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  • Start Date: 2019-10-02
  • RFC PR: 5
  • Authors: Guillaume Viger

Browser support policy

Summary

InvenioRDM commits to supporting secure, evergreen browsers that are themselves supported by their vendors.

Terminology

Evergreen browser: A browser that keeps itself up-to-date without prompting the user.

Motivation

  • As an InvenioRDM core or extension/plugin developer, I want to take advantage of modern Web APIs such as flexbox, websockets, File API, modern Javascript (ES2015+)... so that I can provide more powerful features at reduced development and maintenance (polyfills...) cost.

  • As an InvenioRDM hoster, running an application that requires evergreen secure browsers benefits me, since it ensures my users are running secure browsers which reduces my surface of attack and reduces my support costs, because evergreen browsers continually fix their bugs and security holes.

Detailed design

The following RFC outlines a support policy for a set of browsers and their versions. It primarily serves the purpose to clarify for developers if a certain feature can be used or not, and to reassure hosters that they can rely on having bugs fixed for supported browsers.

The policy is by no means a guarantee that all supported browsers are working with Invenio, as this would require extensive automated testing for all browsers/versions over all Invenio modules which is not feasible at this point.

Supported browsers

Browsers with a market share of at least 5% are supported. Currently that includes:

  • Google Chrome
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Microsoft Edge / Internet Explorer
  • Apple Safari

Only auto-updating browsers (evergreen browsers) are supported in order to ensure a secure environment for Invenio to run in.

Supported versions

Only browser versions supported by their vendor are supported by Invenio.

Both desktop and mobile versions of the browsers should be supported.

Special note on Internet Explorer: Only IE v11 is supported.

What does it mean for a browser to be supported?

  • Best effort is made to ensure that all client-side code (HTML/CSS/JavaScript) work in all supported browsers. This usually translates into supporting the earliest supported version. Use https://caniuse.com/ to check if a specific feature is supported.

  • Bugs affecting any supported version will be fixed (resources permitting).

Specifically, if a browser is supported, it does not mean that Invenio is guaranteed to work with the browser, just that we do our best to ensure that Invenio works with that browser, and that bugs affecting the browser are fixed if discovered. This is because it is unfeasible at this stage to rigorously test all browser versions.

How do I know if I can use a certain feature?

The service https://caniuse.com is your friend. In general, use features widely adopted by all browser platforms and that have been around for more than 1 release. Doing so, this browser support policy will come naturally.

What does it mean for a browser not to be supported?

Bugs affecting unsupported browsers may not be fixed, and no effort is made to test if Invenio works with the specific browser. In many cases however, an unsupported browser is likely to still work with Invenio as we strive to use widely adopted features only.

How we teach this

A version of the browser support policy should be added to Invenio documentation next to the "Maintenance policy") as the official reference.

Emphasis should be placed on a TLDR at the top of the policy that points to https://caniuse.com to allow developers to quickly determine if a specific feature can be used.

Drawbacks

Some of the stakeholders' environments may not be amenable to use evergreen browsers. For instance, in the bio-medical domain, there are researchers that use their own laptop with full autonomy of software, but there are also research coordinators and staff librarians or clinicians that use organizational IT resources that are locked down to specific Windows versions and browsers.

To confirm the usefulness of this support policy, we could get feedback from current hosters about their current browser demographics, current trends and any upcoming institutional IT policies they might be aware of. A report containing current marketshare as of current month with differential with respect to same month last year and any extra information could be produced by each organizations. Global report trends with same numbers should also be found to compare against general trends.

If the trends show much lower adoption of evergreeen browsers, we should revise our support policy.

Alternatives

We support a wider range of browsers at development effort and support cost.

Unresolved questions

See drawbacks for adoption percentages.