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Rebase Tor Browser and Base Browser alpha to 102.12esr

NOTE: All examples reference the rebase from 102.7.0esr to 102.8.0esr

Explanation of Variables - `$(ESR_VERSION)` : the Mozilla defined ESR version, used in various places for building tor-browser tags, labels, etc - example : `102.8.0` - `(ESR_TAG)` : the Mozilla defined hg (Mercurial) tag associated with `(ESR_VERSION)` - example : `FIREFOX_102_8_0esr_RELEASE` - `$(ESR_TAG_PREV)` : the Mozilla defined hg (Mercurial) tag associated with the previous ESR version when rebasing (ie, the ESR version we are rebasing from) - `$(BROWSER_MAJOR)` : the browser major version - example : `12` - `$(BROWSER_MINOR)` : the browser minor version - example : either `0` or `5`; Alpha's is always `(Stable + 5) % 10` - `$(BASE_BROWSER_BRANCH)` : the full name of the current `base-browser` branch - example: `base-browser-102.8.0esr-12.5-1` - `$(BASE_BROWSER_BRANCH_PREV)` : the full name of the previous `base-browser` branch - example: `base-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1` - `$(TOR_BROWSER_BRANCH)` : the full name of the current `tor-browser` branch - example: `tor-browser-102.8.0esr-12.5-1` - `$(TOR_BROWSER_BRANCH_PREV)` : the full name of the previous `tor-browser` branch - example: `tor-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1`

NOTE: It is assumed that we've already identified the new esr branch during the tor-browser stable rebase

Bookkeeping

Update Branch Protection Rules

  • In Repository Settings:
    • Remove previous alpha base-browser and tor-browser branch protection rules (this will prevent pushing new changes to the branches being rebased)
    • Create new base-browser and tor-browser branch protection rule:
      • Branch: *-$(ESR_VERSION)esr-$(BROWSER_MAJOR).$(BROWSER_MINOR)-1*
        • example: *-102.8.0esr-12.5-1*
      • Allowed to merge: Maintainers
      • Allowed to push and merge: Maintainers
      • Allowed to force push: false

Create New Branches

  • Create new alpha base-browser branch from Firefox mercurial tag (found during the stable rebase)
    • branch name in the form: base-browser-$(ESR_VERSION)esr-$(BROWSER_MAJOR).$(BROWSER_MINOR)-1
    • example: base-browser-102.8.0esr-12.5-1
  • Create new alpha tor-browser branch from Firefox mercurial tag
    • branch name in the form: tor-browser-$(ESR_VERSION)esr-$(BROWSER_MAJOR).$(BROWSER_MINOR)-1
    • example: tor-browser-102.8.0esr-12.5-1
  • Push new base-browser branch to origin
  • Push new tor-browser branch to origin

Rebase base-browser

  • Checkout a new local branch for the base-browser rebase
    • example: git branch base-browser-rebase FIREFOX_102_8_0esr_BUILD1
  • Cherry-pick the previous base-browser commits up to base-browser's build1 tag onto new base-browser rebase branch
    • example: git cherry-pick FIREFOX_102_7_0esr_BUILD1..base-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1-build1
  • Rebase and autosquash these cherry-picked commits
    • example: git rebase --autosquash --interactive FIREFOX_102_8_0esr_BUILD1 HEAD
    • (Optional) Patch reordering
      • Relocate new base-browser patches in the patch-set to enforce this rough thematic ordering:
        • MOZILLA BACKPORTS - official Firefox patches we have backported to our ESR branch: Android-specific security updates, critical bug fixes, worthwhile features, etc
        • MOZILLA REVERTS - revert commits of official Firefox patches
        • UPLIFT CANDIDATES - patches which stand on their own and should be uplifted to mozilla-central
        • BUILD CONFIGURATION - tools/scripts, gitlab templates, etc
        • BROWSER CONFIGURATION - branding, mozconfigs, preference overrides, etc
        • SECURITY PATCHES - security improvements, hardening, etc
        • PRIVACY PATCHES - fingerprinting, linkability, proxy bypass, etc
        • FEATURES - new functionality: updater, UX, letterboxing, security level, add-on integration, etc
  • Cherry-pick remainder of patches after the build1 tag
    • example: git cherry-pick base-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1-build1 origin/base-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1
  • Compare patch sets to ensure nothing weird happened during conflict resolution:
    • diff of diffs:
      • Do the diff between current_patchset.diff and rebased_patchset.diff with your preferred difftool and look at differences on lines that starts with + or -
      • git diff $(ESR_TAG_PREV)..$(BASE_BROWSER_BRANCH_PREV) > current_patchset.diff
      • git diff $(ESR_TAG)..$(BASE_BROWSER_BRANCH) > rebased_patchset.diff
      • diff current_patchset.diff and rebased_patchset.diff
        • If everything went correctly, the only lines which should differ should be the lines starting with index abc123...def456
    • rangediff: git range-diff $(ESR_TAG_PREV)..$(BASE_BROWSER_BRANCH_PREV) $(ESR_TAG)..HEAD
      • example: git range-dif FIREFOX_102_7_0esr_BUILD1..origin/base-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1 FIREFOX_102_8_0esr_BUILD1..HEAD
  • Open MR for the base-browser rebase
  • Merge
  • Sign/Tag HEAD of the merged new base-browser branch:
    • Tag : base-browser-$(ESR_VERSION)esr-$(BROWSER_MAJOR).$(BROWSER_MINOR)-1-build1
    • Message : Tagging build1 for $(ESR_VERSION)esr-based alpha
  • Push tag to origin

Rebase tor-browser

  • Checkout a new branch for the tor-browser rebase starting from the base-browser build1 tag
    • example: git branch tor-browser-rebase base-browser-102.8.0esr-12.5-1-build1
  • Cherry-pick the previous tor-browser commits from base-browser's previous build1 tag up to tor-browser's newest buildN tag (not necessarily build1 if we have multiple build tags)
    • example: git cherry-pick base-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1-build1..tor-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1-build1
  • Rebase and autosquash these cherry-picked commits (from the last new base-browser commit to HEAD)
    • example: git rebase --autosquash --interactive base-browser-102.8.0esr-12.5-1-build1 HEAD
    • (Optional) Patch reordering
      • Relocate new tor-browser patches in the patch-set to enforce this rough thematic ordering:
        • BUILD CONFIGURATION - tools/scripts, gitlab templates, etc
        • BROWSER CONFIGURATION - branding, mozconfigs, preference overrides, etc
        • UPDATER PATCHES - updater tweaks, signing keys, etc
        • SECURITY PATCHES - non tor-dependent security improvements, hardening, etc
        • PRIVACY PATCHES - non tor-dependent fingerprinting, linkability, proxy bypass, etc
        • FEAURES - non tor-dependent features
        • TOR INTEGRATION - legacy tor-launcher/torbutton, tor modules, bootstrapping, etc
        • TOR SECURITY PATCHES - tor-specific security improvements
        • TOR PRIVACY PATCHES - tor-specific privacy improvements
        • TOR FEATURES - new tor-specific functionality: manual, onion-location, onion service client auth, etc
  • Cherry-pick remainder of patches after the last buildN tag
    • example: git cherry-pick base-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1-build1..origin/tor-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1
  • Rebase and autosquash again (from the last new base-browser commit to HEAD), this time replacing all fixup and squash commands with pick. The goal here is to have all of the fixup and squash commits beside the commit which they modify.
    • example: git rebase --autosquash --interactive base-browser-102.8.0esr-12.5-1-build1 HEAD
    • NOTE: Do not allow fixup or squash commands here!
  • Compare patch sets to ensure nothing weird happened during conflict resolution:
    • diff of diffs:
      • Do the diff between current_patchset.diff and rebased_patchset.diff with your preferred difftool and look at differences on lines that starts with + or -
      • git diff $(ESR_TAG_PREV)..$(BROWSER_BRANCH_PREV) > current_patchset.diff
      • git diff $(ESR_TAG)..$(BROWSER_BRANCH) > rebased_patchset.diff
      • diff current_patchset.diff and rebased_patchset.diff
        • If everything went correctly, the only lines which should differ should be the lines starting with index abc123...def456 (unless the previous base-browser branch includes changes not included in the previous tor-browser branch)
    • rangediff: git range-diff $(ESR_TAG_PREV)..$(TOR_BROWSER_BRANCH_PREV) $(ESR_TAG)..HEAD
      • example: git range-dif FIREFOX_102_7_0esr_BUILD1..origin/tor-browser-102.7.0esr-12.5-1 FIREFOX_102_8_0esr_BUILD1..HEAD
  • Open MR for the tor-browser rebase
  • Merge
  • Sign/Tag HEAD of the merged new tor-browser branch:
    • Tag : tor-browser-$(ESR_VERSION)esr-$(BROWSER_MAJOR).$(BROWSER_MINOR)-1-build1
    • Message : Tagging build1 for $(ESR_VERSION)esr-based alpha
  • Push tag to origin
Edited by richard