Ndtyjky

I have a Chrome-based extension which works unfailingly in Chrome 26 through Chrome 70. It continues to work exactly as it does in Chrome in Firefox 47, 48, 49, but is now broken in FF/DevEdition 64.

I have no clue where to begin to look at what incompatibility FF later versions introduced/broke basic functions that worked in 47,48,49? Any pointers will be appreciated (even a link to archived versions in between so that I can grab a spare 'puter and find the exact version where it fails).

update: this is the daemon (background pg) code which opens the GUI interface
(excerpted):

    var fireflyID = 0;

    /* ... */     

             // msgpath 'class' [creates a bridge between the SDK (the GUI)

             // and the tab it monitor/analyses/debugs ...

    var msgpath = function(pathid, pathname, tabID, url, opener, reply) {

         /* ... */

         this.pathname = pathname;

         this.sdk.path = url;

         this.tab.tabID = tabID;

         this.tab.port  = chrome.tabs.connect(tabID);

         this.tab.port.onMessage.addListener(handleSCRMsg);

         /* ... */

         this.connect  = function() {    //opening handshake with contentscr

             this.tab.port.postMessage( {"msgtype":"connect" /* ... */};

             };

         this.accept   = function() {    //handshake accepted, open the sdk...

             var fireflyURL;

             fireflyURL = chrome.runtime.getURL(this.sdk.path);



                 // this works in Chrome26-Chrome70 (latest version)

                 // and Firefox 47-55, it opens the panel in FF56+,

                 // applies the title, but never displays the content?

                 // and yes .getURL() does add the right 'protocol' to the url



             this.sdk.wdw = chrome.windows.create( {

                 "url" : fireflyURL + 

                          "?portname=" + this.pathname + ";opener=",

                 "width" : 980,

                 "height" : 720,

                 "type" : "panel"

                 }); 

             };

         /* ... */

         };

     /* ... */

                            // msg from content-script...

     var handeSCRMsg = function(msg) {

         var mpath = null;



         if (msg.msgpath) {

             mpath = msgpaths[msg.msgpath];

             /* ... */                     // content scr accepts connection

                if (msg.msgtype == "accept")

                    mpath.accept();  // msgpath object 'class' from above

             /* ... */                     // go open the sdk and splice the port connections

             }

         };    



     var handleCTRLMsg = function(msg) {

         /* ... */

         if (msg.msgtype == "open") {

             pathid = fireflyID++;

             pathname = "firefly"+pathid;

             mpath = new msgpath(pathid, pathname, msg.tabID,

                                         msg.path, msg.parent, msg.reply);

             mpath.connect();

         };



      // wake up on pageAction (extension icon click)

      chrome.pageAction.onClicked.addListener( function(tab) {

          /* ... */

          msg.tabID = tab.id;

          msg.path  = "sdkfirefly.html";

          handleCTRLMsg(msg);

          };

                         // content scr posts msg to daemon to tell daemon

                         // that dflibg dataflow library is in application                

                         // 'tab' and it is ok to enable pageAction/icon

      chrome.runtime.onMessage.addListener ( function (msg, sender) {

          /* ... */

          tab  = sender.tab;

          if (msg.msgtype == "activate")

              chrome.pageAction.show(tab.id);

          }

and that shows the pertinent logic/msg flow.
It is pretty basic stuff, and since it works in so many other instances
I'm rather confused as to where to investigate next.

Further update: Console log shows some firefox-internal xml errors - anything else is at the warning level (ff not paying attention to the manifest version number, or mis-processing the manifest) or a ff error [e.g., it complains about "browser-style" missing, but its there in page_action as it is supposed to be; then it complains about background.persistent but that is not there and does not apply to FF anyway...] None of this is material as the following seems to be the crux of the issue:

Upon further testing:

Extension loads and runs in FF47-FF55 on all platforms. Appears to not finish loading in FF56+ in Windows, but loads and runs as expected in FF47-FF64 on Linux.

The extension gui does [eventually] load in Win10/FF56 (i7-7700/3.6), but takes (wait for it) over 12 minutes for FF to load it (which makes it appear broken -- it takes 1/2 sec or less in Linux [ on an amd X4 860K], or 40 secs +/- in Win7 (i7-6700/3.4). Part of this is that there is something really wrong with the FF ipc mechanism used as a foundation layer for messaging between a tab and an extension page -->> it takes 14 secs for a round trip msg between the GUI->daemon->content-script->library, library->content_script->daemon->GUI (six hops total)
in win10/FF but it only takes millisecs in linux.

It appears that something radically changed between FF55 and FF56+ on Window$64bit platforms. Does anyone have a clue as to the difference, or a work-around using something other than the port ipc mechanism?
Thanks

After extensive testing, the problem appears to be how FF56 and newer interface with Windows7/10 to access the components of the extension - IFF the extension was loaded from a NAS/Samba or NFS mounted share. Why this has any effect on ipc as well is a complete mystery.

The solution is to copy the extension from the NAS appliance or Samba/NFS mounted share
to a physically local hard drive and temp-load the extension from there.