whatwg / whatwg/html

Define how localStorage is synchronized between browser tabs/windows

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#403 10 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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topic: storage
Dominant language
HTML
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Description

From https://github.com/whatwg/html/issues/335#issuecomment-156498370 and later comments it sounds like implementations of localStorage are not simply synchronous like document.cookie, but maintains an in-process cache that is synchronized with the real storage when returning to the event loop, or some similar condition.

The spec now says that "This specification does not define the interaction with other browsing contexts in a multiprocess user agent, and authors are encourages to assume that there is no locking mechanism."

If the way this is actually implemented is roughly interoperable, we should spec that. Needs thorough investigation.

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  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading the localStorage attribute section in the HTML Standard and the linked WHATWG HTML issue 335, including the referenced comment and later discussion. Investigate how implementations synchronize localStorage across browsing contexts, then document a sufficiently interoperable specification for that behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
html
Domain
web-dev
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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