Andrey Rahmatullin writes ("Re: sane chromium default flags - include
--enable-remote-extensions"):
> [Ian Jackson:]
> > Can we not make the updates work for non-Debian-packaged extensions,
> > while disabling them for Debian-packaged ones ?
> >
> > If we did that then there would no need to disable people's
> > extensions.
>
> I guess the real question is "why updating extensions was disabled
> in the first place". If chromium phones home only when non-packaged
> extensions are actually installed then it doesn't happen until the
> user installs them.
But is that actually true ?
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=841401#89
I don't know what `background networking' is, precisely, in this
context, but it doesn't sound like something nice.
It still seems likely to me that the problem here is a code problem,
and that people who find the current behaviour unpleasant should try
to figure out how to make the code DTRT, rather than fighting over a
bad choice between different bad default configurations.
> I'm sure there are people who would forbid the
> users from doing that but...
This is a separate question. Ideally, as I say, Chromium would not
access external repositori(es) for extensions unless they either
contain only Free Softare, or the user has enabled Debian control
(and, presumably, installed some chromium-nonfreeapp-store package, or
something).
But certainly it should not phone home for extensions unless the user
explicitly asks to review or search for available extensions, or has
non-Debian-packages extensions installed.
Ian.
