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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-07 19:33:14 +0000
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+AMRemoteSettings Overview
+=========================
+
+``AMRemoteSettings`` is a singleton that is responsible for fetching data from a RemoteSettings collection named
+``"main/addons-manager-settings"`` to remotely control a set of Add-ons related preferences (hardcoded inside
+the AMRemoteSettings definition part of a given Firefox release).
+
+``AMRemoteSettings`` will process the collection data when the RemoteSettings ``"sync"`` event is fired and on
+late browser startup if there is already some data stored locally in the collection (and so if the pref value is
+manually changed, then it would be set again to the value stored in the RemoteSettings collection data, either
+on the next browser startup or on the next time the ``"sync"`` event is fired again).
+
+.. warning::
+ Any about:config preference that AMRemoteSettings singleton sets while processing the RemoteSettings collection data
+ are **never cleared automatically** (e.g. if in a future Firefox version AMRemoteSettings does not handle a particular
+ settings anymore, or if the RemoteSettings entry is removed from the collection on the RemoteSettings service side).
+
+ In practice this makes this feature a good choice when the remotely controlled about:config preferences is related to:
+
+ * Firefox Add-ons features in the process of being deprecated and then fully removed in a future Firefox release
+
+ * or controlled settings that are never removed from the ``"main/addons-manager-settings"`` collection.
+
+ In general before changing controlled settings in the ``"main/addons-manager-settings"`` collection it is advisable to:
+
+ * make sure to default value for the related about:config preferences has been changed in mozilla-central first,
+ and to let it ride the release train and get some backing time on release;
+
+ * only after that consider changing the value controlled by ``"main/addons-manager-settings"`` collection,
+ to set the same value on older Firefox releases where the previous default value was set.
+
+The ``AMRemoteSettings`` singleton queries RemoteSettings and processes all the entries got from the
+``"main/addons-manager-settings"`` collection, besides entries that may be filtered out by RemoteSettings based on
+the ``"filter_expression"`` property (See https://remote-settings.readthedocs.io/en/latest/target-filters.html#how).
+
+Each of the entries created in the ``"main/addons-manager-settings"`` collection and is expected to match the JSONSchema
+described in the :ref:`JSON Schema section below<JSON Schema>`.
+
+For each entry found in the collection, only the properties that are explicitly included in the
+``AMRemoteSettings.RS_ENTRIES_MAP`` object are going to be processed (e.g. new Firefox versions may have introduced new
+ones that older Firefox version will just ignore):
+
+* Each of the ``AMRemoteSettings.RS_ENTRIES_MAP`` properties:
+
+ * represents a group of settings (e.g. the property named ``"installTriggerDeprecation"``) is responsible of controlling
+ about:config preferences related to the InstallTrigger deprecation
+
+ * is set to an array of string, which lists the about:config preferences names that can actually be controlled by the
+ related group of settings (e.g. ``"installTriggerDeprecation"`` can only control two preferences,
+ ``"extensions.InstallTrigger.enabled"`` and ``"extensions.InstallTriggerImpl.enabled"``, that are controlling the
+ InstallTrigger and InstallTrigger's methods availability).
+
+.. warning::
+ Any other about:config preference names that are not listed explicitly in the ``AMRemoteSettings.RS_ENTRIES_MAP`` config
+ is expected to be ignored, even if allowed by a new version of the collection's JSONSchema (this is the expected behavior
+ and prevents the introduction of unexpected behaviors on older Firefox versions that may not be expecting new settings groups
+ that may be introduced in Firefox releases that followed it).
+
+ Any about:config preference with an unexpected value type is going to be ignored as well (look to the ``AMRemoteSettings.processEntries``
+ to confirm which preferences values types are already expected and handled accordingly).
+
+.. _Controlled Settings Groups:
+
+AMRemoteSettings - Controlled Settings Groups
+=============================================
+
+installTriggerDeprecation
+-------------------------
+
+Group of settings to control InstallTrigger deprecation (Bug 1754441)
+
+- **extensions.InstallTrigger.enabled** (boolean), controls the availability of the InstallTrigger global:
+
+ - Turning this to false will be hiding it completely
+
+ .. note::
+ Turning this off can potentially impact UA detection on website being using it to detect
+ Firefox. The WebCompat team should be consulted before setting this to `false` by default in
+ Nightly or across all Firefox >= 100 versions through the ``"addons-manager-settings"``
+ RemoteSettings collection).
+
+- **extensions.InstallTriggerImpl.enabled** (boolean): controls the availability of the InstallTrigger methods:
+
+ - Turning this to false will hide all the InstallTrigger implementation, preventing using it to
+ trigger the addon install flow, while the InstallTrigger global will still exists but be set to null.
+
+quarantinedDomains
+------------------
+
+Group of settings to control the list of quarantined domains (Bug 1832791)
+
+- **extensions.quarantinedDomains.list** (string), controls the list of domains to be quarantined
+
+ .. note::
+ The WebExtensions and Add-ons Operations teams should be consulted before applying changes to
+ the list of quarantined domains.
+
+How to define new remotely controlled settings
+----------------------------------------------
+
+.. note::
+ Please update the :ref:`JSON Schema` and :ref:`UI Schema` in this documentation page updated when the ones used on the
+ RemoteSettings service side have been changed, and document new controlled settings in the section :ref:`Controlled Settings Groups`.
+
+* Confirm that the :ref:`JSON Schema` and :ref:`UI Schema` included in this page are in sync with the one actually used on the
+ RemoteSettings service side, and use it as the starting point to update it to include a new type on remotely controlled setting:
+
+ * choose a new unique string for the group of settings to be used in the ``definitions`` and ``properties``
+ objects (any that isn't already used in the existing JSON Schema ``definitions``), possibly choosing a name
+ that helps to understand what the purpose of the entry.
+
+ * add a new JSONSchema for the new group of settings in the ``definitions`` property
+
+ * each of the properties included in the new definition should be named after the name of the about:config pref
+ being controlled, their types should match the type expected by the pref (e.g. ``"boolean"`` for a boolean preference).
+
+ * make sure to add a description property to the definition and to each of the controlled preferences, which should
+ describe what is the settings group controlling and what is the expected behavior on the values allowed.
+
+* Add a new entry to ``"AMRemoteSettings.RS_ENTRIES_MAP"`` with the choosen ``"id"`` as its key and
+ the array of the about:config preferences names are its value.
+
+* If the value type of a controlled preference isn't yet supported, the method ``AMRemoteSettings.processEntries`` has to be
+ updated to handle the new value type (otherwise the preference value will be just ignored).
+
+* Add a new test to cover the expected behaviors on the new remotely controlled settings, the following RemoteSettings
+ documentation page provides some useful pointers:
+ * https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/services/settings/index.html#unit-tests
+
+* Refer to the RemoteSettings docs for more details about managing the JSONSchema for the ``"main/addons-manager-settings"``
+ collection and how to test it interactively in a Firefox instance:
+ * https://remote-settings.readthedocs.io/en/latest/getting-started.html
+ * https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/services/settings/index.html#create-new-remote-settings
+ * https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/services/settings/index.html#remote-settings-dev-tools
+
+.. _JSON Schema:
+
+AMRemoteSettings - JSON Schema
+==============================
+
+The entries part of the ``"addons-manager-settings"`` collection are validated using a JSON Schema structured as follows:
+
+* The mandatory ``"id"`` property
+ * defaults to `"AddonManagerSettings"` (which enforces only one entry in the collection as the preferred use case)
+ * **should NOT be changed unless there is a specific need to create separate collection entries which target or exclude specific Firefox versions.**
+ * when changed and multiple entries are created in this collection, it is advisable to:
+
+ * set the id to a short string value that make easier to understand the purpose of the additional entry in the collection
+ (eg. `AddonManagerSettings-fx98-99` for an entry created that targets Firefox 98 and 99)
+ * make sure only one applied to each targeted Firefox version ranges, or at least that each entry is controlling a different settings group
+
+* Each supported group of controlled settings is described by its own property (e.g. ``"installTriggerDeprecation"``)
+
+ * JSON Schema for each group of settings is defined in an entry of the ``"definitions"`` property.
+
+ * Each group of settings is contained it its own entry in ``"properties"``, named as the entry added to the ``"definitions"``)
+ and referencing (using ``"$ref"``) the related definition
+
+.. literalinclude :: ./AMRemoteSettings-JSONSchema.json
+ :language: json
+
+UI Schema
+---------
+
+In addition to the JSON Schema, a separate json called ``"UI schema"`` is associated to the ``"addons-manager-settings"`` collection,
+and it can be used to customize the form auto-generated based on the JSONSchema data.
+
+.. note::
+ Extending this schema is only needed if it can help to make the RemoteSettings collection easier to manage
+ and less error prone.
+
+.. literalinclude :: ./AMRemoteSettings-UISchema.json
+ :language: json