1320368 - changing preferences under about:preferences within containers

Status: NEW

(Core :: DOM: Security, defect, P3)

Description

[Kamil Jozwiak [:kjozwiak]]

We need to decide on what we should do with about:preferences in regards with containers. Maybe it's not even an issue, but I think we need some UX/UI that will let users know that changes in about:preferences are global even if they're being done within a particular container. Here's a quick scenario where a user could possibly get confused with the UX:

* open a container tab via the long press on the "+ new tab" button
* once the container tab is opened, select "Manage Containers" under the same menu (long press on + button)
* the about:preferences#containers window will open within the same container that the user just opened

In this particular case, opening about:preferences#containers in the container tab might give users the wrong impression. Users might think that changes in this particular tab will only affect the container rather than the entire browser.

We've discussed this issue in the past in our weekly containers meeting, but I don't really remember what the general consensus was.

Comment 1

[Kamil Jozwiak [:kjozwiak]]

> * open a container tab via the long press on the "+ new tab" button
> * once the container tab is opened, select "Manage Containers" under the
> same menu (long press on + button)
> * the about:preferences#containers window will open within the same
> container that the user just opened

We should always be opening about:preferences tabs in the default context. Opening about:preferences within a container tab might give users the wrong impression. Users might think that changes being made in about:preferences within a container tab will only affect that particular container, however the changes will be applied globally.

Comment 2

[Firefox Bug Husbandry Bot]

Bulk change per https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1401020

Comment 3

[Graham Perrin]

> We should always be opening about:preferences tabs in the default context. …

Should the same be true for all other `about:…` URLs?

Comment 4

[Graham Perrin]

Attachment: a click on 'Manage containers'

Comment 5

[Graham Perrin]

Attachment: an about: URL, contained

> … * the about:preferences#containers window will open 
> within the same container … 

A screenshot exemplifying the issue. 

----

Side note: these two screenshots are frames from a ~six-minute screen recording of testing whether leakage comparable to <https://github.com/kesselborn/conex/issues/58> with Conex was possible with Containers On The Go <https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/containers-on-the-go/>. AFAICT, not possible with the latter.