Firefox Headlines (October 24, 2018)

Jared Hirsch 6a68 at mozilla.com
Wed Oct 24 23:09:42 UTC 2018


Hello, firefox-dev,

Behold! Here is the latest installment of the Firefox Headlines,
artisanally extracted from yesterday's Firefox Desktop team meeting.

Special thanks to Johann Hofmann, Nihanth Subramanya, Sam Foster, and Mike
Conley, who put these notes together with me.

Highlights

   -

   We’re planning on enabling dedicated profiles per install, as well as
   downgrade protection
   <https://groups.google.com/d/msg/firefox-dev/wDjPSU9OWq8/PnS-MSdkCAAJ>
   -

   We released two
   <https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2018/10/23/latest-firefox-rolls-out-enhanced-tracking-protection/>
   blog
   <https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2018/10/23/the-path-to-enhanced-tracking-protection/>
   posts summarizing our Anti-Tracking
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1460058> work for Firefox
   versions 63, 64 and 65
   -

      We now also have developer documentation for Anti-Tracking
      <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Firefox/Privacy/Storage_access_policy>
      -

   Thanks to contributor Siddharth Maurya Console added
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1317076> great-looking
   navigation separators for persistent logging (tweet
   <https://twitter.com/FirefoxDevTools/status/1053334126848286720>):
   -

      [Screenshot]
      <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/0318ce9f-0bfc-4d19-a73f-ac5765ba17c6.png>
      -

   A new version of the Pocket personalization algorithm has been deployed
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1497616> on about:newtab
   in Firefox 64
   -

      Detailed explanation and PR here
      <https://github.com/mozilla/activity-stream/pull/4447>
      -

      Filtering is happening entirely on the client side

Friends of the Firefox teamResolved bugs (excluding employees)
<https://mzl.la/2PhJWeL>

   -

   Fixed more than one bug
   -

      :prathiksha
      -

      Ariel Burone
      -

      Arshad Kazmi [:arshadkazmi42]
      -

      Diego Pino
      -

      Divyansh Sharma [:spiro]
      -

      Florens Verschelde [:fvsch]
      -

      Heng Yeow (:tanhengyeow)
      -

      Michael Kohler [:mkohler]
      -

      Oriol Brufau [:Oriol]
      -

   New contributors (🌟 = first patch)
   -

      🌟 Amy Chan (:amychan331) added a file icon to the Network Monitor
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1356536>
      -

      🌟 Ariel Burone got rid of some unnecessary UI in the Network Monitor
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=972284>, and also made
      it much easier to toggle CSS rules in the Inspector
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1190113>
      -

      🌟 andrewjgregoryajg fixed up some indentation in tabbrowser.js
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1497479>
      -

      🌟 Heng Yeow (:tanhengyeow) fixed a bug where Edit and Re-sending
      XHRs wouldn’t display the right things
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1340100> and also made
      empty application/json responses display properly
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1437435>, both in the
      Network Monitor
      -

      Raza Haider fixed a visual glitch in about:restartrequired when in
      RTL mode <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1497970>
      -

      Korina removed an unused image from toolkit
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1495190>
      -

      Tim B [:tb120] made it so that numeric keypad keys can be used for
      shortcuts defined by WebExtensions
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1424708>
      -

      Ross Brandes added handy Emacs-like keyboard shortcuts for navigating
      AwesomeBar results on macOS
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1389221>
      -

      Qinghao (Jack) Song updated about:about to use Fluent
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1486934>

Project UpdatesActivity Stream

   -

   Finished moving over snippets to Activity Stream Router
   -

      Benefit here is that we move away from injecting JS/HTML into
      about:newtab
      -

      List of snippets templates currently available
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1482859#c10>
      -

   Added a opt-out functionality to CFR (Contextual Feature Recommender)
   -

      [Screenshot]
      <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/5aeba805-fdc4-40b9-923b-26f913388213.png>
      -

      [Design visuals]
      <https://mozilla.invisionapp.com/share/YWLSGDZGUSF#/screens>

Add-ons / Web Extensions

   -

   about:addons got a bunch of visual tweaks including conversion to card
   styles <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1490366> plus many
   smaller things <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1489296>.
   - [Screenshot]
      <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/20e61729-4689-457c-bb9b-38fe7ef53b8b.png>
   -

   about:preferences now shows if an extension has changed the settings for
   displaying notifications
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1411700>.
   -

   Keys on the number pad may now be used for extension keyboard shortcuts
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1424708>.

Developer Tools

   -

   Gabriel Luong improves massively Inspector opening performance by
   chaining together his findings from constant profiling into 58 patches
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1494162>.
   -

   Nicolas fixed <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1498300> the
   Browser Console to handle await statements, completing the console/debugger
   collaboration to ship `await` support across all Console variants
   - [Screenshot]
      <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/b7706e9a-50b9-45fc-90e0-69542a211399.png>
   -

   Gabriel extended <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1317102>
   the CSS Grid highlighter to work with multiple grids
   - [Screenshot]
      <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/1c425c4f-e05c-4b1e-b2d8-a23b3606d6a9.png>
      -

   RDM now remembers <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1248619>
   the previous settings when being opened, thanks to Gabriel.
   -

   kenjyO landed <https://github.com/devtools-html/debugger.html/pull/7088>
   outline filtering in the Debugger
   - [Screenshot] <https://i.imgur.com/cYZu9PE.gif>
      -

   Console trace now <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1172314>
   takes an argument to label the trace output
   - [Screenshot]
      <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/48a2b0fc-32bd-4fb1-80cc-ecf290449a47.png>
      -

   Flexbox Inspector: 65 release, 64 DevEdition
   Sneak peak into new diagram design:
   - [Screenshot]
      <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/f8d43f05-d2ff-4bd4-b565-638266f808f1.png>

Fission

   -

   Felipe wrote a summary to the DOM team
   <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KS3anxJd6C2_avVDkZ8HTzdJG_9lglmzLDAJaNsw9Vk/edit#>
   about front-end plans for migration to get feedback from them
   -

      Have a preliminary thumbs-up from Nika, waiting to hear back from kmag
      -

   Process flipping and browser session “brain transplanting” is going to
   become the responsibility of the native layer. Hooray!
   -

      Nika is looking to get rid of gMultiProcessBrowser / support for
      non-e10s windows for Desktop
      -

      Heads up - large chunks of content-sessionStore.js
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1474130> are going to
      be re-written in C++
      -

         Here’s another bit of ongoing work
         <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1500829>, where
         SHistory is going to be send to the parent in the native layer

Fluent <https://projectfluent.org/>

   -

   Fluent 0.9 <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1498960>is
   landing <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1501265> - more
   lenient indentation rules
   <https://github.com/projectfluent/fluent.js/releases/tag/fluent%400.9.0>
   -

   Fluent in non-system-principal
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1488973> is going to land
   this week.
   -

   L10nRegistry IPC <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1462841>
   and Fluent on Startup
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1441035> next

Lint <https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/tools/lint/index.html>

   -

   comma-dangle <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1486741> now
   enabled for all of mozilla-central
   -

   Mentored bugs are in progress for enabling eslint on more directories in
   mozilla-central (mainly various directories in dom, network & docshell at
   the moment).
   -

   Work is underway to add running lint when you post a patch via
   arc/moz-phab <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1491880> (eta
   unknown atm).

Performance

   -

   Major perf.html <http://perf-html.io/> improvements have just been
   deployed.
   -

      New Categorized Activity Timeline
      The most visible change is that the default graph format has changed.
      Instead of displaying a bar graph of the sampled stack length,
the tool now
      shows the type of activity that occurred at a specific point in
time (blue:
      DOM, purple: layout, green: graphics, yellow: JS, orange: GC/CC, gray:
      other, empty: idle). You can switch between the activity graph and the
      stack graph using the radio buttons above the thread & process list.
      - [Screenshot]
         <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/d2b4198e-2f50-4401-b38f-ed45cf10ddab.png>


   -

      Navigate faster with the Loupe View
      For those used to timelines in movie editing software, there is an
      additional timeline view at the top of the call tree panel that combines
      the category view with an inverted stack chart view. You can use it to
      quickly navigate the selected thread’s timeline: shift+scroll to zoom,
      scroll to pan, click to focus the call tree on the selected area.
      -

      Many more improvements landed in Q3, read Panos’ mailing list post
      <https://mail.mozilla.org/pipermail/firefox-dev/2018-October/006845.html>
      for a longer summary.
      -

   dthayer
   -

      In the back half of adding Document Splitting
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1441308> support to
      WebRender
      -

         This will allow page content and the browser UI to update
         independently, saving time and energy
         -

      Landed a patch to remove some main thread IO from InitOSFileConstants
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1388134>, which we call
      during start-up
      -

   felipe
   -

      Got rid of a sync layout flush when we drag tabs out into new windows!
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1499883>
      -

      After focusing a bit on Fission stuff, is getting back to the new
      Photon tab animations
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1355588#c7>
      -

   florian
   -

      The new about:performance is soft-launching in Firefox 64, and should
      be available in the next beta!
      -

         File bugs here
         <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=Toolkit&component=Performance%20Monitoring>
         -

         It's already helping us find performance bugs!
         <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1498697>
         -

         There’s still more platform and UI work to do here to get
         about:performance in line with the UX mock-up
         <https://mozilla.invisionapp.com/share/SDOE65KGU2Z#/screens/323554995>
         -

   Gijs
   -

      Landed a fix to avoid a sync layout flush when changing focus with
      IME! <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1358813>
      -

      Needless about:blank loads removal
      -

         Landed a number
         <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1493634> of
         <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1497921> dependencies
         <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1497921>
         -

         Trypush results give us confidence
         <https://treeherder.mozilla.org/perf.html#/compare?originalProject=try&originalRevision=f4eb36da7ad94ff4799f60c1ec095a7c446dde49&newProject=try&newRevision=402b6cf29d91873e98dd3604173c81ee137556e6&framework=1>
         that this is going to be worth
         <https://treeherder.mozilla.org/perf.html#/compare?originalProject=try&originalRevision=f4eb36da7ad94ff4799f60c1ec095a7c446dde49&newProject=try&newRevision=ef4528c195f1cf86e2b9e48a2d49a3cc6ddd9f19&framework=1>
         the effort. Gains between 1 and 7% on sessionrestore, tpaint, etc.
         -

   mconley
   -

      browser-tabsintitlebar.js work didn't make 64, unfortunately
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1356920>
      -

         But I’m very confident of getting it fixed for 65
         -

      The separate Activity Stream content process
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1472212> (that lets us
      get the ScriptPreloader win) landed and bounced due to strange and
      unexpected failures in a web-platform-test
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1500089>. Hoping
we can disable
      the test <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1501044>,
      since I think it’s only passing by accident.

Privacy/Security

   -

   FastBlock has been disabled in Nightly
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1500208>.
   -

   New certificate error pages are shipping on 64 with a Shield study
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1501004> to ensure no
   retention issues.
   -

   Prathiksha made us show when an extension is controlling your
   notification permission settings
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1411700>.
   -

   We now have a new header in the identity popup
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1476220>.
   - [Screenshot]
      <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/0a4d4d22-779b-43b1-b9df-94e582372d0e.png>


   -

   You can now view the certificate
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1484873> directly on
   certificate error pages.
   -

      This also means that you can inspect the certificate of sites that
      have HSTS enabled but failed due to certificate errors.
      - [Screenshot]
         <https://screenshotscdn.firefoxusercontent.com/images/18c439f3-892d-4da4-bc0f-4492c18b7e8a.png>

Search and Navigation <https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Search>Address Bar
& Search

   -

   Bookmarked urls are now autoFilled to-the-next-slash
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1494471>
   -

   Fixed a missed optimization in the character matching algorithm
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1500053> and a case where
   specially forged string could freeze the Address Bar
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1495327>
   -

   Search Shortcuts Improvements (prototype with screenshots
   <https://mozilla.invisionapp.com/share/4POCDI07U9A#/screens/322966230_Seach_Bar_Changes_For_63>
   ):
   -

      Suggest <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1498178> and
      autoFill <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1496815>
      search shortcuts when '@' is typed as the first character
      -

      When searching through a search shortcut, only show related
      suggestions <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1496814>
      -

      When just the search shortcut is typed show only the top result
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1496811>
      -

   Introducing the Quantum Bar:

It is a rewrite of the Address Bar code, currently under development. The
main scope is to allow faster experimentation and simpler maintenance.
Introduction and a technical overview is available on Firefox source docs
<https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/browser/browser/AddressBar.html>.
Note: this is not ready for dogfooding yet!

   -

      Added in-tree technical documentation
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1498178>
      -

      browser.urlbar.quantumbar also activates the first opened window
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1498748>
      -

      Handling result selection
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1498181>
      -

      Matches are now chunked into time-boxed frames
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1495181> (1495181
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1495181>)
      -

      Fixed <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1496743> some
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1497904> telemetry
      probes
      -

      Fixed <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1496703> Customize
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1497464> mode
      -

      Ported URL tooltip
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1491249> and Go
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1498878> button
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1500086>

Places

   -

   Live bookmarks are no more!
   <https://www.gijsk.com/blog/2018/10/firefox-removes-core-product-support-for-rss-atom-feeds/>
   -

   Fixed a bug where urls containing backslashes couldn’t be removed from
   history <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1498584>

Test Pilot <https://wiki.mozilla.org/Test_Pilot>

   -

   Screenshots migration to pure WebExtension
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1422437> landed in Firefox
   64

Web Payments <https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Features/Web_Payments>

   -

   Enabled by default in en-US builds for users in the US and CA on macOS
   and Windows <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1481971>. We
   aren’t widely publicizing this yet since we don’t have Linux yet and there
   were some bugs with the OS storage/authentication.
   -

      Linux will come once we figure out how to re-authenticate the user
      there.
      -

      Not riding the trains for a while.
      -

   Using operating system secure storage (macOS Keychain, Windows
   Credential Manager, libsecret) for credit card encryption keys
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1486954>.
   -

      Thanks to timdream and the crypto engineering team!
      -

   Switched from a window-modal dialog to a tab-modal one
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1435871> which allows
   tab-switching and easily closing the tab.
   -

   Preparing to do controlled user testing with real builds
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1490809> soon for 8 users.
   -

   Completed
   -

      Ensure only fields valid for the given country are saved
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1420853>
      -

      Add a CVV Tooltip
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1470199>
      -

      Update credit card number validation
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1485105>
      -

      Do sorting in pickers
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1494551>
      -

      Editing the Saved Addresses shows red fields
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1496069>
      -

      "Forms & Autofill" section appears in "Home" preferences section when
      visiting about:preferences#home
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1497039>
      -

      CC is saved even when "There was an error saving the payment card."
      message is displayed
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1497514>
      -

   In Progress
   -

      Make the telephone number field required on the payer form if
      requestPayerPhone is true
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1483412>
      -

      An invalid credit card number stored in our autofill database blocks
      usage of the edit address and credit card dialogs
      <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1499869>
      -

      Use a <rich-select> for the billing address picker instead of a
      <select> <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1482689>

Below the fold

   -

   [RyanVM] New cycle, yay!
   -

   [sfoster] Date.now().toString() is not a good way to generate
   arbitrary/pseudo-random form field values for testing. It is 13 digits long
   and very occasionally passes the Luhn algorithm
   <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luhn_algorithm> check, making it look
   like a valid credit card number
   <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_card_number>. This means we treat
   it as sensitive data and hilarity ensues
   <https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1485105>.
   -

   [felipe] Phabricator has an option to send e-mails to your own actions
   too, similar to how bugzilla did it. Useful to have the entire patch review
   conversation in your e-mail client.
   -

      Settings -> Email Delivery -> Self Action E-mails
      -

      (it’s not the default)


This information, including all of the previous updates, are fully
available in this doc:
https://docs.google.com/a/mozilla.com/document/d/1u9YH3ULNRYg6G-fN-Udkvfkcvg0alJfzi_zIAfFNkL8/edit?usp=sharing

Also note that I'm really just synthesizing and humanizing the stuff that's
on the Wiki, which is freely available from here:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Meeting, so check that out if you want the
source material. It'll also be posted (minus the Below the Fold stuff) to
the Nightly blog.

Finally, if there's a Firefox-ish team that you feel isn't being
represented here, please let them know about the above meeting so we can
get their updates.

Keep on rockin' the free web,


Jared
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