Stub Installer in Firefox Nightly – Try it out, Give feedback, and Test it!

Jason Smith

Hi Everyone,

We need your help testing out the new Stub Installer for Mozilla Firefox on Nightly! The stub installer is a new installer for Firefox that aims to streamline the installation process for our end-users by allowing them download a very small executable, run it, and get all of the resources downloaded and installed immediately. With this feature, we will make the installation of Desktop Firefox builds faster and easier for Windows users.

Want to try out an early build of the feature? Here’s how you get started:

  • If it’s before October 8th, you’ll want to use this link to get a build of the stub installer
  • If it’s on or after October 8th, you’ll want to use this link to get a build of the stub installer

If you run into any immediate problems please report the bug here or email stub-feedback@mozilla.com. Note that this stub installer is still in testing and is currently English only.

If you would like to help test this feature in more depth, then try running of the test cases you see below. If you hit any problems, feel free to use the above links for reporting a bug and providing feedback. I would greatly appreciate the help in testing this feature! Feel free to email the email alias above if you have any questions.

  • Install Firefox with the default installation rules with admin privileges – Verify firefox is installed to the default installation directory (C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox for 32-bit, C:Program FilesMozilla Firefox for 64-bit) with the same contents from the old installer, the firefox.exe is signed (Use a diff program to compare contents of directories like windiff)
  • Do an export of the Firefox related 1) HKLM and 2) HKCU entries in regedit from an installer just before the stub installer.  Do the same with the stub installer.  Use windiff or another diff program to compare each set of 2 exports are the same.
  • Install Firefox with the stub installer. Then, start firefox up. Verify firefox starts up with no unexpected errors.
  • Using an installation of Firefox  from the stub installer, crash firefox. Verify that breakpad appears.  Then, submit the crash report. Verify that the crash report was sent to the crash stats server.
  • Install Firefox with the stub installer that is an old FF version. Then, update Firefox. Verify firefox updates to the latest version of the particular release channel.
  • Uninstall Firefox that was made using the stub installer. Verify that the installation directory is removed along with any start menu/desktop shortcut references including the pinned to taskbar shortcut.
  • After launching firefox built from the stub installer, quit it. Verify firefox shuts down with no process running in the background.
  • Open three new tabs in a launched firefox from the stub installer and load a website in each. Verify the content comes up for each tab.
  • Install Firefox with the stub installer. Then, launch firefox and install an add-on. Verify that the add-on was successfully installed and runs correctly in the context of Firefox.
  • Try installing firefox as a  guest that does not have write permissions to the Program Files folder  on Windows. Verify that the stub installer fails with an appropriate  error saying that installation failed with an appropriate error message  indicating why. (Should we be allowing limited user accounts to install into their user account directory?)
  • Try installing firefox without an internet connection. Verify that the stub installer fails with an appropriate error saying that the downloading phase failed due to not having an internet connection.
  • Conduct a custom installation of firefox by changing each default preference used for the installer to some alternative valid value (i.e. change the installation directory, don’t allow start menu shortcuts). Verify that firefox installs according to the custom installation prefs set by the user.
  • Try installing firefox as an admin while an antivirus is running (e.g. Norton) with default preferences on the antivirus. Verify that the stub installer installs firefox successfully with the antivirus not setting off red flags that something isn’t right.
  • Install firefox with the old installer. Then, pave-over install this installation with the stub installer. Verify that the stub installer successfully installs firefox with no weird behavior or unexpected issues.
  • Install firefox with the stub installer.  Then, pave-over install this installation with an older installation. Verify that the older installation overwrites each piece of the stub installer, launching it shows no errors, and no unexpected errors is seen.
  • Install firefox with the stub installer.  Then, pave-over install with a different version of the stub installer. Verify that the firefox installation is successful and can be launched, no issues seen in the resulting directory structure of the installation.
  • On an old build Firefox, install an add-on. Then, pave-over install this installation with the stub installer. Launch firefox. Verify that the add-on is still installed and operates as it’s expected to.
  • Test installation on Vista with UAC on/off.  Test on Windows 7 with UAC at each level.  Test with Windows 8 at each UAC level, but in particular with UAC off since UAC works differently on Windows 8 when it is off.
  • Check what happens when you try to download and run out of disk space
  • Turn off the download server the stub installer references. Try to install Firefox. Verify that the stub installer fails with an appropriate error saying that it could connect to the server.
  • Setup a HTTP proxy-based tool to capture incoming HTTP requests (e.g. fiddler). Try to install firefox. When the HTTP response is sent back, capture it and fuzz the response. Then, send it to the stub installer. Verify that the stub installer fails gracefully with no weird behavior or unexpected errors.
  • Start up the stub installer, start installation, and immediately lock the screen for a few minutes. Then, unlock the screen. Verify firefox still installs sucessfully with no unexpected errors.
  • Start up the stub installer, start installation, and immediately put the machine into hibernation for a few minutes. Take the machine out of hibernation. Verify that installation finishes successfully with no unexpected errors.
  • Start up the stub installer, start installation, and immediately put the machine into standby for a few minutes. Take the machine out of standby. Verify that installation finishes successfully with no unexpected errors.
  • Start two stub installers at the same time – this scenario may happen with an auto/manual-download
  • Experience of initiating the install from IE or Chrome, to make sure it hasn’t regressed since the normal installer