[Pkg-mozext-maintainers] [proposal] XUL Extensions policy additions

[Mike Hommey]

No thoughts on the following ?

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 12:27:23AM +0100, Mike Hommey wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 06:55:08PM +0100, Guido Günther wrote:
> > On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 01:44:07AM +0100, Mike Hommey wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > I'd like to propose the following addition to the XUL extension policy:
> > > 
> > > - Preference files that are normally found in defaults/preferences in
> > >   the xpi should be installed in /etc/mozilla-extensions and should
> > >   preferably named extension-name.js.
> > > 
> > > A few notes about the above:
> > > - I'm proposing /etc/mozilla-extensions because there is already such a
> > >   directory, and moving the configuration files would be painful for
> > >   those packages that do implement this.
> > > - The file name clause may be better as a "must" than a "should
> > >   preferably"
> > > - Obviously a symbolic link from
> > >   /usr/share/mozilla/extensions/foobar/default/preferences must be
> > >   added.
> > > 
> > > On an unrelated note, I'd like to suggest to move the policy in its own
> > > wiki page, so that it can be referred more easily. Something like
> > > Mozilla/ExtensionsPolicy could be a good place IMHO, so that I can add
> > > Mozilla/PluginsPolicy and maybe others later.
> > Sure. Please go ahead!
> 
> Done. I also put a link from Teams/DebianMozExtTeam, though on the long
> term, it should be in another category than TODO.
> 
> I'll finalize the wording for the preferences files location and will
> update the policy draft in the next few days. There is also something
> else I would like to discuss for inclusion.
> 
> I've been thinking (and my lintian check prototype helped in realizing
> some things I hadn't thought through), and I'd have some more
> propositions.
> 
> First, I'd like to relax the location of the extensions files
> themselves. Let's say they can be anywhere, as far as there are proper
> symbolic links in the appropriate places under
> /usr/{lib,share}/mozilla/extensions.
> 
> Second, I'd like to reaffirm that the extensions files should also be
> available in /usr/{lib,share}/mozilla/extensions/common/em:id, except
> for extensions that support only one application (think langpacks,
> mostly), which should use /usr/{lib,share}/mozilla/extensions/app-id/em:id.
> 
> Third, that it's discouraged, though not formally forbidden, to put
> files outside /usr/{lib,share}/mozilla/extensions, especially
> considering that:
> - If an extension is for one application only, there only needs to be
>   one location under /usr/{lib,share}/mozilla/extensions. It's pointless
>   to make it a symlink to somewhere else.
> - On the long term, extensions that are shared between applications are
>   going in a single location, to, in which case it's also pointless to
>   make that single location a symlink to somewhere else. Which is why we
>   encourage such extensions to use the
>   /usr/{lib,share}/mozilla/extensions/common/em:id directory as their
>   canonical location.
> 
> Finally, I wonder if we don't actually need to allow some extensions
> (I'm actually thinking about langpacks) to install directly under
> /usr/lib/appname/extensions. The fact is, we may have 3 different kinds
> of extensions instead of 2:
> - Extensions that work in several applications
> - Extensions that work in one application whatever its branding is
> - Extensions that work in one application and depends on its branding
> IIRC, langpacks *do* include branding. To take an example, iceweasel and
> firefox share the same application id, which is something you'd want, by
> design. But the problem is that if we'd install iceweasel langpacks in
> the /usr/share/mozilla/extensions/iceweasel-appid, firefox would also be
> getting these extensions, that could very well rename some items from
> Firefox to Iceweasel, which is kind of unexpected.
> But maybe I'm just being overzealous, here, and we needn't care.
> 
> What do you think ?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Mike
> 
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