[tbb-dev] future of tor-launcher? - Firefox XPCOM / XUL based add-ons deprecation

[Mark Smith]

On 1/10/17 5:18 AM, anonym wrote:
> In Tails we run Tor Launcher as a stand-alone XUL application. Last I
> checked it was not clear whether this would still be supported by
> Firefox + WebExtensions. Do you know anything more about this?

Unfortunately, I do not know anything about Mozilla's plans in regard to
standalone XUL applications. Currently Tails is using the firefox -app
feature, correct?

In the long run, I expect Mozilla to stop using XUL entirely and to
migrate to HTML-based UI even inside Firefox. Although it will take them
a long time to make that transition, I could see them dropping support
for standalone XUL applications relatively soon.

I don't expect WebExtensions to support a standalone app mode, although
for your purposes it might be acceptable to start the browser with
TOR_CONFIGURE_ONLY=1. I guess there are some differences in terms of how
much Firefox code is executed as well as loss of a custom icon though.

-- 
Mark Smith
Pearl Crescent
http://pearlcrescent.com/

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 473 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tbb-dev/attachments/20170124/832190f7/attachment.sig>