bug 1404632: There is no management at the extension api level that would undo what this api does

Given that, we'll just make the permission optional and that bug can deal with improvements.

I'm trying to understand what this code change would mean for me as a developer of an extension that uses the browser.pkcs11 API. I'm guessing that this is meant to just drop the permission, except that that would break current add-ons, so we make it optional instead.

Is my intuition correct? If not, can someone please point me to the FM to R that would explain what an "optional permission" is?

Thanks,

explain what an "optional permission" is

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/manifest.json/optional_permissions

(In reply to Wouter Verhelst :wouter from comment #3)

I'm trying to understand what this code change would mean for me as a developer of an extension that uses the browser.pkcs11 API. I'm guessing that this is meant to just drop the permission, except that that would break current add-ons, so we make it optional instead.

Is my intuition correct? If not, can someone please point me to the FM to R that would explain what an "optional permission" is?

Thanks,

If you have an addon, and you want to add a new permission when you update the addon, placing it in "permissions" requires a user to accept the new permission prior to the update happening. For some permissions, a user may not understand why they need to grant the new permission. Using an optional permission allows the addon to fully upgrade, then message properly to the user why a new permission is being requested.

In the future the user will also be able to revoke those permissions. So an addon will still want to use "permissions" in the manifest for required functionality.

All permissions are being updated to supporting optional permissions.

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/07e3f412f9ea

The following changes have been made:

• note added to release notes
• compatibility data updated, see PR6112
• notes added to the Extension Workshop article on requesting permissions, see PR636

Please let me know if you think further changes are needed.

Thanks