[webkit-dev] Isolated world tests

[Oliver Hunt]

On Jul 1, 2009, at 7:21 PM, Adam Barth wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 7:08 PM, Oliver Hunt<oliver at apple.com> wrote:
>> Given this apparently needs to exist in WebCore you will need to  
>> implement
>> this feature for the JSC bindings as well.  This will also make it  
>> possible
>> for it to be tested in the normal layout tests.
>
> Huh?  I don't understand the technical reason for this requirement.
> Can you explain why we should spend double the engineering effort (and
> introduce the corresponding instability into JSC ports) to build
> something that no one plans to use?

This is a feature that sounds like it would be useful in a number  
scenarios (the inspector for instance), and even if we don't use it  
immediately it shouldn't be instantly relegated to the pool of things  
that have no value.

Given webkit has a goal of providing the same feature set across all  
platforms it is concerning to see features being implemented at a  
bindings level where they are of no value webkit itself unless backed  
by JSC.  As this feature is meant to be useful for browsers as well,  
it is worth considering the broad array of browsers built upon webkit  
(a vast number exist on mac, and there a number of different browsers  
are based on the qt and gtk ports as well) which would not benefit at  
all if this wasn't implemented by the JSC bindings.

>
> Regardless of whether we implement the feature for JSC, we'll still
> need to enhance the layoutTestController to exercise the feature
> because the feature isn't exposed to normal web pages.  Isn't a better
> solution just to add the tests to the skipped list for non-supporting
> ports?

V8 is not a port, it is a distinct JS engine that has been allowed to  
have its bindings kept in the webkit tree on the condition that the  
bindings remain behaviourally identical.

> Adam

--Oliver