Bug 512061 - Requires access to browser history which is not used
Summary: Requires access to browser history which is not used
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Alias: None
Product: plasma-browser-integration
Classification: Plasma
Component: Firefox (other bugs)
Version First Reported In: unspecified
Platform: Other Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Kai Uwe Broulik
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-11-14 03:44 UTC by pallaswept
Modified: 2025-11-14 07:23 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed/Implemented In:
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Description pallaswept 2025-11-14 03:44:18 UTC
SUMMARY

Plasma browser integration is able to use browser history, but I have this feature disabled (unticked the box in the addon preferences). Accordingly, I have not provided permission to the addon to read this data. This has been working well.

Since the recent update, firefox is repeatedly notifying me that the addon requires new permissions to access my history. 

EXPECTED RESULT

Addon does not require access to permissions which are not used.


SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
> kinfo
Operating System: openSUSE Tumbleweed 20251111
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.2
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.19.0
Qt Version: 6.10.0
Kernel Version: 6.17.7-1-default (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 24 × AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor
Memory: 32 GiB of RAM (31.2 GiB usable)
Graphics Processor: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
Comment 1 Kai Uwe Broulik 2025-11-14 06:42:57 UTC
It uses the history permission for searching the browser history through KRunner.
Comment 2 Kai Uwe Broulik 2025-11-14 06:43:57 UTC
The extension has this permission mandatory so the feature works automatically. Otherwise you would need to grant permission first which is bad user experience. The tabs runner has always worked like this, it’s just that the history runner is now also a required permission.
Comment 3 pallaswept 2025-11-14 07:05:12 UTC
(In reply to Kai Uwe Broulik from comment #2)
> The extension has this permission mandatory so the feature works
> automatically. Otherwise you would need to grant permission first which is
> bad user experience. The tabs runner has always worked like this, it’s just
> that the history runner is now also a required permission.

Ahh thanks Kai. I was always leaving the tabs runner enabled, so I never noticed the inconsistency. I agree that some users might not like the extra step of being asked for permission. I don't like not being asked, but I feel like any users like me, are also the type to check permissions on new addons anyway, so no big loss there. Good call.

On that note... now I have the new version I have a new optional permission, 'Access your data for all websites', which was enabled by default. What's that for? Seems like it would be necessary for something like this to function, should that be mandatory, too?

Thanks for your extra efforts on this extension for us lately!
Comment 4 Kai Uwe Broulik 2025-11-14 07:21:16 UTC
The tabs runner was part of the original release, so it was all or nothing. The history runner was added later. I originally didn’t think it was useful because the browser had to be running for it. But realistically it’s running anyway, so I added it but made the permission optional specifically to avoid complaints about an added permission on update.

However, with the Manifst v3 port, I had to shuffle quite some bits on the extension side, so I figured what the hell, let’s make it mandatory, too, so it just works out of the box. As for “access all your data” I’m not sure, could also be fallout or technical change from the Manifest v3 port. We always needed access to the websites for the media controls (and share API I think) since we need to interact with the website’s DOM to control the player, etc.
Comment 5 pallaswept 2025-11-14 07:23:29 UTC
Sounds great Kai. Thanks for helping me to understand what's going on!