Re: [w3c/manifest] Manifest processing should not be a function of document URL (#668)

> I don't know if that is entirely true

I agree that the current manifest specification assumes installing a web app from a document but that was a design choice, it didn't have to be specified that way. That design choice unfortunately means that some implementations (e.g. app stores, mobile device management, kiosks) which already use web app manifests today can never be compliant with the specification.

> should the Working Group concern itself with anything but what web browsers do with the manifest?

That's a good question. The web app manifest specification differs from other web specifications in that by its nature it can not be limited to just browsers, because it can not be implemented entirely inside a browser engine. It requires interactions between a browser engine, browser chrome, the underlying OS and in some cases external services like app stores and sync services.

My understanding of Progressive Web Apps is that they are all about web apps [escaping web browsers](https://infrequently.org/2015/06/progressive-apps-escaping-tabs-without-losing-our-soul/). Restricting the scope of the specification to the context of a web browser would seem to fail to meet that primary use case.

I therefore agree in principle with the statement "manifest processing should not be a function of document URL", though in practice untangling the two at this stage would be challenging. Proposals like the [proposed approach](https://github.com/w3c/manifest/issues/586#issuecomment-776240685) to unique IDs would further complicate this.

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