1827536 - Dynamically add specific constraints for when the SearchSERPTelemetry actor is loaded

Status: ASSIGNED

(Firefox :: Search, task, P3)

Description

[James Teow [:jteow]]

One idea :standard8 had was to parse a list of search provider domains from search-telemetry-v2.json to dynamically generate a list of matches in the matches array of the SearchSERPTelemetry WINDOWACTOR entry.

When defining these matches, we can use match patterns: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Match_patterns

Comment 1

[James Teow [:jteow]]

Attachment: Bug 1827536 - Determine match expression at runtime - r?standard8!

Comment 2

[James Teow [:jteow]]

Hi Nika,

We on the search team are wondering if there's a possibility for match patterns with actors to allow any top level domains to be permitted using a wildcard on a second level domain?

We'd like to restrict SearchSERPTelemetry actor to a specific set of search provider URLs. Alas, Google has many TLD's and with WebExtension match patterns, it is not possible to permit any TLD with a specific second level domain.

It seems our only option currently is to use all possible Google domains in the list of matches. Before going that route, we wanted to check to see if it's possible to make an exception in the actor code.

Comment 3

[Nika Layzell [:nika] (ni? for response)]

(In reply to James Teow [:jteow] from comment #2)

It seems our only option currently is to use all possible Google domains in the list of matches. Before going that route, we wanted to check to see if it's possible to make an exception in the actor code.

As you noted, the match patterns we support for JSWindowActors are the same match patterns supported by WebExtensions (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Match_patterns). We don't really do anything special with them, so features which are not supported by WebExtension match patterns are also not supported for JSWindowActors.

Unfortunately I think that enumerating the full list of supported domains may be the only reasonable option at the moment. We presumably wouldn't want the JSWindowActor to be loading on some unsupported domain like google.pizza anyway. If this ends up being a performance or memory usage issue of some kind, we can potentially look into other options like adding a special case into the JSWindowActor validation code for this scenario. I think it should be possible to dynamically generate the match pattern from a list like the one you linked above when registering the JSWIndowActor though, which might save some of the effort.

Leaving a ni? for :kmag in case there's some insight into how we could make sure that this match pattern is as efficient as possible.

Comment 4

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

Redirect a needinfo that is pending on an inactive user to the triage owner.
:standard8, since the bug has recent activity, could you have a look please?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 5

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

As this is WebExtensions related, forwarding onto Rob to see if they know or know who to ask.

Comment 6

[James Teow [:jteow]]

At this point, we're looking to land a solution, which as is, uses a list of discrete match patterns with the existing match pattern syntax.

We can always revisit the issue if a notable performance regression is observed.

Comment 7

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

There is an r+ patch which didn't land and no activity in this bug for 2 weeks.
:jteow, could you have a look please?
If you still have some work to do, you can add an action "Plan Changes" in Phabricator.
For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 8

[James Teow [:jteow]]

Will land this in the 124 cycle. I was just waiting for the new cycle to begin in case a regression was found.