fix: support Chrome 137+ in web-ext run -t chromium (+functional tests) #3434
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enableExtensions was dropped in [email protected] GoogleChrome/chrome-launcher@a860504
The existing unit tests for web-ext run -t chromium are at tests/unit/test-extension-runners/test.chromium.js but are testing implementation details without verifying that Chrome is actually going to launch the extension. Before refactoring the implementation as needed to support Chrome 137+ and later, this introduces a unit test that verifies the behavior against the real Chrome (skipped by default), and a fake Chrome binary that behaves like the real Chrome binary where relevant. This will help us with catching regressions in the implementation and/or downstream dependencies (chrome-launcher). These Chrome behavior has been verified across Chrome 69, 70, 75, 77, 88, 100, 122, 125, 126, 134, 139. The auto-reload case of the "real Chrome" test in Chrome 134 requires manual intervention in the form of visiting chrome://extensions/, enabling 'Developer Mode' and then manually reloading the extension, for the following reasons: - The bundled "web-ext Reload Manager Extension" uses Manifest Version 2, which is disabled by default in recent Chrome. - When 'Developer Mode' is off (by default), an attempt to reload extensions that were loaded with --load-extension causes the extension to be disabled. These two issues will be resolved once we switch to the new CDP-based method of loading Chrome extensions.
The new CDP-based chrome extension loader does not need WebSockets to manage extension reloading logic. This patch removes all traces of WebSocket based extension reloading from web-ext, including unit tests that tested WebSocket-specific logic. The following commits will restore this functionality using CDP.
This is a re-implementation of auto-reload support in Chrome, by opening chrome://extensions/ and using a private API. It has been confirmed to work with Chrome 69 until 139. The functional unit tests only work in Chrome 75 until 133: - Chrome 74 and earlier do not support MV3 background service_worker, and the test extension uses it. Rewriting the extension to the MV2 variant causes it to pass in Chrome 69. - Chrome 134 disables unpacked extensions upon reload when Developer Mode is disabled: https://issues.chromium.org/issues/362756477 The next commit will introduce a more reliable mechanism of reloading extensions, using the same mechanism as loading the extension, which works in Chrome 126+. Tested as follows for various relevant versions of Chromium: CHROME_PATH=/path/to/chrome75/chromium TEST_LOG_VERBOSE=1 TEST_WEBEXT_USE_REAL_CHROME=1 ./node_modules/.bin/mocha tests/functional/test.cli.run-target-chromium.js --grep='with auto-reload run real' Unit tests with fake Chrome binary that simulates the real binary: ./node_modules/.bin/mocha tests/functional/test.cli.run-target-chromium.js --grep=auto-reload Pre-existing unit test that tested web-ext internals: ./node_modules/.bin/mocha tests/unit/test-extension-runners/test.chromium.js
This finalizes the work needed to get `web-ext run -t chromium` working again in Chrome 137+, following the deprecation of the previously used `--load-extension` flag as announced at https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/chromium-extensions/c/aEHdhDZ-V0E/m/UWP4-k32AgAJ This patch uses the `Extensions.loadUnpacked` CDP command to achieve this, and falls back to `--load-extension` when it detects the lack of support for the `Extensions.loadUnpacked` CDP command. This has been verified with Chrome 69+ (released 7 years ago). The function unit tests work with Chrome 75+ due to MV3, as explained in an earlier commit message. Functional verification (tested Chrome 69, 125, 126, 131, 138, 139): CHROME_PATH=/path/to/chrome69/chromium TEST_WEBEXT_USE_REAL_CHROME=1 ./node_modules/.bin/mocha tests/functional/test.cli.run-target-chromium.js Unit tests (internals): ./node_modules/.bin/mocha tests/unit/test-extension-runners/test.chromium.js
When auto-reload is enabled, and the developer accidentally breaks the extension, then web-ext will try to reload the extension, which causes it to be disabled in the browser. In the case of Chrome, the new CDP-based method can successfully reload the extension (Chrome 126+). The fallback for older Chrome does not work. This patch adds test coverage for that scenario, and updates the fake-chrome-binary to accurately simulate that scenario. Tested with real Chrome 75, 131, 138, 139. CHROME_PATH=/path/to/chrome75/chromium TEST_WEBEXT_USE_REAL_CHROME=1 ./node_modules/.bin/mocha tests/functional/test.cli.run-target-chromium.js
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This was referenced May 28, 2025
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This PR is part of the 8.8.0 release (https://github.com/mozilla/web-ext/releases/tag/8.8.0). It is possible for websites to treat the launched Chrome differently when they check A work-around to that is to use |
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Fixes #3388.
This PR gets
web-ext run -t chromiumworking again in Chrome 137+.It uses the
Extensions.loadUnpackedCDP command, with a fallback to--load-extensionfor versions before Chrome 126 (all based on feature detection; there are no explicit version checks in the implementation, to allow it to work with any Chromium-based browser).Since the implementation now uses CDP, it also replaces the "web-ext Reload Manager Extension" helper extension with a CDP-based mechanism to reload the extension.
All of this is covered by extensive functional tests, with a fake chrome binary that accurately simulates the relevant behaviors. I have verified the behaviors Chrome 69, 70, 75, 77, 88, 100, 122, 125, 126, 134, 139. Relevant findings of version-specific behavior is documented in #3388 (comment). The tests with real Chrome are disabled by default to not slow down CI, but if interested one can run them by setting the
TEST_WEBEXT_USE_REAL_CHROME=1environment variable. More tips on debugging are documented intests/functional/test.cli.run-target-chromium.js.