Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Discuss various technical topics not related to Mozilla.
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tomasz86
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by tomasz86 »

Thank you very much!

I've just tested it. Placing a file there seems to work for the release channel but doesn't work for other (tested for beta/aurora). In order to make the autoupdate function work I had to add the code either to the prefs.js in my user profile folder or just add it directly to the about:config. Only after that Firefox beta/aurora started to download a new version.

I'll do more tests and try to check if silent updates work too. What's good is that new versions are installed in background in Win2k without any problems while normally the installer refuses to run.
xabolcs
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Re: Firefox 13+ updates in Windows 2000

Post by xabolcs »

For testing You could set the app.update.log to true. This would provide lot of info to You.


It's interesting.
Did You put into the correct place(%installation%/defaults/pref, where %installation% is the Fx directory for each channel)?
Because my Aurora reads it correctly (on XP).

By the way I could pack up a simple extension which does this override for You. :)
Anyway, I vote for a *.js in application directory (to be more specific: where channel-prefs.js besides), which isn't bound to profiles.
tomasz86
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Joined: June 4th, 2012, 3:39 am

Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by tomasz86 »

Yes, the file is in the correct directory ;) I've tried different ones:

- new installation of Aurora to its default directory
- overwriting the existing release to beta/aurora
- switching between aurora/beta

but the situation was always the same.

The problem is that even if I put the file in the defaults\pref folder, then launch Firefox (aurora) and search for "app.update.url" in about:config the value set there is still the default one, i.e.:

Code: Select all

app.update.url;https://aus3.mozilla.org/update/3/%PRODUCT%/%VERSION%/%BUILD_ID%/%BUILD_TARGET%/%LOCALE%/%CHANNEL%/%OS_VERSION%/%DISTRIBUTION%/%DISTRIBUTION_VERSION%/update.xml

not the one set in the .js file.
xabolcs
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Re: Firefox 13+ updates in Windows 2000

Post by xabolcs »

Here is a bootstrapped extension for You! :)
I left it in logging mode: it logs if it modifies the app.update.url preference.

Version: 1.0.0
Built at: 2012-07-31
Built from: 8f0667be339a
Download: win2k-updateurl_v1.0.0_8f0667be339a.xpi
tomasz86
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Joined: June 4th, 2012, 3:39 am

Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by tomasz86 »

Wow, great =D>

It seems to do the job perfectly. Would you mind if I add information about it to the instructions in #1?
xabolcs
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Re: Firefox 13+ updates in Windows 2000

Post by xabolcs »

tomasz86 wrote:[...]
Would you mind if I add information about it to the instructions in #1?


Of course not! :)
:!: But please note that this addon doesn't play well others which manipulate app.update.url also!
And please note too that this addon modifies the default value of app.update.url!
For example with Update Channel Selector after #7 get fixed. :-"

Anyway: a modficication in about:config is enough. :D
As You wrote, a line in prefs.js (in profile dir) is enough:
tomasz86 wrote:[...]
I had to add the code either to the prefs.js in my user profile folder or just add it directly to the about:config. Only after that Firefox beta/aurora started to download a new version.
[...]


By the way it would be nice if somebody (e.g. me :wink:) could test out why %installation%/defaults/pref directory doesn't gets parsed!
tomasz86
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by tomasz86 »

I have updated the instructions. Apart from adding the information about the addon I've added info about how to actually run the new Firefox installer in Win2k. Thanks to the addon it's also possible to install it in Firefox 12 and update the browser automatically to the newest available version (details in #1).

Thank you once again for everything, xabolcs!
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by patrickjdempsey »

Back when Mozilla first announced removal of Windows 2K support, a few people asserted that it was possible to build Firefox for W2K using MVS 2010 with a few modified flags. Strangely, I see no-one mentioning that now. Is that simply not possible?

Or is it possible to build using MVS 2008 and just disable the effected features?
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tomasz86
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by tomasz86 »

I don't know anything about compiling, etc. but there are also many unfixed dependencies which will probably prevent newer versions of Firefox from working in Win2k even if it was compiled in older/modified VS. You can check this topic for information about which APIs are missing.

I think BlackWingCat said that it was possible to use modified libraries and therefore build applications compatible even with Windows 95.
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by patrickjdempsey »

Thanks... I have a work machine that just may end up running out-of-date Firefox.... better than running IE6 anyway.
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tomasz86
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by tomasz86 »

@xabolcs

I've got bad news. It seems that something has changed in the update mechanism. The autoupdate function stopped working on Aurora 2012-08-09. I've tested it in a VM and the situation is the same with Aurora 2012-08-10. It just keeps saying that the browser is "up to date". If I install an older version of Aurora then I can update it to the newest one but that's it. The function doesn't work on versions newer than 2012-08-08.

Have you (or anyone else) got any idea what the problem may be about?

Edit: Hmm, I've just managed to update it on a VM... but not on my desktop. I guess more testing is needed.

Edit2: I guess I've found the reason. Strangely there is no newer Polish versions of Aurora. The last one is from 2012-08-09 and it was the one I had here. No surprise that it didn't update itself... but now I'm curious why it's not available 8-[
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by patrickjdempsey »

Non-English versions always take a bit longer to get out AS-FAR-AS-I-KNOW.
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tomasz86
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by tomasz86 »

It seems that there was no Polish version available on 2012-08-10. 2012-08-09 was updated straightly to 2012-08-11. Fortunately it was just a false alarm.
tomasz86
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by tomasz86 »

This is important information for everyone using Win2k. M$ has started to remove older Win2k updates from their servers. If there are any files you need you should hurry up and download them as soon as possible before they are removed.

M$ is finally killing Windows 2000...

Older XP/2003 will be removed too, ex. XP SP2 cannot be downloaded from M$ servers any more.
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patrickjdempsey
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Re: Firefox 13+ in Windows 2000

Post by patrickjdempsey »

Hmm... that's certainly going to prove problematic for some businesses. But I guess Microsoft is now just aping everything about Apple so yeah... I need to learn Linux.
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