Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ayushnix 1395 days ago
> I just want to know if someone will port uBlock to MV3.

What's the point in porting uBlock to MV3 if it means neutering it? You already have numerous other ad blockers which don't go all the way and have stuff like "acceptable" ads.
1 comments
ehsankia 1394 days ago
How is it neutering it? Can you specifically list the features that would not be possible under MV3, and how commonly used said features are by the average people who install the extension and don't customize anything?
link
ayushnix 1394 days ago
Raymond Hill, the developer of uBlock Origin said that "removing the blocking ability of the webRequest API means the death of uBO" in this comment

https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/338#iss...

You can follow the issue tracker for any progress related to MV3 development of uBO but from what I can see, there isn't much interest yet in porting uBO to MV3 because it's not worth it.

This EFF article also goes into details about why MV3 is harmful for adblockers.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/googles-manifest-v3-st...

link
ehsankia 1392 days ago
That comment you link is from 2019, and Google has made many substantial changes to MV3 since in response to the feedback. It obviously still doesn't give as much power as WebRequest API, but they still addressed many complaints and increased a lot of the limits.
link
ayushnix 1392 days ago
The EFF article is pretty recent and it doesn't look good either. I haven't come across ongoing work for a port of uBO to MV3. If there isn't, that says a lot as well.

Whatever MV3 may offer, I for one do not want adblockers to be compromised. If anything, they should be more powerful rather than less. Hypothetically and optimistically speaking, even if a MV3 port of uBO offers 80% of the current functionally, it would still be detrimental for browsing the "modern" web.

link