After Jetpack 0.8, the Project Is Getting a Reboot

Mozilla has updated its progress report on its alternative add-on platform, Jetpack. The platform aims to be the next-generation add-on system for Firefox and, if successful, to replace the existing one. Add-ons are probably the one feature that brought Firefox more fans than anything else so it's clearly high on Mozilla's priority list. With Jetpack 0.8, Mozilla believes that the experimental stage of the development is over and the project is ready to move on to its next phase. In fact, Jetpack will be completely rebuilt, taking the lessons learned in the first stage but also taking into account issues which are crucial for a production level feature.

In the meantime, Jetpack 0.8 comes with a couple of new API which should prove useful to developers. The first one, the Toolbar API, will enable developers to add buttons for their extensions to integrate with the Firefox UI, something badly needed for any but the simplest of extensions. The API, of course, is intended to make it easy for developers "to tie browser functionality to these buttons."

"The other significant API available in this release is Places. Places is the name for history and bookmarking methods contained in Firefox," Mozilla's announcement read. It is designed to enable extensions access to Firefox's history and bookmarks and also create or edit the bookmarks.

The big news, though, is that Mozilla is satisfied with what Jetpack has achieved so far and is ready to end this first, experimental phase. The Jetpack is being rebuilt from the ground with a greater emphasis put on security and extensibility and a "technology preview" should be coming soon.

"With the release of Jetpack 0.8, the prototyping of Jetpack has come to a close and our efforts are shifting toward the goal of developing a mature, production-level version of the platform. This production version of Jetpack will phase in a new security model and a more extensible architecture with code reuse and true Mozilla-style code collaboration as core tenets. Look for a technology preview in the coming weeks!," Mozilla's Daniel Buchner announced.

Jetpack 0.8.1 for Mozilla Firefox is available for download here.