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<p>In one way yes it could kind of work kind of like that I think,
with a significant twist, and with some limitations, and only on
the longer horizon.</p>
<p>It's not yet clear exactly what technical barriers there are (a
bunch for sure, potentially less than one would think though),
but... one step at a time. Currently the Thunderbird UI is living
in chrome. Most of it would be better off running in content. What
I mean is, the 3pane and what makes up the main UI should really
just be *seen as* a very fat web application running in a browser
tab. With XBL now gone, and UI moving over to from XUL to HTML
(last release with XUL is probably the 78 release), it's getting
more and more feasible.<br>
</p>
<p>With that in mind, what you would have is Thunderbird as the web
page (internally, technically, so not really, but still), and as
an add-on author you could interact with that page the same way
WXs can interact with normal web content. This is basically what
WXs are designed for so it fits in very well. The add-on would
have the powers it needs (though no XPCOM), and the Thunderbird UI
has the powers of a content page, interacting with a back-end
through suitable means (either http or data put into web
compatible local storage mechanisms by the back-end).<br>
</p>
<p> -Magnus<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 16-10-2019 15:31, Axel Grude wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:cfdaccb6-a0da-45a0-c1df-fbba18a9b778@gmail.com">
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<p>Eyal wrote:<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite">Extensions should be able to do
essentially everything. Certainly everything the TB's <u><b>own
UI</b></u> code can do. </blockquote>
(emphasis by me) <br>
<p>That's essentially echoing what my thought was about
"Thunderbird eating it's own dog food", so let me re-iterate
the question:</p>
<p><font color="#bf00bf"><b>How would a Thunderbird developer
re-design the API if they were forced to use it in their
own front-end (JavaScript) code?</b></font></p>
<p>This question may sound a little ridiculous at first glance,
but it is an interesting thought experiment, because it forces
the Core Developer to think about the restrictions proposed on
us who want to add *more functionality* and *improve existing
functions*. If you think about it our goals aren't vastly
different to those from thunderbird core.</p>
<p>If the API is the "safe point" for the front end, then why
not force Thunderbird Core code through the same gate?
Possible answers</p>
<ul>
<li>Core needs to do more than Add-ons <br>
(which is partly true, but Add-ons add stuff that core
didn't think of and users still find useful, so it also goes
the other way)</li>
<li>Core code is vetted and Firefox does not review web
extensions code<br>
(so far we did manually review and vet the code for
security with the Add-on reviewers crew. Which mainly
consists of other developers. Whether this is a big problem
going forward remains debatable; AFAIK there was *one*
documented security breach caused by an ADd-on in Tb within
the last 10 years, which is not a bad statistic compared to
OS like windows)</li>
<li>Core Developer are Trusted, anyone can develop Add-ons<br>
(I think this a stronger argument; the question is whether
it would be possible to have specially vetted / trusted
Add-on developers and only allow them XPCOM access and how
to vet these people - A strong committment to the user base
and regular maintenance, bug fixing etc. would be good
markers to start from. So far I assumed there wasn't such a
big difference in the development community, except that
core devs could be financed by the foundation, whereas addon
devs had to organize monetization themselves. Maybe that
aspect needs to be solved at the same time.)</li>
</ul>
<p>I would still be very interested in at least one of the core
devs going through this thought experiment, even if just to
come to the conclusion that it's impossible. It may be not? Or
it may lead to a completely different answer.<br>
</p>
<p>Axel<br>
</p>
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<div id="mySignature"> <b class="myName"><a
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Music Production and Composition <br>
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<div id="newHeaderAG1" style="font-size: x-small; padding:1em;
background-color:rgba(220,220,240,0.4); border-radius:3px;">
<b>Subject:</b>Re: Proposal: MailExtensions API to allow UI
overlays, but no script injection<br>
<b>From:</b>Eyal Rozenberg <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:eyalroz@technion.ac.il"
moz-do-not-send="true"><eyalroz@technion.ac.il></a><br>
<b>To:</b>Thunderbird Planning (Moderated) <a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:tb-planning@mozilla.org"
moz-do-not-send="true"><tb-planning@mozilla.org></a>;
John Bieling <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:john.bieling@gmx.de" moz-do-not-send="true"><john.bieling@gmx.de></a>
<br>
<b>Sent: </b>Saturday, 10/12/2019, 15:56 15:56 IST +0100
[Week 41]<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:6aaaa2fc-c47d-7a8b-51c3-3de14d82f2db@technion.ac.il">Sorry
for sounding like a broken record, but: <br>
<br>
On 12/10/2019 9:25, John Bieling wrote: <br>
<blockquote type="cite">Why is it, extension should no longer be
able to style the UI as before? </blockquote>
<br>
... not just the UI. Extensions should be able to do essentially
everything. Certainly everything the TB's own UI code can do. <br>
<br>
Eyal <br>
_______________________________________________ <br>
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href="https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/tb-planning"
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<br>
. <br>
</blockquote>
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