459425 - allow to set the geolocation in about:config (or through a built-in API)

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 495122

(Core :: DOM: Geolocation, enhancement)

Description

[Simon Bünzli]

... so that I can direct users towards a web page asking for the "UniversalPreferencesWrite" privilege and displaying a map on which they can easily set the geolocation of their desktop (which requires significantly fewer clicks than having to install an extension).

As the current implementation stands, we'd probably have to ship a simple component as the one from Doug Turner's Geolocation extension <https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/8420> per default.

Comment 1

[Simon Bünzli]

Doug: Wouldn't this make more sense to get users actually using the feature by lowering the required effort for setting it up?

Comment 2

[Doug Turner (:dougt)]

simon, right.  we need to do something so that ff out-of-the-box just works.

Comment 3

[Doug Turner (:dougt)]

Simon, if you are going to already have to go into about:config, the bar isn't much higher to download an addon.  Do you agree?

Comment 4

[Simon Bünzli]

I don't. See comment #0 for how to get a user to set his/her geolocation without having to install an extension nor having to go into about:config.

Comment 5

[Doug Turner (:dougt)]

yeah, i worry about the security implications of doing that. :-)

Comment 6

[Simon Bünzli]

Webpages can already request "UniversalPreferencesWrite" and change anything in about:config. Why would your prefs be any different?

Comment 7

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

They can only do that if they are signed, or if the user flipped the signed.applets.codebase_principal_support pref. There's been some discussion about disabling that functionality altogether given the security risks.

Comment 8

[Simon Bünzli]

Right - it's just local documents that work by default.

So my points should rather be that having about:config entries allow to persist a desktop's location even if the user uninstalled the extension needed to setting it and that these entries would help discoverability of the feature (there really are people weeding through about:config...). Oh, and a geolocation could e.g. be set directly from a Ubiquity script.

OTOH I don't feel too strongly about this issue.