799153 - Add UI for toggling the debugger server in Firefox OS

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(DevTools :: Debugger, defect, P3)

Description

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

At JSConf we had discussed about having a UI toggle for enabling the debugger at some point. Looking at the current state of Firefox OS it may be appropriate to toggle the pref when flipping the Developer Mode setting.

Comment 1

[Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee)]

This would be useful. Need someone from B2G product to figure out where this goes (settings? Developer submenu?) and someone in Gaia to implement it.

Comment 2

[Vivien Nicolas (:vingtetun) (:21) - (NOT reading bugmails, needinfo? please)]

(In reply to Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee) from comment #1)
> This would be useful. Need someone from B2G product to figure out where this
> goes (settings? Developer submenu?) and someone in Gaia to implement it.

Having this as a panel in settings would be awesome. I can mentor someone that want to do it (this is pretty simple).

Basically Gaia does not have access to any firefox preferences but there is a dedicated mozSettings API that can be used. This API can then be mapped to real preferences: see http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/b2g/chrome/content/settings.js#124

For the UI there is already a 'Developer' panel in Gaia and it would be great to add the necessary settings to configure the debugger server there. https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/blob/master/apps/settings/index.html#L1283

Comment 3

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

Attachment: Patch v1

Related pull request:
https://github.com/mozilla-b2g/gaia/pull/6056

This patch fixes a typo and makes sure the modified pref is persisted, so that the bootstrap code in shell.js can see the changed value. A reboot (or b2g process restart) is necessary for the change to take effect.

Comment 4

[Vivien Nicolas (:vingtetun) (:21) - (NOT reading bugmails, needinfo? please)]

Comment on attachment 676132 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch v1

Review of attachment 676132 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Just curious why is the pref not persisted even if you don't call savePrefFile manually? Do you fear crashes?

Comment 5

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

(In reply to Vivien Nicolas (:vingtetun) from comment #4)
> Just curious why is the pref not persisted even if you don't call
> savePrefFile manually? Do you fear crashes?

I'm not sure what you are asking exactly. If you mean why nsIPrefService.setFooPref doesn't automatically persist the pref, I think whoever implemented it didn't want to perform I/O without the caller's explicit request, for performance reasons. If you are asking why don't I reconfigure the debugger server on the fly, that's because that would require some additional refactoring in shell.js, like making startDebugger a member function (of shell?) so that I could add a stopDebugger sibling and call them from settings.js.

Comment 6

[Vivien Nicolas (:vingtetun) (:21) - (NOT reading bugmails, needinfo? please)]

(In reply to Panos Astithas [:past] from comment #5)
> (In reply to Vivien Nicolas (:vingtetun) from comment #4)
> > Just curious why is the pref not persisted even if you don't call
> > savePrefFile manually? Do you fear crashes?
> 
> I'm not sure what you are asking exactly. If you mean why
> nsIPrefService.setFooPref doesn't automatically persist the pref, I think
> whoever implemented it didn't want to perform I/O without the caller's
> explicit request, for performance reasons. 

That's the part I was asking :)

Comment 7

[Vivien Nicolas (:vingtetun) (:21) - (NOT reading bugmails, needinfo? please)]

Really useful debug tool. a=me.

Comment 8

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

Thanks Vivien:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/rev/871dee07999f

Comment 9

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

Backed out on suspicion of mochitest-1 and 3 permaorange:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/rev/7a86ea717506

Comment 10

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

Relanded:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/rev/051cd83e405a

Comment 11

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/051cd83e405a

Comment 12

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

Comment on attachment 676132 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch v1

[Approval Request Comment]
Bug caused by (feature/regressing bug #): the remote debugging UI toggle is a new feature
User impact if declined: the UI toggle in gaia will not work
Testing completed (on m-c, etc.): tested on m-c, desktop b2g and on my Nexus S
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky): this patch doesn't affect other products at all
String or UUID changes made by this patch: none

Comment 13

[Panos Astithas (he/him) [:past] (please ni?)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-aurora/rev/bfd37567b5de