do not force browser restarts

[WhyDoINeedAName]

While I love using Firefox, one thing is sometimes really frustrating: the "we just need to restart" thing. Perhaps that makes sense if the browser is never closed/restarted on a system running for weeks, thus being vulnerable to some security issues, but not in almost any other case. But it is extremely annoying.

Just now I tried reloading a website a few times (not using the cache) since a video was not running. That did not help. Only opening a new tab prompted the "we need to restart" message, after which it worked.

In other cases, the forced restart does interrupt playing media or downloads, or forces the user to reload pages that may send push messages.

Finally, when a browser tab is hijacked by the message, the tab's website link is not recovered after the browser is restarted.

[jscher2000]

On the Settings/Preferences page, in the tiny search box, type updat and change your setting to have Firefox always ask you before installing updates. Don't worry about missing one -- Firefox will nag you daily.

Note: if you installed Firefox using your Linux package manager, the package manager will drive the update schedule and that internal setting is ineffective.

[WhyDoINeedAName]

Thanks for the advice. Since I'm mostly running linux, I guess there's no easy fix on your side. Perhaps it's possible to recover the web link of the hijacked tab though, which would already help quite a bit.

[jscher2000]

If the tab never loaded -- navigation was attempted but didn't complete -- I'm not sure Firefox records that anywhere. Perhaps someone else has an idea about that.

Regarding the build of Firefox you install, it is possible to bypass your package manager and download directly from Mozilla. https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release 

[siliconHuntsman]

Adding my comments, the forced update has been irritating me for a long time, still today it crossed the line. I made Ubuntu update yesterday and recycled power. Moment ago, freshly run Firefox said that it needs a restart itself not allowing me to open a new browser window effectively terminating my purchase process and payment session. This is not trustful behavior of application. There needs to be an option to bypass that forced restart and no, I do not have option in my Firefox and disable it.

[osyalia]

Please STOP forcing browser restart to update!

My working process run in real-time environment, and I cannot afford restarting all working tabs just because you lot want an update immediately. On restart I have to log in on several interfaces again, reload  backups, and do lots of extra staff just because you wanted an immediate update!

I can restart browser by myself at the end of the day, thank you very much.

[Jon]

On the Firefox preferences page, under the Updates section, you should have the option to change your setting to allow Firefox to 'Check for updates but let you choose to install them'

[kds72v]

There is no way to disable this on Ubuntu other than using a different browser.

[rwg05]

I have Firefox 101.0.1 (64-bit) (was just forced to restart...) for Ubuntu and I do not see this option.

(Edit: this is in response to @Jon's comment. Sorry first time using this forum)

[jscher2000]

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@rwg05 wrote:

I have Firefox 101.0.1 (64-bit) (was just forced to restart...) for Ubuntu and I do not see this option.

(Edit: this is in response to @Jon's comment. Sorry first time using this forum)

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When you install Firefox through a package manager, the package manager usually schedules updates and overrides Firefox's setting. It also might be a slightly modified version of Firefox. You might check a Ubuntu forum to find suggestions from other Firefox users running the same package.

[Ipsrich]

I'm on Linux too, and the thing I don't understand is why Firefox needs to restart when the package manager runs an update.  I've not seen this elsewhere - if I see anything, it's a message telling me I need to restart the application if I want the latest updates.  The existing tabs all continue to work fine, so why can't I open a new tab?  This is really poor user experience.  Sometimes reloading a tab can lose loads from a long-running site.  I love just about everything else about Firefox (though I won't get started on the removal of the password manager app from Android!) so it would be lovely if this could be fixed.  Feel free to remind me on every opened tab that the browser needs to restart before the update will take effect, but please don't force it!