1642943 - Introduce a pref controlling post-facto dns resolution of single word hosts

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Address Bar, task, P2)

Description

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

When a single word that may be a valid intranet host is typed, we initially search for it, then fire a dns query to check if it may be a valid intranet host. If so we show a "did you mean to go to 'http://singleword/'" notification bar.

We should introduce an about:config pref to control this behavior.

Comment 1

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

Attachment: Bug 1642943 - Introduce a pref to control post-search DNS resolution of single word hosts. r=gijs,mkaply

Comment 2

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

this is temporarily on hold while we discuss and figure out things.

Comment 3

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f834e75495ed
Introduce a pref to control post-search DNS resolution of single word hosts. r=Gijs,mkaply

Comment 4

[Andreea Pavel [:apavel]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/f834e75495ed

Comment 5

[Marco Bonardo [:mak]]

Comment on attachment 9154381 [details]
Bug 1642943 - Introduce a pref to control post-search DNS resolution of single word hosts. r=gijs,mkaply

Beta/Release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined: This is a something that recently came up in press as a privacy hit. We agree in some cases users may not want to disclose their search terms to the DNS, and we're discussing possible heuristics to limit the reach of it in bug 1642623. In the meanwhile, this bug introduces a pref that allows to disable the DNS lookup, and a policy for enterprise.
• Is this code covered by automated tests?: Yes
• Has the fix been verified in Nightly?: No
• Needs manual test from QE?: No
• If yes, steps to reproduce: I think the automated test is good enough. Anyway STR may be:

1. set browser.fixup.domainwhitelist.localhost and browser.fixup.domainsuffixwhitelist.localhost to false
2. type localhost (without final slash, remove it if present) and Enter in the urlbar
3. check the "did you mean to go to 'localhost'" prompt shows
4. dismiss the prompt with the X, or the No Thanks button
5. set browser.urlbar.dnsResolveSingleWordsAfterSearch to 0
6. type localhost and Enter like at point 2
7. check the prompt doesn't show

• List of other uplifts needed: None
• Risk to taking this patch: Low
• Why is the change risky/not risky? (and alternatives if risky): This is a simple disabling pref excluding a feature, defaults to the status-quo. The worst case of breakage would be that we don't show the "did you mean to go to site" prompt, that by itself doesn't break navigation or anything else (and indeed it was broken for months in the past without big consequences...).
• String changes made/needed:

Comment 6

[Julien Cristau [:jcristau]]

Comment on attachment 9154381 [details]
Bug 1642943 - Introduce a pref to control post-search DNS resolution of single word hosts. r=gijs,mkaply

approved for 78.0b7

Comment 7

[Julien Cristau [:jcristau]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/95386b54ae0e