Would be grat for developers if you can add the Firefox Aurora and Nighlty builds. I tested them with the normal Firefox portable build replacing the content placed in #:/PortableApps/FirefoxPortable/App/Firefox and all is working normally.
The only thing that could be a problem is that they are updated daily, but that's not a problem because using the built in Firefox Updater it updates the Firefox located in the portable drive, so there's nothing to do.
Thanks
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Relying on Firefox's built in updater is bad and would never become official, there are too many things that can go wrong. As soon as a new build of Firefox creates files/folders that aren't covered by the Launcher, portability is broken.
This could be as simple as a couple of unimportant files being left behind, or could be as bad as settings being lost completely, or the app not working properly afterwards.
Otherwise, updating and rebuilding a package on a daily basis is far too much work for very little return.
The release and the beta do the same. The only difference is that this versions are posted in the PortableApps page. Firefox is checking every time for a newer version, and when found, it's downloaded to the temp folder and that doesn't broke any preference. You can't avoid that process and if it's downloaded to a temp folder, there's a possibility for analizyng the files that Firefox modifies and delete them whem FirefoxPortable closes.
The only difference between a stable build and the Nightly build is that Aurora and Nighlty builds are updated more frequently. You'll only update them in the PortableApps page when a major version is released.
Here is part of the Firefox Updater log:
Performing a replace request
SOURCE DIRECTORY C:\Users\UNIDAD\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\firefox\updates\0
DESTINATION DIRECTORY Z:\PortableApps\FirefoxAuroraPortable\App\firefox\updated
Begin moving sourceDir (Z:\PortableApps\FirefoxAuroraPortable\App\Firefox) to tmpDir (Z:\PortableApps\FirefoxAuroraPortable\App\Firefox.bak)
rename_file: proceeding to rename the directory
Begin moving newDir (Z:\PortableApps\FirefoxAuroraPortable\App\firefox.bak/updated) to sourceDir (Z:\PortableApps\FirefoxAuroraPortable\App\Firefox)
rename_file: proceeding to rename the directory
Now, remove the tmpDir
succeeded
calling QuitProgressUI
The update process itself is not an issue, that should generally work fine (even if it is not the best way to do it).
I'm talking about the updated Firefox which may create files/folders in places the portable Launcher is not set up to handle.
If i understand, you're saying that the new version of Firefox may create files on different locations than the normal release.
If that's correctly, i think all the Firefox builds create all its files in the "AppData/Roaming/Mozilla/Firefox" directory, and the launcher is prepared to manage that files. The only think that the update modifies is the Firefox located in "Drive:/PortableApps/FirefoxPortable/App/Firefox".
If you're refering the files created during the update, they're placed in "HardDrive:/Users/*User*/AppData/Local/Mozilla/Firefox/*BuildName*". That files aren't covered by the launcher, but i think that if it can remove the "Mozilla" folder, adding the ability to remove the files from updater won't be a difficult.
winterblood is referring to changes in how Firefox stores settings with updates, which would require an update to the launcher as well. The last time this happened was in Firefox 16, which introduced a new registry key the Firefox Portable 15 launcher wasn't configured to handle.
Just picture using Firefox Portable 1.0's launcher for Firefox 17.0. It works, but things won't be handled properly (such as Crash Reporter). Using it once in a while for non-major versions is okay, but be weary the FirefoxPortable.exe launcher might not be properly handled for unexpected changes.
I had a Firefox Nightly installer that auto-downloaded and installed the most recent nightly as you installed it. Unfortunately, that method is incompatible with newer installers which require an MD5 for the downloaded file to avoid infection on the remote host (think uTorrent's site hack this year, that's why we host the uTorrent.exe download ourselves). I think we could have the launcher automatically check and download the latest version for you.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Downloading the latest build when installing them is a partial solution. Like these builds are updated more frequently (daily), next day will be a newer update available. Like i said in the previous reply to winterblood, Firefox stores its updates on "HardDrive:/Users/*User*/AppData/Local/Mozilla/Firefox/*BuildName*". In my case, they're downloaded in C:/Users/UNIDAD/AppData/Local/Mozilla/Firefox/Nightly.
One solution could be check for the existence of that folder and delete them if there's one when closing FirefoxPortable.
if the next version of nightly firefox will produce other files in other places then the previous one?
What if the next nightly version will produce new bunch of keys in registry which were not used in the previous version?
etc..etc
And this may change any time.
This is what the winterblood and gluxon are trying to tell you.
The launcher might not be ready for that.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
You're right. Is just that i was excited with adding this builds, but that would be really difficult.
Thanks for your time and sorry again.