How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Discussion about official Mozilla Firefox builds
Lemon Juice
Posts: 788
Joined: June 1st, 2006, 9:41 am

How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by Lemon Juice »

I'm using Firefox Developer 63.0b8 and I've noticed since a few versions ago the option to disable update checks is gone and now I get constant nagging dialogue windows asking me to update. With the frequent changes to Firefox Developer this becomes really annoying. Is there a config to shut up the update checks once and for all?
*** SeaMonkey — weird name, sane interface, modern bowels ***
Mouse Gestures for SeaMonkey/Firefox
Convert Fx and TB extensions to SeaMonkey
morat
Posts: 6403
Joined: February 3rd, 2009, 6:29 pm

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by morat »

If I change the following options, then the following preferences change in the Firefox 62 release build.

Options about:preferences tab, General, Firefox Updates

[select] Never check for updates (not recommended)
[uncheck] Automatically update search engines

Addon Manager about:addons tab, Extensions

[uncheck] Update Addons Automatically

app.update.auto - false
app.update.enabled - false
browser.search.update - false
extensions.update.autoUpdateDefault - false

about:config?filter=/app.update.auto|app.update.enabled|^browser.search.update;|autoUpdateDefault/

The extensions.update.enabled preference can only be toggled in the about:config tab. (can be overridden by extensions.{GUID}.update.enabled)
Lemon Juice
Posts: 788
Joined: June 1st, 2006, 9:41 am

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by Lemon Juice »

The problem is in the 63.x build there is no option "Never check for updates (not recommended)" - it's gone. You can either choose to install updates automatically or check for updates. I have it selected to check for updates. In about:config I have these:

app.update.auto - false
app.update.enabled - false

but Firefox still nags me/checks for updates. Something has changed in the config options. How to stop the checks?
*** SeaMonkey — weird name, sane interface, modern bowels ***
Mouse Gestures for SeaMonkey/Firefox
Convert Fx and TB extensions to SeaMonkey
morat
Posts: 6403
Joined: February 3rd, 2009, 6:29 pm

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by morat »

Is the app.update.disabledForTesting preference available?

Try setting the app.update.disabledForTesting preference to true.

Remove or hide the update features in the preferences
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1420514
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1420514#c43
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cg ... 20514#c118

Reference
http://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-beta/sea ... ForTesting
http://dxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-beta/sou ... ersion.txt

Is group policy the only way to disable application updates?

Customizing Firefox Using Group Policy
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/cus ... oup-policy

DisableAppUpdate
http://github.com/mozilla/policy-templa ... chine-only
Last edited by morat on September 28th, 2018, 4:40 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
mightyglydd
Posts: 9813
Joined: November 4th, 2006, 7:07 pm
Location: Hollywood Ca.

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by mightyglydd »

Lemon Juice wrote: but Firefox still nags me/checks for updates. Something has changed in the config options.

Yep, don't you love those nags on the hamburger button...FYI.

http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p14808750
#KeepFightingMichael and Alex.
toolong
Posts: 913
Joined: December 24th, 2011, 10:29 am

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by toolong »

This seriously confuses me.

Please explain to me just why you would install and use the "developer release" of the Firefox beta, which is the developer release to develop 'stuff', and not want to update the install so that you are developing with the latest code?
Lemon Juice
Posts: 788
Joined: June 1st, 2006, 9:41 am

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by Lemon Juice »

morat wrote:Try setting the app.update.disabledForTesting preference to true.
I tried this but it didn't work.
morat wrote: Remove or hide the update features in the preferences
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1420514
Thanks, this is the offending bug! As usual Firefox simply rips off useful preferences because the devs think they know best what people need. ](*,)

Anyway, for now I've added two zeroes to the value of app.update.interval and will see how it goes.
mightyglydd wrote:
Lemon Juice wrote:Yep, don't you love those nags on the hamburger button...FYI.
Yep, I love them so much that I turned them off - fortunately, that was possible!
The Mechanic wrote:This seriously confuses me.

Please explain to me just why you would install and use the "developer release" of the Firefox beta, which is the developer release to develop 'stuff', and not want to update the install so that you are developing with the latest code?
I don't use Fx Developer as my main browser but I usually have it minimized with many tabs and open it from time to time when needed. It gets annoying to get update nags more than once a day for an app that just sits there minimized. In my usage pattern such frequent updates are not important to me at all.

But anyway, this is completely irrelevant why I do not want to update - when some users don't want to update this should be enough reason for the devs to respect that and not remove prefs just like that.
*** SeaMonkey — weird name, sane interface, modern bowels ***
Mouse Gestures for SeaMonkey/Firefox
Convert Fx and TB extensions to SeaMonkey
toolong
Posts: 913
Joined: December 24th, 2011, 10:29 am

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by toolong »

I don't use Fx Developer as my main browser but I usually have it minimized with many tabs and open it from time to time when needed. It gets annoying to get update nags more than once a day for an app that just sits there minimized. In my usage pattern such frequent updates are not important to me at all.

But anyway, this is completely irrelevant why I do not want to update - when some users don't want to update this should be enough reason for the devs to respect that and not remove prefs just like that.

Thank you for the explanation. However I still wonder just why you are using the "Developer Release" when you are not actually developing anything? To me that does not make good sense.

It has been a long time since I developed anything but I recall that the "Developer Release" of anything was heavy with code and was "slower" running than the actual, eventual release.

Has that changed while I was not looking?
Lemon Juice
Posts: 788
Joined: June 1st, 2006, 9:41 am

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by Lemon Juice »

Yes, that's true that most of the time I don't use the Developer release to develop anything but occasionally I do. I do web application development and most often the developer tools in any of the current browsers are enough for me since my requirements are low. But I do like to keep another browser open just to have a completely separate environment, session, etc. ready.

But the thing is that even if I used Fx Developer only to develop then I still see no point in having update nags every day - most probably I will want to stay distraction free and update every other week or so. Fx Developer is on the aurora update channel, which means it is never stable but gets very frequent updates - this frequency is probably good for those who develop Fx itself but not for end users.

And Fx Developer is not slower than regular Fx. I don't even know if there are any substantial differences between the two apart from the former having some newer stuff that the latter hasn't received yet. But I like its dark theme, though.
*** SeaMonkey — weird name, sane interface, modern bowels ***
Mouse Gestures for SeaMonkey/Firefox
Convert Fx and TB extensions to SeaMonkey
Brummelchen
Posts: 4480
Joined: March 19th, 2005, 10:51 am

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by Brummelchen »

just do the update to beta9 or beta10, this is ridicolous to use betas and moan about new updates for bugfixes.

as a user of dev edition you probably are familiar with userchrome.css codes to suppress messages or popups - i would think so so why dont you take your option on this? sorry, you are wasting time with the wrong things.
Tomatoshadow2
Posts: 435
Joined: May 11th, 2017, 9:52 am

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by Tomatoshadow2 »

Yes, you must understand OP(Lemon Juice), that the point of the updates are to fix issues in Beta, to help it keep improving. Why else would you use it???
User avatar
therube
Posts: 21698
Joined: March 10th, 2004, 9:59 pm
Location: Maryland USA

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by therube »

Like really.
You're going to beat up on someone because they want to use their browser in the way they want to use their browser.

Maybe you should instead beat up on Mozilla who does not want to allow a user to use their browser as they want to use their browser.

Maybe you should instead beat up on Mozilla who has lost their way, possible setting them towards truth.
But, ah, they already know all this, & simply don't care.
Fire 750, bring back 250.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.19) Gecko/20110420 SeaMonkey/2.0.14 Pinball CopyURL+ FetchTextURL FlashGot NoScript
Tomatoshadow2
Posts: 435
Joined: May 11th, 2017, 9:52 am

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by Tomatoshadow2 »

Not trying to at all, and fair point, I just figure OP could use release for that, why use beta??
gaomeo
Posts: 27
Joined: May 29th, 2014, 7:08 pm

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by gaomeo »

You pretty much can't at the moment. Just to live it with until an alternative Browser is available.
toolong
Posts: 913
Joined: December 24th, 2011, 10:29 am

Re: How to disable update checks on Firefox Developer?

Post by toolong »

gaomeo wrote:You pretty much can't at the moment. Just to live it with until an alternative Browser is available.

So your solution is to wait for someone to develop "an alternative Browser" and then never have it update? Hmm...


Good luck with that. I do not recall ever seeing a software product of any kind that did not update and change over time. Unless it was EOL that is. :D
Post Reply