Firefox @lemmy.ml ArtificialLink @lemy.lol 9mo ago

The fact that firefox updates when I open it instead of when I close it. Has to be the most annoying feature ever.

I mean like why? Just open and update when I'm done that's what every other browser does. Stop making me wait to use the Internet firefox!

65 comments

Would you prefer:

“Firefox Updater

This app is preventing shutdown”
- You shut your PC down?
  
  Yeah, no reason not to. Takes only a couple of seconds to boot, and everything is reset to a clean state.
  
  I got a X570 board with the really loud fan.
  
  My laptop won't charge from USB-C if the battery fully dies, so I shut it down to prevent that.
- Things that don’t happen in other browsers with background updating for $100, Alex.
  
  I'll take 20 updaters running in the background for 4GiB, Dan.
  
  There are other browsers?
  
  Firefox has background updating.
The better approach would be to prepare the update in the background and swap out the version on the next start
- Isn't that what it does? That's how it works on macOS, and I get prompted to restart on Linux when I install updates in the background.
  
  I'm on Windows and I don't recall the last time I was inconvenienced by a Firefox update. Like... I can't even remember what it actually does. OP must be running it on a potato or something.
  
  Yeah and it only takes seconds on a decent PC.
  
  I thought it did too, but this post says it's different? Maybe they're wrong. I haven't double checked.
Go to options. Scroll halfway down the page. Firefox gives you the choice to change updates from automatic to whenever you want.

https://i.imgur.com/NxpbIH4.png
- I prefer automatic updates.
  
  Apparently, you don't.
Ubuntu has an even better approach. It updates silently while you are using it. Then your tab crashes. And when you retry it tells you to restart firefox. Truly genius *cheffs kiss
- As an Arch user. I wanted to use Arch at work too. Well, they want me to use Kubuntu (or any other prefered Ubuntu, but I like KDE so I do what every other dev uses)... except for Home Office ofc. Arch.
  
  Still. I hate this stupid update thing. Suddenly I get 20 notifications of KDE system wanting a reboot because of updates and Firefox doing exactly this.
  
  The worst. When I open a new tab by middleclicking a link, the tab crashes. I restart Firefox and the new Tab is gone forever. Sometimes its easy to get what I saw but not always.
- How else would you know it was doing anything?
- chef's* kiss
I'm not really hankering for that 4 seconds it takes to restart.
- Takes longer on older hardware
  
  My T400 and T480 are nearly indistinguishable from my ThinkCentre M70q Gen 2.
  
  I’m running a 12 year old laptop with 80 tabs open. Last time I did apt upgrade and had to restart the browser it took about six seconds.
- It matters more when you clear history and cookies automatically at close. You lose your entire session.
  
  Then... don't do that? You can clear history and cookies manually really easily, so if you restart your browser less often than Firefox releases updates (every 4 weeks), you're just opening yourself up to hacks by running an insecure browser.
You guys close your browser? Weird
- Well yeah, about every 4 weeks when Firefox gets updated.
I don't think I've ever noticed Firefox updating. The only sign I get that it updates is that when it does a special tab opens telling me about the new features.
Just use a a package manager
This is what I hate on school computers, and it drives people away from Firefox.
You don't have admin privilege, you can't update, so don't even try.
I always disable auto-updates on those.
- , my work computer requires admin permissions to install anything. But for some reason, especially with Firefox or any other web browser. You can just click cancel on the enter the administrative password andshit screen and then it just installs anyways.
  
  It installs it into your local user folder instead.
Went not just disable automatic updates? Update when you have time for it.
I see it like thank you that i don't have to go to Mozilla website and download the installer. So much time saved, and it only takes like 5 second without manually doing anything. On Linux i saw please restart Firefox tab and clicked it. No problem. I got the update fast.
Applications updating themselves... must be a Windows thing. Didn't they want to copy package management from Linux? Maybe AI can help.
My issue with FF's auto update is that the behavior is how painfully the auto-update works with multiple profiles.

I'll have one window (well three) open for some (measurable in days) time.

FF updates silently, I haven't restarted my browser so I haven't noticed.

I go to open a session in the second (or third profiles)

FF decides now is a great time to apply the update, after all it just opened right?

All the existing open browsing sessions in the other profiles get bricked. The tabs just stop responding, no browsing works, just dead in the water.

I have to shut it (all?) down to get it working again.

I don't know how Chrome handles this so I cannot compare. TBH still worth using FF over that adware!

65 comments