Distribute web app as a desktop app with Firefox?

Developer Community
#1

I have a web application which I want to distribute as a standalone desktop application. Ways to do so I discovered so far are based on Node.js and/or Chromium (and seem to be rather complicated).

I also know about Prism project (now discontinued) and ways to embed Gecko into another application (not exactly what I want). Theoretically, I could also set up portable Firefox distribution tweaked for kiosk-like mode through extensions/config files.

Besides that, is there something from Mozilla I could use?

#2

So basically you are looking for something like Electron, but with Firefox’ browser engine.

I think with Gecko they had some tries, but discontinued it, as it did not really worked glad. I think with Servo one aim is to make it possible to distribute it as a standalone application, independent from Firefox.

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#3

Can you use Servo for that right now, or is it just something expected to be made possible later?

Yes, I’m looking for something like Electron, but which wouldn’t require end users to install Node and run command line (and also preferably something easier to set up for me).

#4

Based on @rugkx’s comment, I believe that it’s not yet done:

#5

End users can just execute one file and get it installed, AFAIK (Atom e.g. does it like this). There is no need to use the command line.

However, as for a Firefox engine, yes, Servo is still in development.

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#6

Is it off-topic to suggest testing out a PWA? It’s not independent of the browser, but doesn’t require a particular browser.

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#7

PWAs are currently only supported on Firefox for Android, not on Firefox for Desktop :frowning:️.

#8

BTW, at least (currently) for Android developers, there is news in this regard, it’s called GeckoView:

https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/09/focus-with-geckoview/

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