Messenger needs persistent background context

[wolfspelz]

We have a messenger which uses a persistent xmpp/websocket connection.

The background page has the connection and manages state of multiple tabs, each tab being a chat room. Not having persistent connections would prohibit continuous presence in chat rooms and private chats. The chat server would see me leaving and entering every 5 minutes, which would be annoying and kind of wrong.

Whatsmore, the common state would have to be moved from background memory into content pages or into persistent storage, which would be difficult and also kind of wrong.

But the main point is that a messenger with a persistent network connection coordinating chat rooms in multiple tabs needs a persistent context. A limited lifetime would probably kill it.

github
weblin.io

Related to "Use cases that are not well served by service workers" #72

[aeharding]

@wolfspelz would this proposal address your problems? (I'm an extension developer that's also experiencing problems with mv3.)

#137 (comment)