Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2010/05/28/mozilla_jetpack_0_5/

Mozilla straps on Jetpack 0.4

No restart required here

By Kelly Fiveash

Posted in Software, 28th May 2010 12:20 GMT

Mozilla has released a fourth version of Jetpack, less than a month since it spun out its last developer kit to web developers.

Jetpack 0.4 includes four new high-level APIs for coders to play with. The open source organisation said it had held back some APIs that it had planned for this release of the add-on software development kit.

Developers can now expect to see those APIs slotted into Jetpack 0.5, which is expected to land late next month.

Mozilla has added a so-called "page-worker" API to Jetpack 0.4 that allows add-ons to create a permanent, invisible frame for loading and accessing web pages.

There's also a widget API, which provides a "visually consistent way" for add-ons to be displayed within the browser.

Additionally there's a "simple-storage" API allowing add-ons to more easily store data across application restarts, and a private browsing API that creepily tells add-ons when a user starts or stops activating the porn-friendly mode.

Mozilla said it had also made two big tweaks to the platform. It said add-on bundles created by the SDK can now be installed into nightly test builds of new iterations of Firefox without requiring users to restart the application.

Secondly, the outfit has given Jetpack 0.4 an added layer of security by giving each SDK created add-on bundle a "cryptographic identifier", which shows that an updated version comes from the same source as its origin. ®