[tbb-dev] Future Plan for Tor Browser for Android

[Matthew Finkel]

On Thu, Jun 14, 2018 at 10:00:46PM -0300, Igor Oliveira wrote:
> Hi Matthew,
> 
> Thanks for the heads up. I have one question, Are they going to freeze even the
> Android SDK and NDK versions?
> 

Mozilla are actively developing GeckoView, so they won't freeze the
SDK/NDK versions. However, historically they've been careful about
when they increase the toolchain and SDK versions, and they only
increased it when they decided it was necessary.

> 
> On 06/14/2018 08:51 PM, Matthew Finkel wrote:
> > At the Mozilla All-Hands in SF we had some discussions about Mozilla's
> > future plans on Android. Currently, Mozilla are actively supporting four
> > Android app web browsers - Fennec[0], Focus[1], Rocket[2], and Firefox
> > on Fire TV[3].
> > 
> > Focus, Rocket, and Firefox on Fire TV are all minimal browsers, and they
> > do not have the same features as Fennec. Fennec is the codebase Orfox
> > uses, and it is the browser we are currently planning on using for Tor
> > Browser. However, Fennec is not being actively developed, but Mozilla
> > are keeping Fennec alive and they do not have an EOL date.
> > 
> > The two important parts from this are:
> >   1) The Fennec code will not change much over the next 12+ months
> >   2) We can safely continuing using Fennec for the 12+ months
> > 
> > This effectively means Fennec 67 will be very close to Fennec 60ESR.
> > Therefore, I propose we backout our current plan of following Fennec
> > releases and we make this simple and follow ESR (exactly the same as
> > desktop). We can track on-going changes in mozilla-central that affect
> > Fennec, but these changes should not happen often - backporting any high
> > priority patches shouldn't be difficult.
> > 
> > The two additional components I should mention are GeckoView[4] and
> > Fenix[5]. GeckoView is an Android library acting as a glue-layer between
> > the Gecko native code and the UI/Browser app layer. Firefox Focus is
> > currenty using Android WebView (Android's built-in renderer), but they
> > are moving Focus onto using GeckoView in the very near future. Fennec
> > currently uses parts of GeckoView, so if we decide we should use the ESR
> > then we should also watch the work done on GeckoView in case there are
> > any improvements we want.
> > 
> > Fenix is the last piece in this puzzle. It is a new browser Mozilla will
> > be working on, and it has a lot of promise - but currently it does not
> > exist in a form we can use. We may want to consider using Fenix in 2-3
> > years.
> > 
> > Mozilla's Android Components project is also interesting. When it is
> > ready, we could create our own browser by picking-and-choosing the parts
> > we want. Unfortunately, this isn't as easy as hardening an existing
> > private browsing mode. This is the reason I think we should continue
> > working on Fennec right now.
> > 
> > In conclusion, I propose we develop Tor Browser for Android based on
> > Firefox Fennec ESR. This is not an official ESR, but the changes between
> > Fennec releases will be very small (if any changes at all). This will
> > allow us maintain the same branches for desktop and mobile.
> > 
> > [0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.firefox
> > [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.focus
> > [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.mozilla.rocket
> > [3] https://www.amazon.com/Mozilla-Firefox-for-Fire-TV/dp/B078B5YMPD
> > [4] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/GeckoView
> > [5] https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix
> > [6] https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/android-components
> > _______________________________________________
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> > tbb-dev at lists.torproject.org
> > https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tbb-dev
> > 
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