1721428 - Unreliable permission request from commands

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 1493396

(WebExtensions :: General, defect)

Description

[max]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:90.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/90.0

Steps to reproduce:

Request for an optional permission does not work from onCommand listener at least just after loading of an extension.

Try the following extension that defines commands and keyboard shortcuts for actions to request and to revoke a permission

file manifest.json

{
	"manifest_version": 2,
	"name": "Bug: Permission for command",
	"version": "0.1",
	"commands": {
		"_execute_browser_action": {
			"description": "Request Permission",
			"suggested_key": { "default": "Ctrl+Shift+L" }
		},
		"PERM_REQUEST": {
			"description": "Request Permission",
			"suggested_key": { "default": "Ctrl+Shift+S" }
		},
		"PERM_REVOKE": {
			"description": "Revoke Permission",
			"suggested_key": { "default": "Ctrl+Shift+U" }
		}
	},
	"browser_action": { "default_title": "Bug: Permission for command" },
	"background": { "scripts": [ "background.js" ] },
	"optional_permissions": [ "tabs" ]
}

file background.js

"use strict";

function bugDemoCommandListener(command) {
	const permissions = browser.runtime.getManifest().optional_permissions;
	console.log("bugDemoCommandListener: %o", command);
	switch (command) {
		case "PERM_REQUEST":
			browser.permissions.request({permissions}).then(console.log, console.error);
			break;
		case "PERM_REVOKE":
			browser.permissions.remove({permissions}).then(console.log, console.error);
			break;
		default:
			throw new Error(`Unsupported command ${command}`);
	}
}
browser.commands.onCommand.addListener(bugDemoCommandListener);
browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function browserActionListener() {
	bugDemoCommandListener("PERM_REQUEST");
});

1 Load it as a temporary extension
2 Try [Ctrl+Shift+S] shortcut for a command that requests a permission

Actual results:

• Popup for permission request does not appear
• An error logged to extension console

  bugDemoCommandListener:  PERM_REQUEST background.js:5:10
  Error: An unexpected error occurred
  

• Errors are logged to browser console

  window.PopupNotifications is undefined ExtensionsUI.jsm:458
    promise resource:///modules/ExtensionsUI.jsm:458
    showPermissionsPrompt resource:///modules/ExtensionsUI.jsm:374
    observe resource:///modules/ExtensionsUI.jsm:314
    allow chrome://extensions/content/parent/ext-permissions.js:81
    request chrome://extensions/content/parent/ext-permissions.js:71
    request self-hosted:1175
    result resource://gre/modules/ExtensionParent.jsm:935
    withPendingBrowser resource://gre/modules/ExtensionParent.jsm:491
    result resource://gre/modules/ExtensionParent.jsm:935
    callAndLog resource://gre/modules/ExtensionParent.jsm:897
    recvAPICall resource://gre/modules/ExtensionParent.jsm:934
    InterpretGeneratorResume self-hosted:1482
    AsyncFunctionNext self-hosted:692
  TypeError: window.PopupNotifications is undefined
  ExtensionsUI.jsm:458:7
  

Expected results:

Doorhanger for additional permission is requested.

Notice that the command for revoking permission works as expected ([Ctrl+Shift+U]), command for browser action (that requests permissions) works ([Ctrl+Shift+L]). After a shortcut for browser action, the command for [Ctrl+Shift+S] starts working (popup appears for it)

Comment 1

[max]

I noticed this problem while I was preparing example extension for Bug #1721393, earlier command for browser action were enough and it works.

Comment 2

[Alex Cornestean]

Hello,

I managed to reproduce the issue on the latest Nightly (92.0a1/20210721212617), Beta (91.0b5/20210720190304) nor Release (90.0.1/20210716144314) under Windows 10 x64 and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

I had to remove a duplicate shortcut from the built in Firefox Screenshots which used the same shortcut (CTRL+SHIFT+S) as the test add-on.

Nonetheless, pressing CTRL+SHIFT+S will not bring up the permissions doorhanger and the mentioned errors are logged in both the add-on console and browser console (see screenshots).

As mentioned, after pressing CTRL+SHIFT+L for the browser action, the CTRL+SHIFT+S command starts working and the doorhanger is displayed. See the attached video.

Comment 3

[Alex Cornestean]

Attachment: 2021-07-22_11h17_02.png

Comment 4

[Alex Cornestean]

Attachment: 2021-07-22_11h17_31.png

Comment 5

[Alex Cornestean]

Attachment: 2021-07-22_11h30_29.mp4

Comment 6

[Tomislav Jovanovic :zombie]

Rob says this looks weird.

Comment 7

[Rob Wu [:robwu]]

window is the Hidden XUL window. Duplicate of bug 1493396