web-ext ignores manifest browser_specific_settings.gecko.id field

[andreasvirkus]

Is this a feature request or a bug?

Bug

What is the current behavior?

I'm trying to sign a new version of an unlisted add-on, but running

web-ext sign --channel unlisted --source-dir dist --api-key $KEY --api-secret $SECRET

Results in

$ web-ext sign --channel unlisted --source-dir dist --api-key $KEY --api-secret $SECRET
Applying config file: ./package.json
Building web extension from /code/klaus/mono-ui/packages/extension/dist
No extension ID specified (it will be auto-generated)
Specifying a channel for a new add-on is unsupported. New add-ons are always in the unlisted channel.
Server response: Duplicate add-on ID found. (status: 400)
FAIL

o: The extension could not be signed
    at /code/klaus/mono-ui/node_modules/web-ext/dist/web-ext.js:1:66636
    at processTicksAndRejections (internal/process/task_queues.js:97:5)
    at E.execute (/code/klaus/mono-ui/node_modules/web-ext/dist/web-ext.js:1:33162)

error Command failed with exit code 1.

Whereas I can successfully sign the new version, when I run the same command but append --id firefox-addon@klausapp.com to the end of web-ext sign.

My manifest.json file includes:

"browser_specific_settings": {
    "gecko": {
      "id": "firefox-addon@klausapp.com",
      "update_url": "https://extension.com/update-manifest.json"
    }
  }

What is the expected or desired behavior?

If the --id flag is not passed in, it should respect the browser_specific_settings.gecko.id field. Actually, the docs even mention that the --id flag should do nothing in this scenario and the identifier from the manifest would be used:

A custom identifier string for the extension. This has no effect if the extension already declares an identifier in its manifest.

Version information (for bug reports)

• Firefox version: 76.0b8 (64-bit) (N/A?)
• Your OS and version: MacOS Catalina 10.15.3
• Paste the output of these commands:

$ node --version && npm --version && web-ext --version

v13.8.0
6.14.4
4.2.0

[rpl]

web-ext isn't currently using the browser_specific_settings property at all, and so this issue isn't actually specific to the web-ext sign command.

There is an open PR (#1791) that is meant to make web-ext to use browser_specific_settings as an alias for the applications manifest property, but it isn't completed yet.