Non-Bandcamp Domains Blocked

[sabjorn]

Bandcamp allows for custom domains and because the manifest for the extension is only wildcarded to "*.bandcamp.com", these don't work.

A user suggested adding the ability to choose custom domains BUT this still requires the manifest to wildcard to all domains. This could be a problem with the review process for publishing.

[emcniece]

Some extensions do operate on full wildcard: most adblockers, Tampermonkey, etc. It should be possible to get past review with a wildcard, but you're right in that the reviewer could request changes.

Something to consider will be the extension footprint when loading on other domains. Does the extension rely on certain elements (JSON blobs, particular IDs) or libraries (jQuery) being present in the DOM? When the extension initializes, does it load all of its bundled code into the runtime? Is there a way to structure JS functions and closures in a way that doesn't load or get parsed immediately, so that the extension can minimize its impact on pages where it isn't required?

Ensuring the extension plays nicely on all pages is responsible 👍

[sabjorn]

@emcniece very good question. Currently the "main" of the application will at least skip code execution if certain components are not present on the page (sometimes it's a url matching, other times it's checking for an element on the page).

So, yeah, I think everything loads on runtime but execution is limited. We should investigate this next time we hang out.

[Sporradik]

If it helps, you can make an optional_host_permission with a wildcard and then enable scripting as an optional permission in your manifest. Then you can request wildcard domain access as an optional setting or perhaps even white list individual domains that the user specifies.

This may still impact the review process, but I believe not as much as if it is a base level permission. Also it is less alarming to users as they will only be warned about that level of access when it contextually makes sense. Otherwise people may be skeptical to allow such blanket access initially.

[sabjorn]

@Sporradik thank you for this info!