270895 - Freeze nsIHelperAppLauncher and nsIHelperAppLauncherDialog

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core Graveyard :: Embedding: APIs, defect)

Description

[jhp (no longer active)]

Freeze nsIExternalHelperAppService.

Eclipse and the embedding examples make use of nsIHelperAppLauncher.  Also, this
IDL file contains three interfaces, which should each have their own file,
according to http://www.mozilla.org/projects/embedding/HowToFreeze.html.

Comment 1

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

>Freeze nsIExternalHelperAppService.
>Eclipse and the embedding examples make use of nsIHelperAppLauncher.

so which of the two do you want to freeze?

Comment 2

[jhp (no longer active)]

Biesi, you're too quick for me!  Changing summary accordingly.  Also, might as
well use this bug to freeze nsIHelperAppLauncherDialog.

Comment 3

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

heh. sorry for being quick ;)

hm.. there's no nsIHelperAppLauncherService... do you mean *Dialog?

some comments on nsIHelperAppLauncher:
- I'd kinda like to change nsIHelperAppLauncher slightly (add a method and a
property), see patch in bug 57342
- nsIHelperAppLauncher should probably use a lowercase cancel method instead of
the current uppercase one
- the rememberThisPreference arguments are currently ignored, as is the chosen
passed application (iirc)

- setWebProgressListener: not sure why this exists
- closeProgressWindow: doubtful that this actually ever called; mozilla does not
require calling it anyway (i.e. no leaks even if not called)

Comment 4

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

These apis are generally in pretty bad shape, still...

I know they're rather critical, but I'd hate to freeze them as-is.

Comment 5

[Darin Fisher]

It would be wise for us to seriously consider supporting interfaces in use by
Eclipse, even if that means freezing them as obsolete interfaces.  I hear your
concerns about freezing poorly engineered interfaces, but compatibility is
important.

Comment 6

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

I agree, but we have dozens of bugs in these interfaces.  The only way we can
freeze them, in my opinion, is to freeze them, stop using them internally, and
start using some other interfaces....

Comment 7

[jhp (no longer active)]

nsIHelperAppLauncher also makes use of nsIMIMEInfo, which would also need to be
frozen.  That's bug 162116.

Comment 8

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

-> me for now

Comment 9

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

-> default owner

Comment 10

[Kyle Huey (Exited; not receiving bugmail, old account, do not use)]

We no longer freeze interfaces.