1803234 - Remove gpsd support

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core :: DOM: Geolocation, task, P5)

Description

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Firefox's gpsd code is not enabled by default (and, according to bug 1763347, doesn't work). We should remove gpsd support by deleting MOZ_GPSD code and GpsdLocationProvider.cpp/h files:

https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/search?q=MOZ_GPSD
https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/search?q=GpsdLocationProvider

Firefox's solution for geolocation on Linux is:

1. Flatpak's org.freedesktop.portal.Location provider (bug 1759840)
2. Geoclue (enabled in Firefox 102 in bug 1769664)
3. Mozilla's Wi-Fi Location Service (MLS) if the Flatpak provider or Geoclue are unavailable or return an error. (bug 1772125)

Geoclue supports multiple geolocation providers, including GPS devices, so Firefox can still benefit from GPS devices, even if we're not calling gpsd directly.

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/geoclue/geoclue

Comment 1

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Attachment: Bug 1803234 - Remove gpsd support. r?jld

Firefox's gpsd support is unmaintained, disabled by default, and doesn't currently work. Firefox tries to use Flatpak's location provider or Geoclue, which can use a GPS device, if available.

Comment 2

[Kagami Rosylight [:saschanaz] (they/them)]

FWIW, the new telemetry added by bug 1905928 says there's literal zero use for gpsd, so certainly no distribution is building with it, which makes this safe.

Comment 3

[Emilio Cobos Álvarez [:emilio]]

Yeah we should just remove this. Chris do you have cycles to rebase the patch? If not please ni? me and I can.

Comment 4

[Chris Peterson [:cpeterson]]

Attachment: Bug 1803234 - Remove gpsd support. r?emilio

Firefox's gpsd support is unmaintained and disabled by default.

Comment 5

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/5136bce5fa94
Remove gpsd support. r=emilio

Comment 6

[pstanciu]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/5136bce5fa94