This scanner is most useful for those considering porting an existing Chrome extension to Firefox. If you are starting a new Webextension, web-ext and the documentation on MDN is probably enough to get you started. If you are porting an extension, you can run these scripts against your addon to get an idea of what areas you may run into issues or incompatibilities. With this information you can evaluate if there are workarounds, or if you can remove some functionality to get your extension working on Firefox. If there is some core functionality that you cannot port due to missing APIs, you may also consider using hybrid extensions to backfill some functionality using legacy bootstrap addons for Firefox, while still sharing much of your code between browsers. You can also view http://arewewebextensionsyet.com for links to specific APIs.
- Install node.js and python if you do not have them
- Install web-ext using
npm install --global web-ext - clone this repository
First you'll need access to your webextension addon, or an addon downloaded from the chrome store.
If you need to download from the chrome store, you can use http://chrome-extension-downloader.com/
- unzip your addon into the empty addons directory in this repository
- you may unzip more than one addon into the addons directory to scan a set of addons
- run report.sh
- run lint.sh
The report generator uses schemas from the mozilla code base for each branch (nightly, aurora, beta, release). I'll update them here occasionally, but if you need an update, you can get the files from the mozilla-central repository by first cloning that then running update.sh. mozilla-central should be a sibling of your clone of this repository.
hg clone https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Developer_guide/Source_Code/Mercurial
report.sh produces a report of API usage in your addon. It will contain a status for each release, rank and description for each API call. It also lists any bugs related to the API section. The status columns are titled N, A, B and R for nightly, aurora, beta and release.
- blank means it is supported
- N means it is not implemented. This may mean that it is scheduled to be implemented, or that it will not be implemented in Firefox.
- D means the API is deprecated, it should be followed by a line describing the replacement API call
Rank is based on the number of times you use the API in your addon. Lower the rank, the more you use it.
lint.sh is a shortcut script for running web-ext lint on your addon. It will produce additional output describing other potential problems, such as syntax errors, or problems in the manifest file.
NOTE: web-ext output may not be up-to-date with the API status, however it is usefull for scanning the code and manifest.
NOTE: You can see in the example below, chrome.history.getVisits and chrome.runtime.reload are not avialable on release, but are in upcomming releases.
creating apiusage.csv...
generating report...
N A B R Rank API
======= chrome.app
N N N N 18 chrome.app.getDetails
======= chrome.browserAction
N N N N 46 chrome.browserAction.onClicked
43 chrome.browserAction.setIcon
42 chrome.browserAction.setPopup
41 chrome.browserAction.setTitle
Bug 1207597: browserAction icon should match appearance of native Firefox toolbar buttons
Bug 1207692: provide a highlight state for browserActions
Bug 1244789: Support richer user interactions in the chrome.browserAction API
======= chrome.contextMenus
3 chrome.contextMenus.create
N N N N 40 chrome.contextMenus.onClicked
39 chrome.contextMenus.remove
38 chrome.contextMenus.removeAll
Bug 1253418: Support browser_action and page_action contexts in browser.contextMenus API
Bug 1269062: [tracking] ContextMenus API support for Android WebExtensions
Bug 1280370: contextMenus do not support other protocols (ex. 'magnet:*', 'acestream:*', 'sop:*')
======= chrome.extension
37 chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage
1 chrome.extension.getURL
N N N N 36 chrome.extension.onMessage
N N N N 34 chrome.extension.onRequest
N N N N 15 chrome.extension.sendMessage
N N N N 33 chrome.extension.sendRequest
Bug 1213426: Complete the implementation of chrome.extension
Bug 1263900: Complete test coverage for browser.extension.inIncognitoContext
======= chrome.google
N N N N 32 chrome.google.com
N N N N 31 chrome.google.com\
======= chrome.history
N 115 chrome.history.getVisits
51 chrome.history.search
======= chrome.i18n
N N N N 14 chrome.i18n.
29 chrome.i18n.getMessage
======= chrome.runtime
13 chrome.runtime.getManifest
N N N N 12 chrome.runtime.id
N N N N 2 chrome.runtime.lastError
N N N N 28 chrome.runtime.onMessage
N N N N 26 chrome.runtime.onMessageExternal
N N 132 chrome.runtime.reload
6 chrome.runtime.sendMessage
Bug 1213473: Complete the implementation of chrome.runtime
Bug 1247435: Implement browser.runtime.onStartup
Bug 1252871: Implement chrome.runtime.onInstalled
Bug 1259944: runtime.sendMessage does not handle the three-argument form correctly.
======= chrome.tabs
25 chrome.tabs.captureVisibleTab
24 chrome.tabs.create
11 chrome.tabs.executeScript
10 chrome.tabs.insertCSS
N N N N 23 chrome.tabs.onActivated
N N N N 9 chrome.tabs.onRemoved
N N N N 22 chrome.tabs.onUpdated
5 chrome.tabs.query
8 chrome.tabs.remove
7 chrome.tabs.sendMessage
D D D D 21 chrome.tabs.sendRequest Please use $(ref:runtime.sendMessage).
Bug 1190328: Test coverage for tabs extension API
Bug 1209869: tabs.sendMessage does not send messages to tab pages
Bug 1213477: Complete the implementation of chrome.tabs
Bug 1223254: Figure out when tabs API callbacks should fire, and make them fire at the right time
Bug 1238314: Implement browser.tabs opener functionality
Bug 1240631: Callback not called for chrome.tabs.move when tab is invalid
Bug 1260548: Basic tabs API support for Android WebExtensions
Bug 1260550: Support messaging interfaces in the tabs API on Android
Bug 1269456: Add permissions item to allow use of tabs.create/tabs.update
======= chrome.windows
20 chrome.windows.create
N N N N 19 chrome.windows.onFocusChanged
Bug 1213484: Complete the implementation of chrome.windows
Bug 1253129: Support focused=false in the browser.windows.create
Bug 1261963: createData should be optional for browser.windows.create
Bug 1273146: WebExtensions: chrome.windows.create - callback parameter (window) does not have window.tabs property
Bug 1275275: New windows should not be animated to their final size/position
NOTE: web-ext output may not be up-to-date with the API status, however it is usefull for scanning the code and manifest.
Validation Summary:
errors 0
notices 1
warnings 11
NOTICES:
Code Message Description File Line Column
MANIFEST_UNUSED_UPDATE The "update_url" property is The "update_url" is not used by Firefox in the root of a manifest.json
not used by Firefox. manifest; your add-on will be updated via the Add-ons site
and not your "update_url". See: https://mzl.la/25zqk4O
WARNINGS:
Code Message Description File Line Column
MANIFEST_PERMISSIONS /permissions: Unknown See https://mzl.la/1R1n1t0 (MDN Docs) for more manifest.json
permissions information.
"unlimitedStorage" at 0.
MANIFEST_CSP "content_security_policy" is A custom content_security_policy needs additional review.
defined in the manifest.json
EVAL_STRING_ARG setTimeout or setInterval setTimeout and setInterval functions should be called only third_party/jquery-1.12.3.mi… 2 30510
must have function as 1st arg with function expressions as their first argument n.js
EVAL_STRING_ARG setTimeout or setInterval setTimeout and setInterval functions should be called only third_party/jquery-1.12.3.mi… 4 8205
must have function as 1st arg with function expressions as their first argument n.js
TABS_SENDREQUEST "tabs.sendRequest" is This API has been deprecated by Chrome and has not been js/common/Browser.js 2 940
deprecated or unimplemented implemented by Firefox.
EXT_SENDREQUEST "extension.sendRequest" is This API has been deprecated by Chrome and has not been js/common/Browser.js 2 1336
deprecated or unimplemented implemented by Firefox.
EXT_ONREQUEST "extension.onRequest" is This API has been deprecated by Chrome and has not been js/common/Browser.js 2 3181
deprecated or unimplemented implemented by Firefox.
APP_GETDETAILS "app.getDetails" is This API has been deprecated by Chrome and has not been js/main/VersionDetect.js 2 462
deprecated or unimplemented implemented by Firefox.
APP_GETDETAILS "app.getDetails" is This API has been deprecated by Chrome and has not been js/main/VersionDetect.js 2 488
deprecated or unimplemented implemented by Firefox.
MOZINDEXEDDB_PROPERTY mozIndexedDB used as an mozIndexedDB has been removed; use indexedDB instead. skitch/js/skitch.js 5 10601
object key/property
NO_DOCUMENT_WRITE Use of document.write document.write will fail in many circumstances when used skitch/js/skitch.js 17 1952
strongly discouraged. in extensions, and has potentially severe security
repercussions when used improperly. Therefore, it should
not be used.