[webkit-dev] Removing the prefix from webkitPostMessage

[Maciej Stachowiak]

On Sep 12, 2012, at 5:51 PM, Adam Barth <abarth at webkit.org> wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 5:34 PM, Maciej Stachowiak <mjs at apple.com> wrote:
>> On Sep 12, 2012, at 5:10 PM, Adam Barth <abarth at webkit.org> wrote:
>>> I've posted a patch to delete webkitPostMessage in favor of the
>>> identically behaving, unprefixed postMessage:
>>> 
>>> https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=96577
>>> 
>>> We've discussed this topic previously in
>>> <http://lists.webkit.org/pipermail/webkit-dev/2012-April/020237.html>.
>>> In that thread, I was asked to follow the instructions in
>>> <https://trac.webkit.org/wiki/DeprecatingFeatures>, but those
>>> instructions are too hard.
>> 
>> Really? I thought it was pretty easy for Chrome to gather "usage statistics in the wild (either by instrumenting the browser or any other means)" using what people call the "histogram" mechanism. Is it now a lot harder?
> 
> My evidence for it being too hard is that no one has actually been
> able to use that process to delete any prefixes.

I've never seen anyone post usage data for a prefixed feature, nor report trying to do so and failing. Taking the inside view, do you believe gathering the suggested data would be too hard? It would be a better argument for changing the process if someone tried and failed, or tried and reported it being too much effort.

Alternate hypotheses for no one even trying to gather the data: no one has been sufficiently motivated to remove a prefixed feature to do even a modest amount of research. It sounds like you are highly motivated since you believe it is a matter of good faith as a browser engine.

Are you willing to be the guinea pig for the process? A bunch of WebKit hackers (not including me incidentally) proposed it at the last WebKit Contributor's meeting, it would be a shame if we discarded it without anyone even trying it.

Regards,
Maciej