declarativeNetRequest in Firefox?

Add-ons Development
#1

There has been news that Google Chrome/ium is going to introduce a manifest v3 and declarativeNetRequest to replace the webRequest API, which would severely limit what content blockers as uBlock can do. Especially as they also set a limit of 30,000 entries that can be filtered at most, which is really too small for most blocklists.

That said, what is Mozilla’s position on this? Will they adopt the same API? If so, are they also going to deprecate the webRequest API?

My opinion: By all means, do adopt any new API. Also declarativeNetRequest as it could legitimately speed up content blocking. However, please do not limit it to any number of blocking – this would be kinda ridiculous. And do continue to support the webRequest API, because it is more powerful and add-ons as uBlock can continue to provide a good “blocking experience”.

Then, add-on devs could load their “simple” policies into that declarative API and continue to use the webRequests API for more “advanced stuff”.

IMHO a public statement on this could really help to grow the Firefox user-base, if Chrome/ium really decides that they want to continue that way.

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#2

I think we are safe here. There is just no way the most popular add-ons of all times would just disappear.

From what I can see, the worst case scenario is that one add-on will have a limited filters amount, so instead of installing one adblock with multiple filters, you will install multiple addblocks, each for a specific filtering.

Also people comparing this with Firefox 57 add-on “Armageddon” are not correct, since as an add-on developer I can see the benefits of Webextension API and I know this was just necessary step towards brighter future :slight_smile:.
Similarly comparing this with Play Store removing adblocks is also not good since Android has no real competition that allows adblocks so they can do whatever they want.

#3

According to recent news, it seems chrome.declarativeNetRequest is going to be a thing:

https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/declarativeNetRequest

It may be a boon to developers who want a simpler way to manage blocking, so hopefully Firefox can support it without taking away the option of using [“blocking”] with the webRequest API.

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