Labs/Jetpack/JEP/25

Chrome Boosters are third-party modules that can be used to provide functionality to Jetpack Features or Firefox Add-ons. As their name implies, they are chrome-privileged and use dependency injection to offer functionality to non-chrome-privileged Jetpacks.

These modules essentially formalize the mechanism used within Jetpack to provide the jetpack namespace to Jetpacks.

Chrome Boosters have the following characteristics:

• They are a superset of the SecurableModule standard.
• They can be loaded and unloaded multiple times throughout the lifetime of their containing application.
• They have access to an onUnload() function that allows them to register callbacks to perform cleanup tasks when unloaded.
• They have full access to XPConnect's Components object, and all its sub-objects.

For security purposes, Chrome Boosters can only be accessed either

• locally, through a containing addon, or
• over secure HTTP to a trusted host.

Additionally, to encourage good coding practices and documentation, Chrome Boosters must have:

• A simple, straightforward mechanism for writing and executing test cases.
• An easy-to-learn documentation system capable of producing beautiful documentation.