> It's entirely doable and most extensions can work fine without knowing every single URL you open.
It's needed by: Greasemonkey (to determine whether to run a script), content blockers, password managers (to determine whether to fill in on that site) and any extension running web-standards compliant javascript against a page's DOM (i.e. any page-modifying extensions) as inherent part of standards-compliance
> You can also have an officially sanctioned distribution channel like an app store and still retain the ability to install any software you want.
In theory, yes. But in reality mozilla has been making it more and more difficult to install extensions. You cannot install extensions not signed by mozilla on stable firefox. They already have assumed exclusive control there.
It's needed by: Greasemonkey (to determine whether to run a script), content blockers, password managers (to determine whether to fill in on that site) and any extension running web-standards compliant javascript against a page's DOM (i.e. any page-modifying extensions) as inherent part of standards-compliance
This covers a very large fraction of the most downloaded extensions https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?platform=wi...
> You can also have an officially sanctioned distribution channel like an app store and still retain the ability to install any software you want.
In theory, yes. But in reality mozilla has been making it more and more difficult to install extensions. You cannot install extensions not signed by mozilla on stable firefox. They already have assumed exclusive control there.