Public bug reported: Firefox 50+ has support for gpsd, see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1250922 That would allow users with a GPS device to use the provided GPS data for the Geolocation API within the browser - not by default (in stable release builds), but only after explicitly setting 'geo.location.use_gpsd' to 'true' in about:config. Which is a good thing, as no defaults change.
However that support has to be enabled with the build flag --enable-gpsd. As you can see in toolkit/moz.configure the only thing that is needed to build Firefox with gpsd support is libgps-dev installed on the build system: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/file/ccfd7b716a91/toolkit/moz.configure#l550 If you want to dig deeper here are the three changes that brought gpsd support: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/76b04196acce https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/a1a42e8d66e9 https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/457be633b6cc There is not much magic here: When users switch on the flag 'geo.location.use_gpsd', Firefox tries to get the position from gpsd, if no location information is received from GPS within a few seconds, as fallback Mozilla Location Service provides a position instead. The position however will be updated once GPS is ready. If GPS fails, MLS will take over again until GPS has been restored. The only thing you might want to be aware of is that on non-release builds, the gpsd location provider is enabled by default, meaning 'geo.location.use_gpsd' is 'true' (see revision a1a42e8d66e9) because Firefox devs want to give it some testing. However that shouldn't be an issue, because as described, MLS acts as fallback after a few seconds anyway. What do you think? ** Affects: firefox (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to firefox in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1783202 Title: Build Firefox with gpsd location provider support (--enable-gpsd) Status in firefox package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: Firefox 50+ has support for gpsd, see https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1250922 That would allow users with a GPS device to use the provided GPS data for the Geolocation API within the browser - not by default (in stable release builds), but only after explicitly setting 'geo.location.use_gpsd' to 'true' in about:config. Which is a good thing, as no defaults change. However that support has to be enabled with the build flag --enable-gpsd. As you can see in toolkit/moz.configure the only thing that is needed to build Firefox with gpsd support is libgps-dev installed on the build system: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/file/ccfd7b716a91/toolkit/moz.configure#l550 If you want to dig deeper here are the three changes that brought gpsd support: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/76b04196acce https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/a1a42e8d66e9 https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/457be633b6cc There is not much magic here: When users switch on the flag 'geo.location.use_gpsd', Firefox tries to get the position from gpsd, if no location information is received from GPS within a few seconds, as fallback Mozilla Location Service provides a position instead. The position however will be updated once GPS is ready. If GPS fails, MLS will take over again until GPS has been restored. The only thing you might want to be aware of is that on non-release builds, the gpsd location provider is enabled by default, meaning 'geo.location.use_gpsd' is 'true' (see revision a1a42e8d66e9) because Firefox devs want to give it some testing. However that shouldn't be an issue, because as described, MLS acts as fallback after a few seconds anyway. What do you think? To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/1783202/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
