Background Updates

This page describes the technical plan to move the process of applying the updates in Firefox to the background as opposed to at startup. In order to get a clear idea about the scope of the project, please see the Goals and Non-Goals sections below.

Goals

1. Moving the update process to the background
2. Initiating the update process as soon as an update is downloaded
3. Being able to apply a newer update if Firefox was not restarted since the previous update was applied in the background

Non-Goals

1. Handling UAC prompts on Windows
2. Changing the frequency of checking for updates, our handling of major/minor updates, or the way we check for add-ons compatibility
3. Eliminating the UI we display in Step 2
4. Changing how updates work on Android
5. Any of the other projects falling under the "silent update" umbrella