hi, for users who have disabled studies there will be a firefox version update (66.0.4) - this is in the works, but building/testing a new version can't be done as quickly as shipping the hotfix via the studies channel...

Thanks for your reply. But I am not very sure about your explanation. Does "building/testing a new version can't be as ..." mean: 1. The "hotfix" is not well-tested? or 2. You just want people to enable the "studies" option?

neither. shipping a small piece of javascript code is much easier/faster accomplished than compiling and testing a new dot-release version of firefox (that needs to be done for multiple platforms and many dozens of locales).

Thank you, again. Then the answer is both, 1 and 2.

Come on, I am a developer too. How long will it take to build those binaries of all platforms and locales? Those builds can all be built parallel. And the tests for the fix would be the same for the JS ("studies") version and binary version -- either they are both not well-tested, or they are both tested but you only released one of them.

Your team screwed thing up, and you even use the "chance" to make profit (forcing people to enable "studies" option).

mapsetah said

Thank you, again. Then the answer is both, 1 and 2. Come on, I am a developer too. How long will it take to build those binaries of all platforms and locales? Those builds can all be built parallel. And the tests for the fix would be the same for the JS ("studies") version and binary version -- either they are both not well-tested, or they are both tested but you only released one of them. Your team screwed thing up, and you even use the "chance" to make profit (forcing people to enable "studies" option).

Hi mapsetah,

The firefox team is working on another parallel solution which will not use studies system but that will take some time and they are already on it. Please read here: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/

mapsetah said

Your team screwed thing up, and you even use the "chance" to make profit (forcing people to enable "studies" option).

Does someone make profit from studies??

When you enable studies on the Options page, there is a link to view the studies that are installed so you can disable/remove those you do not want. Really, you only need it enabled long enough to get the patch(es). For what it's worth, I got two when I woke up Windows this morning (screenshot attached). The others have probably been there for a while.

Hi mapsetah, a like-minded person posted a possible solution for you.

The study loads an extension. There is an unofficial link to the extension in a comment on the Add-ons blog here. I have not tried it myself, but the link matches what I expect it to be:

https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/comment-page-6/#comment-226171

jscher2000 said

Does someone make profit from studies??

https://www.ghacks.net/2018/12/31/firefox-with-ads-on-new-tab-page/

Chandan_Baba said

Hi mapsetah, The firefox team is working on another parallel solution which will not use studies system but that will take some time and they are already on it. Please read here: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2019/05/04/update-regarding-add-ons-in-firefox/

Thank you. I have read this page before. And the "parallel solution" you mentioned IS the solution I asked in this issue. They built 66.0.4-candidates before I post this issue, and decide not to release it. Now they deleted it.

mapsetah said

jscher2000 said

Does someone make profit from studies??

https://www.ghacks.net/2018/12/31/firefox-with-ads-on-new-tab-page/

Snippets for the built-in home page and new tab page are retrieved and configured separately from Studies. Different thing.

Also, you can see how Mozilla spends any money it collects in its financials: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/about/public-records/

jscher2000 said

Snippets for the built-in home page and new tab page are retrieved and configured separately from Studies. Different thing. Also, you can see how Mozilla spends any money it collects in its financials: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/about/public-records/

Great. You meant, since Mozilla ever put ads in built-in pages before, enabling the data-collecting-and-put-anything-they-want-in-your-browser-to-execute option (and they call it "studies") won't be more harmful, right? That sounds logical.

Hi mapsetah, studies that collect data undergo a data privacy review before they are allowed to run. If you do not trust Mozilla, that's your call. You know your options.

jscher2000 said

Hi mapsetah, studies that collect data undergo a data privacy review before they are allowed to run. If you do not trust Mozilla, that's your call. You know your options.

That's my question on the title. Where is the update (other than through the "studies")?

it's being produced in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1549061 in case you want to follow along

Currently there is only a patch delivered by an extension. https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1258137#answer-1218619

jscher2000 said

Currently there is only a patch delivered by an extension. https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1258137#answer-1218619

Official release, please.

mapsetah said

jscher2000 said

Currently there is only a patch delivered by an extension. https://support.mozilla.org/questions/1258137#answer-1218619

Official release, please.

It's so smart to fix a problem cause by security concern (well, an expired cert) via unofficial channel.

philipp said

it's being produced in https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1549061 in case you want to follow along

Good to hear that. Hours after you said "it takes time to build those so-many-platforms-and-locales", they finally merged the patch. Good.

Yeah. "We won't give you the fscking update tonight." "And also, don't trust any unofficial workarounds in the community, just like @jscher2000 would provide."

mapsetah said

There was a Bug-A-Boo with a Certificate Expiration Date dealing with the Add-ons. There's a new FF Version with the main Fix, 66.0.4.

Mozilla Blog Post Update:
A Firefox release has been pushed — version 66.0.4 on Desktop and Android, and version 60.6.2 for ESR. This release repairs the certificate chain to re-enable web extensions, themes, search engines, and language packs that had been disabled (Bug 1549061).
There are remaining issues that we are actively working to resolve, but we wanted to get this fix out before Monday to lessen the impact of disabled add-ons before the start of the week. More information about the remaining issues can be found by clicking on the links to the release notes above.
(May 5, 16:25 EDT)

~Pj