GNU bug report logs - #47359
IceCat shows ACE/Punycode instead of IDN

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
To: <bug-guix <at> gnu.org>
Subject: IceCat shows ACE/Punycode instead of IDN
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 2021 12:46:03 +0100

IceCat shows ASCII-compatible encoding (ACE, roughly Punycode) for
so-called internationalized domain names (IDNs) instead of displaying
them properly—e.g., <https://xn--drivation-b4a.fr/> instead of
<https://dérivation.fr/>.

I believe it purposefully has a white list of the kind of IDNs it
accepts to display properly (to avoid phishing).  In ‘about:config’
there’s a set of ‘network.IDN.whitelist’ Booleans, which suggest the
example above should work, but for some reason it doesn’t.

Ideas?

Ludo’.

Message #8 received at 47359 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Mark H Weaver <mhw <at> netris.org>
To: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>, 47359 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#47359: IceCat shows ACE/Punycode instead of IDN
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 2021 16:49:43 -0400

Hi Ludovic,

Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org> writes:

> IceCat shows ASCII-compatible encoding (ACE, roughly Punycode) for
> so-called internationalized domain names (IDNs) instead of displaying
> them properly—e.g., <https://xn--drivation-b4a.fr/> instead of
> <https://dérivation.fr/>.

I see the same behavior, which does not happen on 'firefox-esr' on
Debian.

> I believe it purposefully has a white list of the kind of IDNs it
> accepts to display properly (to avoid phishing).  In ‘about:config’
> there’s a set of ‘network.IDN.whitelist’ Booleans, which suggest the
> example above should work, but for some reason it doesn’t.
>
> Ideas?

My first guess is that it has something to do with the fact that support
for language packs is currently broken.  Perhaps some data from the
language pack is needed to make decisions about which IDNs to display.

The problem with language packs is that they must now be digitally
signed by Mozilla, and obviously we cannot do that.  I guess we need to
find the code that performs those signature checks, and disable it for
language packs found in trusted system directories.

     Regards,
       Mark

Message #11 received at 47359 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
To: Mark H Weaver <mhw <at> netris.org>
Cc: 47359 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#47359: IceCat shows ACE/Punycode instead of IDN
Date: Mon, 05 Apr 2021 21:57:43 +0200

Hi Mark,

Mark H Weaver <mhw <at> netris.org> skribis:

> Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org> writes:
>
>> IceCat shows ASCII-compatible encoding (ACE, roughly Punycode) for
>> so-called internationalized domain names (IDNs) instead of displaying
>> them properly—e.g., <https://xn--drivation-b4a.fr/> instead of
>> <https://dérivation.fr/>.
>
> I see the same behavior, which does not happen on 'firefox-esr' on
> Debian.

Epiphany displays the accented letter, too.

>> I believe it purposefully has a white list of the kind of IDNs it
>> accepts to display properly (to avoid phishing).  In ‘about:config’
>> there’s a set of ‘network.IDN.whitelist’ Booleans, which suggest the
>> example above should work, but for some reason it doesn’t.
>>
>> Ideas?
>
> My first guess is that it has something to do with the fact that support
> for language packs is currently broken.  Perhaps some data from the
> language pack is needed to make decisions about which IDNs to display.
>
> The problem with language packs is that they must now be digitally
> signed by Mozilla, and obviously we cannot do that.  I guess we need to
> find the code that performs those signature checks, and disable it for
> language packs found in trusted system directories.

Oh, I see.  Would be nice if we could achieve that.

Thanks for checking!

Ludo’.

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