Re: The future of binary embedding

So bad for java dev. I also miss javaxpcom. :-(

Thank you for your relay kindly.

2011/3/29 Benjamin Smedberg <[email protected]>

> Last summer, I led a session at the Mozilla summit to discuss whether and
> how we ought to continue supporting our various embedding efforts
> (gtkmozembed, javaxpcom, the ActiveX control, the NSView embedding widget,
> etc) given the effort involved in preserving their various degrees of code
> and binary compatibility with Mozilla core. We came the following
> conclusions:
>
>   * Embedding Mozilla rendering into other processes is a tough
>     problem. We never solved it fully, and each embedder has had to
>     spend lots of time tweaking things.
>   * Firefox is the key product of the Mozilla project; to the extent
>     that supporting embedding takes away from Firefox, we should
>     strongly prioritize Firefox.
>   * Binary compatibility of our embedding bindings is a high cost
>     which is not worth the benefits.
>   * As we move Firefox into a multiple-process model, the embedding
>     solution we really want is very different from the one we
>     currently have: we really want embedders to be simple containers
>     for a separate Firefox process which would do the actual web
>     rendering.
>
> Because of this, I'm planning on making the following changes in our code:
>
>   * Remove gtkmozembed and its supporting code. The promise of
>     gtkmozembed was a binary-compatible wrapper that GTK applications
>     could use to easily get web rendering into their application.
>     Without significant supporting code to deal with profiles,
>     certificates, prompts, and other details, this code doesn't work
>     correctly, and is unmaintained.
>   * Remove javaxpcom and its supporting code.
>   * Remove the ActiveX control and plugin, and the IDispatch code
>     which was created to support interconnecting the ActiveX code with
>     our DOM.
>
> Various people have expressed interest in taking of maintenance of these
> embedding solutions, but I lost their email addresses in a recent computer
> crash. Anyone with interest should please email me, and I will happily work
> with you to set up a Mozilla repository for the continued maintenance of
> these projects.
>
> As a project, we aren't going to spend effort trying to solve the problems
> associated with in-process embedding. Once separate-process rendering is
> implemented in Firefox, we may consider ways to make really simple
> multi-process embedding a possibility. If you are interested in helping to
> begin implementation of this multiprocess embedding solution, please let me
> know, and I will help guide you in the right direction.
>
> --BDS
> Module Owner, Embedding
>
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