About IceCat's default plugins

[Alexandros Theodotou]

Hi,

We had a small discussion on IRC about the inclusion of the USPS
postage calculator in the default plugins. 

I think that bundling plugins that are in the user's face by default
should be limited to plugins that will be useful for at least the
majority of users. My two cents is that plugins such as postage
calculators shouldn't be included, or at least visible by default. 

Pasting the relevant log below for further discussion:

<alextee[m]> umm
<alextee[m]> who thought it would be a good idea to pre-install the
USPS postage calculator as aplugin?
<alextee[m]> please dont include bloatware
<nckx> alextee[m]: If it bothers you so much, you could write an
extension that detects non-free JS for which a libre fix is available
and notifies the user on first use.  Or just disable the add-on.
<nckx> I noticed that Guix's IceCat patches the desktop file
s/IceCat/GNU IceCat/.  Seems odd not to do that upstream?
<alextee[m]> nckx: i just don't think it's something that should be
there by default. it's oddly specific to people who are in the US and
want to send a letter or something. other privacy/freedom related
plugins i can understand, but that's out of place imo
<bandali> some context please?
<alextee[m]> bandali: the USPS postage calculator thing
<bandali> yeah?
<alextee[m]> it was bundled with icecat on guix at least
<bandali> yes, it’s part of upcoming 68 upstream
<alextee[m]> and i didn't like that :-)
<bandali> what about it?
<bandali> oh?
<alextee[m]> it's useless for i guess more than 90% of icecat's users
<bandali> but it’s useful for some
<bandali> and part of a collection of workarounds
<bandali> what do you suggest we do? is the fact that the icon can be
hidden not enough?
<alextee[m]> bandali: i would suggest not having it enabled/visible by
default
<alextee[m]> defaults matter a lot to most people i believe. i barely
touch the default behavior on many applications i use and i expect a
"works for most" behavior by default, as most users do i think
<bandali> alextee[m], to my knowledge, strictly speaking an extension
can’t be “partially disabled” but i can look into seeing if the icon
can be hidden by default
<bandali> but do keep in mind that it’s virtually impossible to satisfy
everyone’s every need/preferences when it comes to software :)
<alextee[m]> i'm fine with that :-)
<bandali> thankfully, it’s trivially easy to hide the icon if you don’t
use it or like it
<alextee[m]> <bandali "but do keep in mind that it’s vi"> i find that a
good rule of thumb is that the defaults should be what the majority of
users will want/use
<bandali> anyhow, would you mind writing to one of help-gnuzilla (for a
discussion) or bug-gnuzilla (to open a bug report) about this so we
don’t forget?
<bandali> right
<alextee[m]> sure
<bandali> thank you :)

Thanks,
Alex