter if you see Firefox 67.0 with Service version 2.3, because you can guess they are differently named, and that's alright. What's wrong is to call the service version after a previous Firefox version, that's confusing and makes you think something went wrong while updating and the service didn't get updated for whatever reason.

Those are my 2 cents, I'm just giving ideas to have this right. Thanks.

[DanRaisch]

, I'm just giving ideas to have this right

IMO it's correct now; it just doesn't match your expectation. As no one else has raised this as an issue it may indicate that, if anyone else noticed it, they didn't feel that the different numbers were in any way cause for concern.

Take a look in the directory for another program or suite like Microsoft Office. You'll find .dll files with different dates: 2001, 2007, 2009, 2015. That doesn't mean there is reason for concern, only that different files were tweaked at different times but were still compatible and part of the "current" release of the program.

[rambomhtri]

, I'm just giving ideas to have this right

IMO it's correct now; it just doesn't match your expectation. As no one else has raised this as an issue it may indicate that, if anyone else noticed it, they didn't feel that the different numbers were in any way cause for concern.

Take a look in the directory for another program or suite like Microsoft Office. You'll find .dll files with different dates: 2001, 2007, 2009, 2015. That doesn't mean there is reason for concern, only that different files were tweaked at different times but were still compatible and part of the "current" release of the program.

I know it's a minor issue, and very few people go to "Programs and apps", and those who go don't look at the versions. Me, I notice these things because I work a lot with computers, fix a lot of them, optimize them, etc...

You're trying to transform this issue (minor) into something that's only just me. That's not right, it's clearly a Firefox issue, whether you like it or not.

There's something clearly wrong, because if not, explain to me why if you let Firefox update itself automatically, your end up with Firefox 65.0.1 and Service 58.0, but if you update with the 65.0.1 exe you end up with Firefox 65.0.1 and Service 65.0.1. For anybody that sees this, the conclusion is clear:

-Oh, wow, something went wrong and the service got stuck in the 58.0. I'm glad I did the update with the exe to refresh everything.

Sorry, if one exact same service that behaves the same has 14 different versions, that's simply wrong, like it or not. I think it's a minor bug/issue and not important compared to real bugs that may occur in Firefox, but it should be totally fixed, besides it really looks so simple to fix. I don't care if you choose the option 1 (sync both versions) o option 2 (service goes a different pathway of version history).

[DanRaisch]

OK, obviously you are unwilling to look at this from any perspective but your own, so I'm locking this as unproductive.