Hello, I have something of an unusual question, perhaps, and from the perspective of a novice. I’ve been working with extensions for a little while and have a larger project in mind that I doubt an extension alone can handle, at least not as efficiently as I’d like. I was reading about Firefox source code and the MPL license and that is what led me to this question. I also do not want to pursue any of the tools available that package stripped-down browsers and local servers together as a desktop application, although my question may sound like a stripped down browser less the local server.
Is it permissible and possible to use Firefox as a “base” to build a separate stand-alone tool for a specific purpose, apart from internet browsing alone; and make it such that it can be updated as Firefox is updated? Sort of like those Linux distributions that write about their upstream resources, meaning they’re built on top of someone else’s base distribution.
The purpose of the tool is to aid study in a particular area; and it’s value is in the content more so than what it does programmatically. I thought about using native messaging and a middle program to get the content from a database into the browser for display through an extension, but would like to consider this other option in comparison. By content I mean several GBs of text, audio, and perhaps a small amount of video, all stored locally. My goal is to give it away to those interested in the area of study; but it would be nice to be able to protect the content from being altered and users need to be able to add thier work to the database as they study.
Of course, this is nothing new in itself, for I purchased a birding software that is somewhat similar; but it’s built within each operating system. If possible, I’d like to build it in Firefox.
Instead of using extension pages to build a user interface to request and display content, can that code be built into the browser itself and used to retrieve the content directly from SQLite files?
Can the browser menus be changed and features that won’t be used removed to reduce the file size?
I guess it would sort of be as if one’s extension was built directly into the source code and everything else in the browser built around that one purpose. The goal would be to be able to update the tool by adding more content as it becomes avalilable and modifying the HTML/CSS/JS of the UI as features are added, without requiring the user to do much; and backing up the users’ work. It appears that it would be better to keep the content stored within the browsers storage area.
Is Thunderbird built from Firefox?
I’d appreciate any direction you may be able to provide. It may be a ridiculous question and, even if possible, would require a team of people rather than just one.
Thank you.