Is there some deadline for WebExtensions API availability?

Add-ons Development
#1

In less than 10 months the release of Firefox version 57 will make any extension type other than WebExtensions obsolete.

I am currently planning to port a complex overlay add-on, but at this point several key APIs are not yet ready and hence I am unable to port my add-on at this point.

After inititial research I am missing:

  • A toolbar API
  • A sidebar API
  • A proxy API

Porting my add-on will easily take 2 - 3 month. Now I wonder if there is some date in time where I can expect all key API’s to be ready?

Are there any transition time planned where WebExtensions are fully developed, so we have a chance to port older add-ons with all API’s available?

3 Likes
#2

I’d suggest you ask this in the dev-addons mailing list.

#3

I’d suggest you ask this in the dev-addons mailing list

Does this reply mean that most developers do not read these posts?

Is there a better place than this to discuss add-on development issues?

#4

Does this reply mean that most developers do not read these posts?

It depends what you mean by “most developers”. Quite a few developers read these posts. I haven’t seen many developers from the Firefox add-ons engineering team active in this forum. But there are some very technically knowledgeable and helpful community members in here.

But your question isn’t a technical one, it’s a product/project one. I just think you are more likely to get an answer to it in dev-addons.

#5

I asked at the mailing list as suggested.

My original question: “Is there some deadline for WebExtensions API availability?”

Unfortunately the answer seems to be “No”. There is no deadline and no list of minimum requirements or essential APIs that must be ready before WebExtensions are enforced and there is no set transition time planned.

WebExtensions will be enforced with version 57 and no one knows which APIs will be available.

This was not the answer that I had hoped for, but it seems to be the case.

#6

I assume - though I haven’t read anywhere - that that’s v57 of the desktop version. But for those of us who want our webextensions to work on both desktop and Android the availability of the Android APIs seems to be a dependency - even for the release of a desktop-only webextension, as I suggested here.

#7

jorgev confirmed here that the Fx57 deadline is supposed to apply to Android.

Tracking <a href=https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1185785>bug 1185785 is a good place to check progress.