Support non-Chrome browsers

[codedread]

All browsers seem to be pointing in the general direction of supporting Chrome extensions (standard is called Web Extensions).

We should do some testing and see if Spaces works in Edge, Firefox, Safari, etc.

[Thovthe]

Here are a few resources that should be useful for assessing how easy a port to Firefox would be:

• https://www.extensiontest.com/
• https://decembergarnetsmith.com/blog/2024/05/10/how-to-port-an-mv3-chrome-extension-to-firefox/
• https://extensionworkshop.com/documentation/develop/porting-a-google-chrome-extension/
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Build_a_cross_browser_extension

Here's one for edge:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/ScreenDetails

[Thovthe]

It's possible! I have tagged my first release for FireFox/IceCat/gecko browsers at github.com/Thovthe/spaces/releases. It's a little hacky right now but it works and I hope to improve that over time. It's also got a couple of nice improvements like file import, addressing #12.

I was hoping to start distributing it on the firefox addons website if you don't mind @codedread because you have to submit it to them anyways even if you just want to share it with friends that use FireFox (but not Floorp or IceCat) due to how they require signing for permanent install regardless of about:config flags. Do let me know.

[codedread]

It is your fork, so you can do what you'd like :) Congrats on getting it to work! Regarding the Firefox store—go for it. Since you've put in the work to get it running there, you deserve the credit. I don't have the bandwidth to maintain a Firefox version right now, so it’s great that users have an option.

Just to be transparent: since I'm keeping this main repo MIT (permissive licensing), I can't pull your GPL changes in unless you want to dual-license a PR. If I ever find the time to implement my own Firefox compatibility layer in the future, I’ll likely publish that to the store under the original 'Spaces' name.

One suggestion for the listing: maybe call it something like 'Spaces (Firefox Port)' or something with a link to your repo? That way, users know it’s specifically maintained by you for Firefox. It also helps prevent either of us from getting support requests for the other's version! Just an idea!

[Thovthe]

Thank you and also for the go-ahead. I know I've wanted Spaces on FF for literally years, there's probably at least one other person out there. I'm going to try to stay pretty close to your upstream and I'm gonna tidy some things up to make it easier for the versions to coexist, maybe you won't feel the need.

Just to be transparent: since I'm keeping this main repo MIT (permissive licensing), I can't pull your GPL changes in unless you want to dual-license a PR.

Yes, it's a regrettable difficulty, I just feel that copyleft is good stewardship of the commons so I felt I had to go with one of those for my fork. But I'll consider upstreaming some changes as I go.

link to your repo ... users know it’s specifically maintained by you ... helps prevent either of us from getting support requests for the other's version!

Definitely, that's already in the description they ask for and I'll link to my repo in the support section. Just in case, do you know if there's a way we could move issues between our repos at a button press?

Thanks to you and Dean for your work on Spaces from a long time intermittent user. When I use it (and now I can on firefox!), it does actually improve my life in a small but real way.