1280236 - Implement chrome.management.uninstall

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1269288

(WebExtensions :: General, defect, P5)

Description

[Andy McKay]

So that an add-on can uninstall another add-on, which will support bug 1280233.

Comment 1

[Nancy Grossman]

Can any WebExtension do this, or is this a one-off for TestPilot? And when I do install TestPilot, what's to prevent it from uninstalling e.g. TabCenter, which I've already installed?

It would be more generally useful to let a WebExtension specify dependencies on other WEs, and implement a dependency resolution system instead. Useful to TestPilot, useful to other extensions with add-on dependencies [1], useful for extensions to share main-process APIs among themselves [2].


[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=This+add-on+requires+the+following+add-ons+to+work+properly+site%3Aaddons.mozilla.org
[2] https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/t/proposal-native-js-to-embrace-extend-the-webextensions-api/3457

Comment 2

[Andy McKay]

Note that Chrome already allows this, so we'd probably have to implement this for Chrome parity:

https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/management#method-uninstall

I personally am wary about building out dependency management in WebExtensions, I'm not sure of the value. However probably the best place to put that as a seperate bug would be as a dependency of bug 1263011. See also bug 1223642.

Comment 3

[Bob Silverberg [:bsilverberg]]

We will not be implementing this until we are presented with a valid use case from add-on developers.

Comment 4

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

Most of the add-on management on testpilot.firefox.com can be done on the website itself.  The only case I can think of in use right now where Test Pilot uninstalls an existing add-on is when Test Pilot itself is uninstalled, it takes all the active experiments with it.  Seen from a user point of view, this is "Leaving the Test Pilot program" all in one swoop.

Converting Test Pilot to a web extension is likely going to become a 2017 goal for the Test Pilot team so I'd like to reopen discussion on this.

Comment 5

[Tim Nguyen :ntim]

(In reply to Bob Silverberg [:bsilverberg] from comment #3)
> We will not be implementing this until we are presented with a valid use
> case from add-on developers.

Add-on manager in sidebar: all in one sidebar provides this.

Add-on manager in panel: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/simple-add-on-manager/

Comment 6

[Shane Caraveo (:mixedpuppy)]

(In reply to Tim Nguyen :ntim from comment #5)
> (In reply to Bob Silverberg [:bsilverberg] from comment #3)
> > We will not be implementing this until we are presented with a valid use
> > case from add-on developers.
> 
> Add-on manager in sidebar: all in one sidebar provides this.
> 
> Add-on manager in panel:
> https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/simple-add-on-manager/

That's a cute addon certainly.  However, the functionality already exists in Firefox, and it only has 615 users.  Through 57 we have to be selective in where we apply our resources, I don't feel like this is a big enough use case.

Comment 7

[Shane Caraveo (:mixedpuppy)]

(In reply to Wil Clouser [:clouserw] from comment #4)
> Converting Test Pilot to a web extension is likely going to become a 2017
> goal for the Test Pilot team so I'd like to reopen discussion on this.

Is this the only blocker on that?  Is anyone going to generate a list of issues (real soon) that would need to be addressed for test pilot?

Comment 8

[Jared Hirsch [:jhirsch] (he/him) (Needinfo please)]

Since the related bug 1280237 was WONTFIXed, should this bug also be closed?