Changes in Firefox 57

Discussion about official Mozilla Firefox builds
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LIMPET235
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by LIMPET235 »

Yep.
I no longer use any software that requires installation since 2012...
But, it takes all kinds to ............(Add your own quote here).
[Ancient Amateur Astronomer.]
Win-10-H/64 bit/500G SSD/16 Gig Ram/450Watt PSU/350WattUPS/Firefox-115.0.2/T-bird-115.3.2./SnagIt-v10.0.1/MWP-7.12.125.

(Always choose the "Custom" Install.)
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Frank Lion
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

Yep, and the irony both there and over the years in Firefox Support, is that they all think they are making perfect sense and are 'merely justifiably frustrated' in that way that people are so amazingly forgiving..but only of themselves.

Well, I have to tell them, not that they'd listen, this is what that stuff reads like to other people - Mr Cheswick from, appropriately, 'One Few Over the Cuckoo's Nest '.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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GHM113
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by GHM113 »

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1366759
Consider API to hide tabs
For snooze tabs and containers we have implemented the ability to hide a tab.
This should be removed from memory but also keep page state like form filling and page position etc. Implementing this manually with no issues including performance is near impossible.
I guess this API will be useless for addons using toolbar API.

UPD: Wontfixed :-"
Sorry for my poor English.
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by GHM113 »

Unfortunately, very bad news about toolbar API. I asked Andy McKay when toolbar API would land in Nightly and he said he didn't know. According to him, the current status of toolbar API is in the roadmap:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/ ... 7#Toolbars
This bug suggests it will be happening, but it hasn't been assigned to anyone yet. There's some discussion around if this is a good feature or not. The only toolbar left in Firefox is the bookmarks toolbar and there's some pressure to remove that as well. We are not keen on providing APIs, only to have to remove them.

Of all the things in the roadmap, this is the most unclear at this moment
Now my vision of the situation. Andy Mckay is responsible for everything related to WebExtensions API and toolbar API bug still hasn't got an assignee after 2 years on bugzilla so if he says there is some pressure to remove toolbar API and toolbars altogether then toolbar API is in big trouble :(
Sorry for my poor English.
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Frank Lion
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

GHM113 wrote:Unfortunately, very bad news about toolbar API.
What did I link to back in January here? - http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p14727590

This - http://arewewebextensionsyet.com/
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by GHM113 »

Frank, you are a prophet! Take a look at this, written 15 minutes ago:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.c ... 246706#c16
Allow listening for mouse events on tabs
Andy McKay wrote:WebExtensions are about providing interaction with web content and less focusing on the browser chrome.

For example: being able to scroll up and down, using a mouse on the tab strip is already something in Firefox and capturing those events could potentially break it. There were also questions in the meeting about how this would work once WebExtensions are in their own process.

Whilst this bug is specifically about tabs, its about allowing specific events on the user interface to be captured and that's something that we've been avoiding as much as possible because of extensions breaking the browser chrome.
Resolution: --- → WONTFIX
](*,) [-X :evil:
Last edited by DanRaisch on May 23rd, 2017, 4:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Edited for language.
Sorry for my poor English.
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Aris
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Aris »

Wow, who saw that comming ;-)
Once again a confirmed giant FU goes from Mozilla/Firefox devs to all add-on developers and Firefox users.
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Mouse5 »

i think that bit from the developer of DTA pretty much summed it up also
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by GHM113 »

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.c ... 366812#c22
In the future I'm going to ask for a clear explanation as to why a debug only assert firing would be severe enough to justify crashing the user's browser, causing top crash issues, and affecting the Nightly quality especially as we're moving to the model where Nightly stability is being treated as more of a goal by release management.
:-k
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

In the near(ish) future, I'll be doing a locked Sticky FAQ for General on this 57 stuff and need 'your input'.

These FAQs are useful in providing relevant information (some here may recall a previous one of mine - http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... #p13492625) but they prove at their most useful just by giving vast hordes something to read and understand instead of going totally ape at the regular members here. In circumstances of 'high tension' even explaining what will happen, will be twisted by some as a sign of condoning it and it all hits the fan.

A proper FAQ stops all that. You point them at it and walk away.

So, as I don't follow Firefox development much, what changes in 57 are coming up, apart from the WebExtensions and end of XUL stuff, that need to be covered in the FAQ? I only need stuff that may/would affect the average user, not some really geeky stuff. Also, what UI APIs actually exist today? And any other info you think might be useful? Over to you guys for ideas on that. No great rush, we've got ages yet.

The rest of the FAQ is pretty straight forward - totally factual in content - this is what is going to be happening - explain what that actually means - if it affects you, then this is what your choices are - links to any relevant stuff - keep it simple and concise - Goodnight Vienna. :)
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by GHM113 »

Frank Lion wrote:Also, what UI APIs actually exist today? And any other info you think might be useful? Over to you guys for ideas on that.
I think it would be great to mention what kind of addons are possible to port to WebExtensions and list possible alternatives. For example:

Tab Mix Plus, Download Statusbar, Tab Groups aka Panorama, Colorful Tabs, Tab Kit, Tab Utilities, Tab Mix Lite
Possible with toolbar API that hasn't been implemented yet https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1215064
Tree Style Tab
Possible with sidebar API but it won't be compatible with other tab-related addons like Tab Mix Plus. Alternative: Tree Tabs, Sidebar Tabs (no tab trees)
AdBlock Plus, uBlock Origin
WebExtension available with some limitations https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1331351
Session Manager
Tim Nguyen: currently possible to restore back/forward tab history and list of closed tabs/windows in a session. https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/commen ... o/dhxoelo/
Alternatives: Session Buddy is currently being ported to WE
NoScript - developer is currently porting it to WE
Sorry for my poor English.
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by avada »

Do you guys think that Developer edition will retain the option to allow XUL extensions indefinitely post v57?
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

GHM113 wrote:I think it would be great to mention what kind of addons are possible to port to WebExtensions and list possible alternatives. For example:
By all means give as many examples, bug nos. etc. as you like here, as it gives me a better overall picture.

However, I've mainly got to get over the general concept of what WebExtensions are and what they do and, importantly, what they can't/are prevented from doing, in a very short space and to an audience that largely already gets confused by the difference between extensions and plugins. :P

That's fine, I can do that but the way to do an unsatisfactory FAQ is to name a few extensions but, inevitably, not the one the user wants to know about. So, extensions will get no more than used as examples, i.e. Adblock/uBlock = Yes, CTR = No, to demonstrate that general concept.

Then, to prevent a flood of 'Have You Got Mrs Bun, the Baker's Wife?' threads here about individual extensions, the FAQ then links to AMO with that GHacks stuff of how you figure if an extension is WE or legacy and let the users figure questions like that out for themselves. That also gets over the possible outdated information problem.
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by LewS »

I haven't seen much discussion of the proposed Themes API.

So far as I can tell it consists of an extended mission statement:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ueD ... nTJ4FU/pub
and a tracking bug:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1330328

The plan states that it will be ready by Fx 57 release, but
I'm guessing that won't happen.
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Re: Old Firefox Extensions Will Stop Working in Firefox 57,

Post by Frank Lion »

LewS wrote:I haven't seen much discussion of the proposed Themes API.
Thanks, Lew, I'd forgotten about that. As you say, unlikely by 57, but still worth a mention if only of their intent.
avada wrote:Do you guys think that Developer edition will retain the option to allow XUL extensions indefinitely post v57?
Purely a guess, but I reckon around for 1 year max, i.e. long enough for any legacy devs to convert their stuff to WE. For that to be possible/valid the whole Dev Build has to be maintained and I can't see them doing that, XUL-wise, once all the devs who are going to try/able to try converting have had their opportunity to do so.

Converting is the only use it would get, I reckon, no dev is going to work on maintaining their existing stuff just for 50 people using the Dev Build and Aris and others have already stated as much.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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