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The native api isn't only necessary for accessing operating system resources or running natively compiled code. It's also to interact with the browser at a fun
by uxcn 11y ago
The native api isn't only necessary for accessing operating system resources or running natively compiled code. It's also to interact with the browser at a fundamental level. It's extremely useful for things that modify the user interface or need to interact with the dom, like vimperator, ublock, tab mix plus, etc...
I think one of the bigger problems with a non-native plugin api is that doing anything non-trivial could become either unnecessarily complex or possibly even intractable. I'd be curious how they are planning to support extensions like vimperator or even no-script.
- eleh 11y ago> I'd be curious how they are planning to support extensions like vimperator or even no-script. That will not be supported anymore. Regardless of the user's desires. They want you to consume media and buy their apps in the browsers app store. That's all you are supposed to do with your browser in the future vision of Google, Mozilla & Co. Time for a revival of fat client desktop applications, even if they mainly display HTML content or call web services...
- mrbig4545 11y agoaddons do not use npapi, so vimperator, ublock, tab mix plus, etc will still work
- uxcn 11y agoFor now, but XUL and XPCOM are also on the chopping block. Overall, it looks like Mozilla is planning to get rid of native access entirely.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- uxcn 11y agoFrom what I can glean, content handlers should no longer be native, and WebExtensions are going to be more controlled in what you can and can't access.
- dblohm7 11y agoThere's nothing stopping you from bundling native code with your addon and having the addon launch the native process and communicate via a pipe.
- Excavator 11y agoWell, the folks behind Vimperator sound optimistic at least. https://github.com/vimperator/vimperator-labs/issues/264 https://github.com/vimperator/vimperator-labs/issues/264
- jccalhoun 11y agoThe creator of noscript also seems optimistic: https://hackademix.net/2015/08/22/webextensions-api-noscript/ https://hackademix.net/2015/08/22/webextensions-api-noscript...
- uxcn 11y agonative.js looks interesting. It almost seems like it's recreating micro-kernel type interaction within the browser.
- uxcn 11y agoI guess the real worry is the quality of the APIs that are going to replace native access.