Manifest v3 extensions are now accepted on the Firefox add-on store

[Alfonso Maruccia]

A hot potato: Mozilla has started accepting Manifest V3 add-ons for the code-signing process of the AMO store. From June 2023, Chrome will only accept MV3 extensions and crippled ad-blocking tools. Mozilla will continue to support full-featured (MV2) ad-blockers like uBlock Origin anyway.

The dreaded day is here. Starting today (November 21), extensions created with the much debated Manifest V3 technology will be accepted on Firefox's official add-on store (AMO) for signing. Mozilla is surrendering to the overwhelming power – and market share – of Google Chrome, even though the company has decided to implement its own, more permissive version of MV3.

As Mozilla explains, Manifest V3 is an umbrella term for a number of foundational changes to the WebExtensions API in Firefox. The new API was created by Google as a more secure alternative to Manifest V2 for Chrome extensions, but developers have expressed concerns about the stricter limitations that could make ad-blocking tools much less useful than they are today.

Extensions and add-ons for Firefox need to be digitally signed to appear on the AMO store, and now developers can start migrating their code while users of the Nightly and Developer Editions of Firefox can test them. General availability of MV3 is planned for Firefox 109, a release scheduled for January 17, 2023.

Mozilla is working to provide a smooth transition to MV3 in Firefox, but users and coders should not fret. The open source browser will continue to support MV2 extensions "for the foreseeable future," taking a gradual approach and gathering feedback as MV3 matures. Firefox implementation of MV3 will stand apart from other iterations of the technology in two critical ways.

First, while other browser vendors introduced declarativeNetRequest (DNR) in favor of blocking Web Request in MV3, Firefox MV3 continues to support blocking Web Request and will support a compatible version of DNR in the future. Blocking Web Request is more flexible than DNR, allowing more use cases in content blocking (ie ad-blockers like the popular uBlock Origin add-on) and other privacy and security extensions.

Furthermore, Firefox's MV3 offers Event Pages as the background script in lieu of Service Workers. Event Pages offer benefits like DOM and Web APIs that aren't available to Service Workers, Mozilla explained, while also generally providing a simpler migration path. Event Pages (ie non-persistent background pages) are more flexible for developers, compared to the Service Workers (scripts that run and then shut down) alternative proposed by Google.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/96719-manifest-v3-extensions-now-accepted-firefox-add-store.html

 

[Kam7r]

I didn't saw I single ad since at least 10years on internet, as a whole, wherever I go, and I'll do anything to stay ad free ... so if FF drop his pants, I'll just switch

 

[GoldenGoat]

This really stinks because I don't think my favorite addons will get rewritten for mv3.

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

This really stinks because I don't think my favorite addons will get rewritten for mv3.

Not sure how much that stinks:

The open source browser will continue to support MV2 extensions "for the foreseeable future"

What are your favorite addons btw?

 

[brucek]

This situation sounds like the best option Firefox and other non-Chrome browsers have had to regain market share for a long time, no?

 

[punctualturn]

This situation sounds like the best option Firefox and other non-Chrome browsers have had to regain market share for a long time, no?

I have never dropped Firefox since I started using it ( when it was called Phoenix!) But u don't understand why everyone simply jumped to Chrome.

Now, I have noticed many tools that have a web front end that only works on Chromium engine and that it's something that will really limit any chances of Firefox in grabbing any market share.

If MS wasn't such a sore loser, they should had based Edge on Gecko instead of Chromium.

 

[psycros]

I have never dropped Firefox since I started using it ( when it was called Phoenix!) But u don't understand why everyone simply jumped to Chrome.

Now, I have noticed many tools that have a web front end that only works on Chromium engine and that it's something that will really limit any chances of Firefox in grabbing any market share.

If MS wasn't such a sore loser, they should had based Edge on Gecko instead of Chromium.

Everyone switched to Chrome for the same reason they originally switched to Firefox: software bundling. When Phoenix first became Firefox it was being installed by default alongside all kinds of programs. Eventually they stopped doing that, and I suspect it was Google that paid them to stop, because at the same time Chrome was suddenly getting bundled with literally everything.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

I have alwasyed despised Chrome, IMO it's a garbage browser and don't use it at all anymore and I guess I will have even less reason to use Edge. I wonder if Brave's built-in adblockers will continue to be functional.

 

[kimo1]

-- EDIT: Irrelevant rant, del pls

 

[NikoBB]

Guys, you don't seem to understand what it's all about - the forced operation of the OS through the TPM chip, imposed by the collusion of Wintel (and this imposition is gradually penetrating into Linux, because this community also depends on the hardware manufacturers directly - the code is closed) allows them build a chain of control for an ordinary consumer, just like in smartphones, where rarely anyone can get rid of surveillance and data collection by installing some carefully checked alternative firmware, again due to the impossibility of obtaining drivers in source codes and clear instructions for developers - they are deliberately hidden - a trade secret, as a minimum, and as a maximum - conspiracy.

After a while, when most of the world's population gets used to the concentration camp laws and norms of existence, on computers and laptops, just like on smartphones, it will no longer be possible to run code that is not approved by the consortium of TNK and the government. Everything will be encrypted at the level of chips and drivers, and the software will run only those that are allowed by them, I.e. passed a security audit. They boil the frogs slowly, in a vat of gradually raising the temperature, so that they don't start to panic and jump out of it.

Yes, exploits will probably be found, as always, but most of the technically illiterate population (and the process of idiocracy is already in full swing in the world) will obey these trends and will inevitably find themselves in a controlled and brutally manipulated totalitarian digital concentration camp. They're almost there. Woe to a handful of still remaining normal people soon, but they apparently will not be able to do anything. After all, in a democracy, the majority rules, right? Even if this majority in such ways, becomes gradually insane and directed ... after all, we have already seen such examples in the history of mankind, right? And we're watching right now...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Hopefully this is the kick in the pants the community needs to permanently move away from daddy google, fork chromium into its own project, and make a legit competitor to chrome.

Not sure how much that stinks:

What are your favorite addons btw?

Alright, I'm gonna ask you to read this portion again, slowly:

"Mozilla is working to provide a smooth transition to MV3 in Firefox, but users and coders should not fret. The open source browser will continue to support MV2 extensions "for the foreseeable future," taking a gradual approach and gathering feedback as MV3 matures."

You notice how firefox calls it a "transition" and uses the words "foreseeable future", claiming they will take a "gradual approach" ?

I hope I dont have to explain to you that those are weasel words, used to sidestep around controversy, and the same weasel language firefox used when they got rid of XUL, or removed the Australis interface. Firefox is nothing but controlled opposition at this point, and I guarantee that within 1-2 years firefox will also do away with manifest V2 the same way it did with XUL, the old add on system, and every other feature mozilla has taken away.

I have never dropped Firefox since I started using it ( when it was called Phoenix!) But u don't understand why everyone simply jumped to Chrome.

Now, I have noticed many tools that have a web front end that only works on Chromium engine and that it's something that will really limit any chances of Firefox in grabbing any market share.

If MS wasn't such a sore loser, they should had based Edge on Gecko instead of Chromium.

Everyone switched to Chrome for the same reason they originally switched to Firefox: software bundling. When Phoenix first became Firefox it was being installed by default alongside all kinds of programs. Eventually they stopped doing that, and I suspect it was Google that paid them to stop, because at the same time Chrome was suddenly getting bundled with literally everything.

So9ftware bundling isnt the only reason. People take it for granted today, but the single biggest selling feature of early chrome was it's multi-threading, and splitting each tab into its own thread. Yes, this used a lot of RAM, but int he late 2000s when a single bad website could lock up your whole PC, this feature made chrome far faster and more stable then anything else out there.

Firefox's response was to drag their feet on multithreading for over 10 years, all while removing features their tech savvy users wanted and aping the interface of chrome whenever possible, which just pushed their users to the (still faster) chrome.

This editorial is worth a good read:

https://news.itsfoss.com/firefox-continuous-decline/

 

[NikoBB]

Firefox's response was to drag their feet on multithreading for over 10 years, all while removing features their tech savvy users wanted and aping the interface of chrome whenever possible, which just pushed their users to the (still faster) chrome.

And even now in "multi-threaded" chrome and firefox, very often the tabs freeze so that the whole browser does not react, it has to be removed in processes. Most often, this is brazen mining or data espionage at the expense of the resources of readers of such sites... Laptops are good just because there, due to a frail cooling system, an increased load on the processor immediately leads to well-audible noise (and in smartphones, a sharp drop in battery charge level and overheating, which is also noticeable), but not in silent desktop computers, like mine, where when consuming more than 100W on the processor, my cooler is silent (only 900rpm), thanks to a huge radiator, and you can not immediately notice mining or something else dangerous in the work of browsers and another software. A seemingly good thing - complete silence in the full load of cores - turns into a dangerous impossibility to quickly determine the presence of an increased load on the processor and hardware in general, from software that is harmful from the point of view of the owner.

 

[NikoBB]

Hopefully this is the kick in the pants the community needs to permanently move away from daddy google, fork chromium into its own project, and make a legit competitor to chrome.


Alright, I'm gonna ask you to read this portion again, slowly:

"Mozilla is working to provide a smooth transition to MV3 in Firefox, but users and coders should not fret. The open source browser will continue to support MV2 extensions "for the foreseeable future," taking a gradual approach and gathering feedback as MV3 matures."

You notice how firefox calls it a "transition" and uses the words "foreseeable future", claiming they will take a "gradual approach" ?

I hope I dont have to explain to you that those are weasel words, used to sidestep around controversy, and the same weasel language firefox used when they got rid of XUL, or removed the Australis interface. Firefox is nothing but controlled opposition at this point, and I guarantee that within 1-2 years firefox will also do away with manifest V2 the same way it did with XUL, the old add on system, and every other feature mozilla has taken away.

So9ftware bundling isnt the only reason. People take it for granted today, but the single biggest selling feature of early chrome was it's multi-threading, and splitting each tab into its own thread. Yes, this used a lot of RAM, but int he late 2000s when a single bad website could lock up your whole PC, this feature made chrome far faster and more stable then anything else out there.

Firefox's response was to drag their feet on multithreading for over 10 years, all while removing features their tech savvy users wanted and aping the interface of chrome whenever possible, which just pushed their users to the (still faster) chrome.

This editorial is worth a good read:

https://news.itsfoss.com/firefox-continuous-decline/

I know all this very well, I do not need to describe it, but this is just a small part of what is behind the screen of big business and authorities prone to authoritarian rule (and this is almost all the power on the planet). As a result, you will not install any extensions in browsers without a digital signature given by the owners of the ecosystem. The TPM chip will provide end-to-end encryption. The chip contains only the public key of the owners of the ecosystem - only they know the private key, with which they sign all the software and extensions. Approximately how bios patches are installed now (since 2016, any BIOS can no longer be modified independently; it is signed by the manufacturer's digital signature, recently one such signature has leaked due to a leak from Intel) and into the processor, hardware. And soon advertising will again become non-disableable everywhere, because plugins that cut it out (and analytical spy scripts that collect information about users) simply will not be able to get into the ecosystem ("store" for ordinary people in common parlance). Just as pirated software or some objectionable to the authorities will not be able to get in, for example, something like a browser that bypasses the blocking and censorship of the authorities or large TNCs (as is the case with social networks and supposedly "protected" instant messengers). Or software that is too dangerous in terms of competition for large TNCs and you need to suppress a young upstart startup, and then bankrupt it and buy everything in the bud.
And the installation of pirated software (sometimes it is completely safe, depending on the method, sometimes it is critically dangerous if a person does not understand what he is dealing with, and the majority does not understand, most often) this is essentially a social protest against the many times overprices in "developing" countries for software of western long-standing monopolies - after all, the difference in incomes of the population in "developed" countries and "developing" countries reaches an order of magnitude, but the prices for software and hardware in "developing" countries are even higher than in the metropolis, which is already outright absurdity from the point of view of an ordinary layman in "developing" countries and outright injustice . Because user support (and the quality of warranty service) in "developing" countries is also many times worse than in "developed" countries in practice. So why on earth pay them the same price as in the US for example? Here, ordinary citizens do not pay - they install pirated software and live with it for years, saving a lot of money on food and other goods.

The planet needs several alternative suppliers of key hardware, not tied to one political or industrial-financial hidden bloc. We need competition. But competition requires the development of civil society so that human capital (advanced scientists and engineers) of the required level appears in different blocs and countries. And in authoritarian/totalitarian countries and blocs such people cannot appear, because they suppress the development of horizons and freedom of thought. That is why the USSR lost cold war, Russia will lose and China will lose in the end. But then again, if the "West" itself does not soon become totalitarian and manages to restore a free society with free thinking and a developed outlook, with which strong problems have now arisen, especially since 2020.

 

[kimo1]

-- EDIT: Del pls

 

[Plutoisaplanet]

Hopefully this is the kick in the pants the community needs to permanently move away from daddy google, fork chromium into its own project, and make a legit competitor to chrome.


Alright, I'm gonna ask you to read this portion again, slowly:

"Mozilla is working to provide a smooth transition to MV3 in Firefox, but users and coders should not fret. The open source browser will continue to support MV2 extensions "for the foreseeable future," taking a gradual approach and gathering feedback as MV3 matures."

You notice how firefox calls it a "transition" and uses the words "foreseeable future", claiming they will take a "gradual approach" ?

I hope I dont have to explain to you that those are weasel words, used to sidestep around controversy, and the same weasel language firefox used when they got rid of XUL, or removed the Australis interface. Firefox is nothing but controlled opposition at this point, and I guarantee that within 1-2 years firefox will also do away with manifest V2 the same way it did with XUL, the old add on system, and every other feature mozilla has taken away.

I've known Firefox is a bland version of its old self for some time. I always look at it through that lens now and don't have high expectations for it.

Have you heard of Brave? Arguably the most important figure in Firefox's history, Brendan Eich was ousted from Mozilla in 2014 and he created that company/browser in response. All of the features you enjoy were developed under him and removed after that. Firefox OS was as well, and was canned before it even had a chance a year after he left. Firefox OS was never going to be a popular product in the US, but in developing countries it was definitely gaining traction. At least Mozilla was still trying with Firefox OS, instead of now where they're following others.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I've known Firefox is a bland version of its old self for some time. I always look at it through that lens now and don't have high expectations for it.

Have you heard of Brave? Arguably the most important figure in Firefox's history, Brendan Eich was ousted from Mozilla in 2014 and he created that company/browser in response. All of the features you enjoy were developed under him and removed after that. Firefox OS was as well, and was canned before it even had a chance a year after he left. Firefox OS was never going to be a popular product in the US, but in developing countries it was definitely gaining traction. At least Mozilla was still trying with Firefox OS, instead of now where they're following others.

I remember that clear as day. That was the day I fully abandoned firefox, knowing they would embrace internet politics over creating a truly competitive web browser, all over what someone donates to on his personal dime. The failure of firefox OS as a legit competitor int he mobile space hurt.

Brave has the same problem as the likes of vivaldi, in that it is dependent on the chromium project. The manifest V2 removal will affect them once it is rolled out to the enterprise branch. I hope that Brendan has enough foresight to know that branching off of chromium and created their own codebase, alongside other chrome based projects, is necessary for them to succeed in the coming years, and this may be their chance to break up the google monopoly.