796416 - Harmonize Gaia App Manifests Against the App Manifest Spec - Background Page

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox OS Graveyard :: Gaia, defect)

Description

[GH to BZ]

[GitHub issue by jds2501 on 2012-07-23T16:45:58Z, https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/issues/2716]
Many of the gaia apps appear to be making use of the background_page property in the manifest. However, in the manifest spec (https://github.com/mozilla/webapps-spec/ & https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Apps/Manifest), no attribute is called out with the word "background_page." We need to ensure that any modifications to the app manifest are within the spec and fall in alignment on each respective apps platform (Desktop, Android, Firefox OS). Otherwise, we risk shooting ourselves in the foot by having app manifests work for one platform and not the others (or possibly even require a different syntax).

We need to do the following to achieve harmonization:

1. Review the current background_page attribute and specify how it would be specified in the app manifest spec
2. See if that's okay across each respective platform (Desktop, Android, Firefox OS). If not, we'll need to address the concerns on a per platform basis
3. Update the app manifest spec
4. Make any necessary implementation changes for gaia apps and the interpretation of their manifests to fall in line with the spec

Comment 1

[GH to BZ]

[GitHub comment by anantn on 2012-07-23T17:24:32Z]
Like "attention_page", the intent of this property was never discussed on dev.webapps, could have a brief summary of what it does, here or on the mailing list?

Comment 2

[GH to BZ]

[GitHub comment by nhirata on 2012-07-23T18:59:09Z]
Just wondering... are all these harmonized bugs really necessary?  ie can't these all just be rolled up into one bug with each of them listed?

The underlying issue is that the manifest itself isn't conforming to the rest of the other application's manifest.  Having multiple bugs for the same underlying issues wastes time for triaging.

Comment 3

[GH to BZ]

[GitHub comment by jds2501 on 2012-07-23T19:06:21Z]
@nhirata The reason for the separation is that the resolution for each manifest property can be different on a per property basis. Some may require more work than others - it could be as small as a manifest spec change to changing an implementation for that spec. 

I'd rather keep them separate to keep the discussion on a per property basis.

Comment 4

[GH to BZ]

[GitHub comment by nhirata on 2012-07-23T19:25:48Z]
k.  difference of opinion I guess.

I prefer to just log a will fix bug for this release and a possible deferred won't fix bug to separate out the properties that will and won't get fixed for a bug like this.  That's just my opinion though.  Carry on.

Comment 5

[GH to BZ]

[GitHub comment by autonome on 2012-07-24T15:16:33Z]
Assigning to Vivien to delegate to whoever is working on app manifest impl for B2G.

Comment 6

[GH to BZ]

[GitHub comment by autonome on 2012-09-25T01:17:44Z]
@vingtetun any update on what needs to be done here? do we need to block V1 on this?

Comment 7

[GH to BZ]

[GitHub comment by jds2501 on 2012-09-25T01:18:37Z]
@autonome Probably not given the rationale on other harmonize bugs.

Comment 8

[Jason Smith [:jsmith]]

We're not taking care of the app manifest spec anymore. Wont fix.