WebExtensions/chrome.storage.sync

Planning for implementing chrome.storage.sync for WebExtensions.

There are two components to this API: the API in Firefox and the backend storage servers. Prototype is done.

tl;dr an add-on developer can save some data related to the add-on and it is accessible to the same add-on for that user on different profiles and devices. See the Chrome docs for more.

Firefox API

• this was added in the prototype on github
• the existing code will need to be ported into mozilla-central and tested properly
• we will use Firefox Accounts for authentication of the user

Questions

• Is people running their own storage server a priority?
  • (andym) no, but it would be nice if they could.
• Why Kinto over sync?
  • (tarek) ...
• How long do we retain data?
• Is there a way to clear out data?
• As a user can I see what data is stored by each add-on?
• Edge cases
  • What happens when a user isn't logged in?
  • What happens when the client goes offline?
  • How does it resolve when there's a conflict?
    • (andym) it doesn't, it just overwrites

Bugs for porting this over can hang off:

Full Query

ID	Priority	Status	Summary
1311510	P3	NEW	chrome.storage.sync: performance test of production stack for chrome.storage.sync

1 Total; 1 Open (100%); 0 Resolved (0%); 0 Verified (0%);

Storage servers

...Tarek to fill in.

The bugs for tracking the roll out are:

Timelines

• Stand up the client code, behind a feature flag, so that users have to flip it on in about:config
• Stand up the servers.
• Find some add-ons to be beta-testers.