Protractor can't sync with AngularJS' apps using window.name for deferred bootstrap

[Splaktar]

Bug report

• Node Version: 14.16.1
• Protractor Version: 7.0.0
• Angular Version: 1.8.2
• Browser(s): Firefox 86
• Operating System and Version macOS Catalina

Error output

[17:04:38] E/protractor - Could not find Angular on page http://127.0.0.1:8402/:
  angular never provided resumeBootstrap

Additional Information

AngularJS Deferred Bootstrap documentation: https://docs.angularjs.org/guide/bootstrap#deferred-bootstrap

There are a couple of temporary workarounds here: https://github.com/angular/angular.js/issues/17117#issuecomment-789023019

In https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1700931, Firefox said that clearing the window.name on cross-origin navigation will continue and the flag to disable it will be removed at some point.

The following long-known AngularJS/Protractor issues are related to window.name being cleared on iOS and macOS:

• Safari security fix broke window.name usage here: https://github.com/angular/protractor/issues/4004
• Appium doesn't support this window.name setting either: https://github.com/angular/protractor/issues/2840

Additionally, Chromium is getting closer to shipping the clearing of window.name in a beta: https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/g/blink-dev/c/86VeIi5sZzc/m/CVJadvpqAQAJ

As this feature is a synchronization of both AngularJS and Protractor, a solution would likely need to involve both. That's why this issue exists in addition to https://github.com/angular/angular.js/issues/17117, which requests a fix for this during the AngularJS LTS period (prior to the end of December 2021).