gecko-dev/extensions/sroaming/README.txt
mozilla.BenB%bucksch.org a8c5f20207 Bug 124029 - Roaming
New module for session-based roaming like in Netscape Communicator 4.x.

r=Pete Zha <pete.zha@sun.com>
sr=darin (backend), jag (UI code)
a=tor
Tracking of bugs, regressions: Bug 228629
2004-05-24 16:55:07 +00:00

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This implements 4.x-like roaming.
To make the implementation vastly more simple, it has been decided that no
syncing during the session happens. The design will not allow that either
(at most sync in certain intervalls). A full-blown dynamic implementation
that immediately update the server when a data change occured requires the
cooperation of the data providers (bookmarks, prefs etc.) and is thus a huge
change that I will leave to somebody else to implement independant of this
roaming support here. alecf made such proposals a longer time ago on
n.p.m.prefs, they sounded very interesting, but unfortunately, nobody
implemented them so far.
When the users selected a profile, we will check, if it's a roaming profile
and where the data lies. If necessary, we will contact the server and
download the data as files. We will overwrite local profile files with
the downloaded ones. Then, the profile works as if it were fully local.
When the user then logs out (shuts down Mozilla or switches to another
profile), we upload the local files, overwriting those on the server.
Following Conrad Carlen's advise, I do not hook up using nsIProfileChangeStatus,
but in nsProfile directly. That just calls |nsISessionRoaming|.
Its implementation uses various protocol handlers like |mozSRoamingCopy| to
do the upload/download. These in turn may use generic protocol handlers like
the netwerk HTTP protocol to do that.
Also following Conrad's advise, I do not store the roaming prefs in the prefs
system (prefs.js etc.), because that it not yet initialized when I need the
data (of course - prefs.js, user.js etc. might get changed by us), but in
the Mozilla application registry. For the structure, see the comment at
the top of prefs/top.js.
Overview of implementation:
- transfer.js (the Transfer class and support classes) contains the
non-GUI logic to transfer files and track the progress and success.
- progressDialog.* shows the progress to the user (and also works as interface
to the C++ code)
- conflictCheck.js is the "controller", controls the overall execution flow.
It determines what has to be done (which files to transfer when etc.),
including the conflict resolution logic, and kicks off the transfers.
There is a long comment at the top describing the implementation.
- conflictResolution.* is a dialog to ask the user when we don't know which
version of a file to use.