0.18 Release

Migrate to non-persistent background pages as a first step towards Manifest v3.

chrome/manifest.json

@@ -93,5 +93,5 @@
   ],
   "optional_permissions": ["browsingData"],
   "short_name": "JShelter",
-  "version": "0.17"
+  "version": "0.18"
 }

firefox/manifest.json

@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
   ],
   "optional_permissions": ["browsingData"],
   "short_name": "JShelter",
-  "version": "0.17",
+  "version": "0.18",
   "browser_specific_settings": {
     "gecko": {
         "id": "jsr@javascriptrestrictor",

website/content/pages/versions.md

@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 Title: Release history
 
+## 0.18
+
+* Migrate to non-persistent background pages as a [first step towards Manifest v3](/first-mv3-step/).
+
 ## 0.17
 
 * Added support for built-in tweaks for specific domains. The goal is to list several domains that

website/content/posts/first-mv3-step.md

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+---
+title: First step towards MV3
+date: 2024-04-19 17:00
+Series: Manifest v3
+---
+
+We have been working on migration to Manifest v3 (MV3) for some time and today we are shipping a
+JShelter version 0.18 that implements stateless replacement for background pages which is a first step towards MV3.
+
+MV2 extensions were allowed to create background pages. These pages allow running JavaScript code
+and keep state like variables for the whole browser session. Essentially, all background pages
+started with the browser and lasted until the user closed the browser. Hence, we could utilize
+background pages to safe all information needed to be kept in memory. For instance, JShelter needs
+to store:
+
+* hashes used as a seed for JavaScript shield anti-fingerprinting protection,
+* number of API calls needed for Fingerprint detector, which the user can see in the pop up and
+  fingerprinting report,
+* information needed to keep pop up icon dynamic,
+* etc.
+
+We needed to solve issues related to the migration of all these information from regular JavaScript
+variables to Web Storage. As we expect that other extensions need to solve the same problem, we created
+a [stateless NSCL branch](https://github.com/hackademix/nscl/tree/stateless). Among others, we
+needed to solve the issue of writing to the storage too frequently. As the core of JShelter is
+heavily stateful, we needed to rewrite important parts that were in the code base for years and were
+proven to work.
+
+JShelter has repeatable tests and we run additional testing, especially under circumstances like
+this change. Everything should run the same as it used to work in 0.17. However, please be cautious
+and report back any odd behavior that you encounter with 0.18 and later versions.
+
+Migration to stateless or non-persistent background pages is needed for MV3 but it is still not a
+final step. Expect other major changes in JShelter core code including removal of Network Boundary
+Shield for Chromium-based browsers soon. Hence, keep cautious also in the following months and
+report back any issues that you encounter. Have a look at our [Release page](/versions/) for more
+information about the changes in JShelter.