[webkit-dev] Staging WebSocket protocol deployment

[Maciej Stachowiak]

On Nov 15, 2009, at 5:18 PM, Yuzo Fujishima wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm against prefixing with "webkit-" because of the following reasons.
>
> Reason 1: It connotes that the feature is experimental. That means  
> there
> will be less developers seriously use that feature. Without serious  
> use,
> we'll have less serious feedbacks from the real world. If the Web  
> Socket
> has serious flaws, we should rather know them sooner than later. I'd  
> say
> only serious uses can help us find the flaws faster.

I think this captures the root of the disagreement. Personally, I  
would like to do something to send the message that WebSocket is still  
somewhat experimental. It's true that the spec has been in development  
for a long time. But we are only now seeing the first client-side and  
server-side implementations. A number of issues were discovered in  
that process, and I'd personally like to see some more experimental  
implementations before we lose the ability to make incompatible  
changes. See below for some specific suggestions.

>
> Reason 2: What should other browser vendors do? Should they use
> chrome-ws, firefox-ws, ie-ws, opera-ws, ..., etc? I believe at least  
> developers
> will not happy with that. If the vendors need to reach the consensus  
> on the
> common experimental name, say prelim-ws, then why not just use ws  
> instead?

Historically, we haven't had a problem with WebKit-prefixed features -  
it seems that other browser vendors implement under their own prefix  
and content adapts to deal.

Anyway, getting back to the suggestions... I think it's reasonable at  
this point to indicate that the WebSocket protocol is somewhat  
experimental (probably more so than the API). I will recommend doing  
something along those lines for the next release of Safari. If we can  
get rough consensus within the WebKit community that we should label  
the protocol experimental, and how we should do so, then we can just  
make the change in WebKit and vendor releases will follow along.

Here is an extended list of ideas (ones that I think are practically  
doable):

1) Change the URI schemes to "webkit-ws" and "webkit-wss" - the vendor  
prefix strategy.
2) Change the URI schemes to "x-ws" and "x-wss" - a vendor-independent  
experimental prefix.
3) Don't change the URI schemes at all, but communicate in some public  
way that the protocol is not completely locked down yet, and we are  
largely looking for early adopter feedback. We could do this in the  
form of a WebKit blog post, for example. And we could reinforce that  
in developer documentation for WebKit-based products.
4) Support both unprefixed and prefixed URI schemes, and in addition  
publicize that we will maintain compatibility for the prefixed URI  
scheme but the unprefixed version may have to change (combo of 3 and  
either 1 or 2).
5) Make the feature runtime switchable (using some semi-hidden UI) and  
off by default.

I'd like to hear opinions on which of these is best.

I'd also like to hear if anyone feels that we should send the message  
that the WebSocket Protocol is production quality and we promise full  
compatibility going forward. Does anyone truly feel this way?

Regards,
Maciej