In a long post on a company blog, Kev Needham, product manager for Firefox on the desktop, outlined several moves Mozilla will make in the next 12 months as it overhauls the browser, but most strikingly, the add-ons that run on Firefox. Google Chrome was also powered by Webkit but the search giant made a decision to fork Webkit and call it Blink. “Extension code written for Chrome, Opera, or, possibly in the future, Microsoft Edge will run in Firefox with few changes as a WebExtension”, he said.
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Introduce a safer, faster, multi-process version of Firefox with Electrolysis.
Today we are announcing some major upcoming changes to Firefox add-ons.
Starting with Firefox 41 – due for release on 22 September – developers will have to get their extensions signed and validated by Mozilla.
It is the deprecation of XPCOM and XUL that’s the really big news today.
So unless the extension’s developer registers on the Mozilla Add-Ons portal and submits his extension for “signing” by Mozilla’s automated system, user’s won’t be able to install it, no matter how compatible it is with Firefox’s new add-ons API.
Developers will need to make changes to their extensions to ensure they continue to work if they’re affected by the change. The new version takes out this hassle but it also means redevelopment of already existing Firefox add-ons.
The developer of popular Firefox add-on DownThemAll, for example, says he’ll probably stop developing plugins if Mozilla eliminates support for XUL-based add-ons because the new tools don’t offer the same kind of flexibility as those that are being deprecated.
The new Firefox will also be implementing research done with Servo. However, the add-on model that arose naturally from these technologies is extremely permissive. “This lack of modularity leads to many problems”.
Chief among the changes is how Firefox would start connecting differently to its add-ons, or extensions. For example, “It’s not uncommon for Firefox development to be delayed because of broken add-ons”. Mozilla recognizes that switching to Electrolysis and Servo is a massive change that could cause problems in the short terms.
First off, the company detailed the WebExtensions API, a new add-ons API which will be compatible with the extensions ecosystem used by Chrome, Opera, and Vivaldi.
Some Firefox developers are not happy with these changes.
Unfortunately, things will not be that simple like grabbing a link from the Chrome Web Store and installing the extension in Firefox.
Others object strenuously not only to Firefox abandoning its old programming models but the fact that it is embracing what they see as Google’s extension system. Would the changes make you, should you be a Firefox devotee, opt for another browser and, if so, which one? “I hope Google sends them a cake once they’re below 5 percent”.
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At the same time, on Y combinator, another person opined that this move will mean that Mozilla will be “getting rid of [its community of] people who are willing to dive deep into the internals do develop something that nobody thought of before?”
