In uBO, the "cache storage" is used to save resources which can
be safely discarded, though at the cost of having to fetch or
recompute them again.
Extension storage (browser.storage.local) is now always used as
cache storage backend. This has always been the default for
Chromium-based browsers.
For Firefox-based browsers, IndexedDB was used as backend for
cache storage, with fallback to extension storage when using
Firefox in private mode by default.
Extension storage is reliable since it works in all contexts,
though it may not be the most performant one.
To speed-up loading of resources from extension storage, uBO will
now make use of Cache API storage, which will mirror content of
key assets saved to extension storage. Typically loading resources
from Cache API is faster than loading the same resources from
the extension storage.
Only resources which must be loaded in memory as fast as possible
will make use of the Cache API storage layered on top of the
extension storage.
Compiled filter lists and memory snapshot of filtering engines
(aka "selfies") will be mirrored to the Cache API storage, since
these must be loaded into memory as fast as possible, and reloading
filter lists from their compiled counterpart is a common
operation.
This new design makes it now seamless to work in permanent private
mode for Firefox-based browsers, since extension storage now
always contains cache-related assets.
Support for IndexedDB is removed for the time being, except to
support migration of cached assets the first time uBO runs with
the new cache storage design.
In order to easily support all choices of storage, a new serializer
has been introduced, which is capable of serializing/deserializing
structure-cloneable data to/from a JS string.
Because of this new serializer, JS data structures can be stored
directly from their native representation, and deserialized
directly to their native representation from uBO's point of view,
since the serialization occurs (if needed) only at the storage
interface level.
This new serializer simplifies many code paths where data
structures such as Set, Map, TypedArray, RegExp, etc. had to be
converted in a disparate manner to be able to persist them to
extension storage.
The new serializer supports workers and LZ4 compression. These
can be configured through advanced settings.
With this new layered design, it's possible to introduce more
storage layers if measured as beneficial (i.e. maybe
browser.storage.session)
References:
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/storage/local
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Cache
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Workers_API/Structured_clone_algorithm
This commit brings the following changes to the logger:
All logging output generated by injected scriptlets are now sent to
the logger, the developer console will no longer be used to log
scriptlet logging information.
When the logger is not opened, the scriplets will not output any
logging information.
The goal with this new approach is to allow filter authors to
more easily assess the working of scriptlets without having to
go through scriptlet parameters to enable logging.
Consequently all the previous ways to tell scriptlets to log
information are now obsolete: if the logger is opened, the
scriptlets will log information to the logger.
Another benefit of this approach is that the dev tools do not
need to be open to obtain scriptlets logging information.
Accordingly, new filter expressions have been added to the logger:
"info" and "error". Selecting the "scriptlet" expression will also
keep the logging information from scriptlets.
A new button has been added to the logger (not yet i18n-ed): a
"volume" icon, which allows to enable verbose mode. When verbose
mode is enabled, the scriptlets may choose to output more
information regarding their inner working.
The entries in the logger will automatically expand on mouse hover.
This allows to scroll through entries which text does not fit into
a single row.
Clicking anywhere on an entry in the logger will open the detailed
view when applicable.
Generic information/errors will now be rendered regardless of which
tab is currently selected in the logger (similar to how tabless
entries are already being rendered).
The idea is to remove as many dependencies as possible for
low-level ScriptletFilteringEngine in order to make it easier
to reuse the module outside uBO itself.
The high-level derived class takes care of caching and
injection of scriptlets into documents, which requires
more knowledge about the environment in which scriptlets
are to be used.
Also improve scriptlet cache usage to minimize overhead of
retrieving scriptlets.
Related issue:
https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/2969
Changes:
Use browser.alarms to trigger selfie creation. Presence of a selfie
improve markedly time to readiness when uBO is unsuspended.
Mirror content of storage.local to (in-memory) storage.session for
faster load to readiness when uBO is ususpended.
Broadcast channels are more suited to uBO than DOM events to dispatch
notifications to different parts of uBO.
DOM events can only be dispatched to local context, broadcast channels
dispatch to all contexts (i.e. background process, workers, auxiliary
pages) -- this last behavior is better suited to uBO to communicate
internal changes to all potential listeners, not just those in the local
context.
Additionally, broadcasting to content scripts is now done through
tabs.sendMessage() instead of through potentially opened message
ports, this simplifies broadcasting to content scripts, and this
doesn't require to have long-lived message ports in content
scripts.
Related issue:
https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/2773
The `randomize` paramater introduced in https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/commit/418087de9c
is now named `directive`, and beside the `true` value which is meant
to respond with a random 10-character string, it can now take the
following value:
war:[web_accessible_resource name]
In order to mock the XHR response with a web accessible resource. For
example:
piquark6046.github.io##+js(no-xhr-if, adsbygoogle.js, war:googlesyndication_adsbygoogle.js)
Will cause the XHR performed by the webpage to resolve to the content
of `/web_accessible_resources/googlesyndication_adsbygoogle.js`.
Should the resource not exist, the empty string will be returned.
Also added additional safeguard against sticky unprocessed-request
status: all unprocessed-request statuses will be cleared after a
minute elapsed following intialization. The idea is that if the
user hasn't care to force a reload of the page, then it's assumed
to be by choice and uBO should stop informing about the status.
uBO will now verify that at least one unprocessed network requests
at launch should have been blocked in order to warn users of
unprocessed network requests through the `!` toolbar icon badge.
For example, with default filter lists, there is nothing to block
on `wikipedia.org`, and hence in this case it's not useful to
present the user with the `!` badge.
Therefore uBO will not show the badge *only* when at least one
unprocessed network requests should have been blocked had uBO been
ready when it was fired by the browser.
Related commit:
- https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/commit/769b8da664be
Related feedback:
- 769b8da664 (commitcomment-104695781)
The incomplete filtering status of a given tab at browser launch
will be carried over visually as a yellowish `!` badge until the
web page in the tab is force reloaded, navigated away, or closed.
The purpose is to make it obvious to end users that a web page
has not been filtered properly and to avoid issue reports
related to this.
It is expected that Firefox should never be affected by cases of
yellowish badge -- that is unless the setting "Suspend network
activity [...]" has been disabled, in which case the new behavior
will also be useful to those who disabled the setting.
Related discussion:
- https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/discussions/16939
Until uBO's filtering engines are properly initialized, there will
be a distinct toolbar icon to help users understand that uBO may
not be fully initialized when a webpage is loaded -- often the
cause of improper filtering of trackers/ads at browser launch.
Raymond Hill